Tag Archives: Mystery

Review: Imaginary Friend

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Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

Publication: Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: 10/1/19

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced digital copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review, or rating.

NetGalley Synopsis: Christopher is seven years old. Christopher is the new kid in town. Christopher has an imaginary friend. 

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It’s as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

Review: Imaginary Friend is Stephen Chbosky’s long awaited second novel. If his name sound familiar to you, it’s because he wrote The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Imaginary Friend was definitely a book that was out of my typical reading genre, but I’m glad that I gave it a chance. This horror book gave me Stranger Things vibes all the way and I loved how unique and intriguing the storyline was. I was immediately captured with the story and its characters from page 1. However, there were some instances in the story that lowered my overall rating of the book. First and foremost, the book felt like it was way too long (over 700 pages) and I thought it could have been culled down to under 500 or so. I wasn’t a big fan of religion talk or the descriptions of the dark fantasy in the book. There were also too many characters to keep track of and I lost interest in a few of the characters towards 60% of the book. Overall, if you like thriller or horror books, I would recommend picking this one up. 

Rating: 3/5

Review: Miracle Creek

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Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Publishing Date: 4/16/19

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books

Rating: 5/5

Review: Miracle Creek was my April BOTM pick. This legal thriller follows a Korean immigrant family and a single mother accused of murdering her autistic son. This book certainly lives up to the hype and deserves 5 stars! I really liked the premise and the complexity of the characters in this novel. The various perspectives also helped a lot while reading to give a more wholistic view of the controversial situation at hand. This is certainly a heavy read and I would recommend taking your time with this one. If you love mystery or courtroom / legal books with controversial topics, I highly recommend picking this one up!

Review: Before She Was Found

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Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf

Publication Date: 4/16/19

Publisher: Park Row Books (Harper Collins)

Rating: 5/5

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from TLC Book Tours & Harper Collins in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review or rating.

Review: Before She Was Found is the first book I’ve read from Heather Gudenkauf. This thriller follows three preteen girls involved in attempted murder investigation in a small quiet town in Iowa. One girl is severely injured, another is in a shock state, and the last one refuses to help the authorities. Wow what a twisted and mind f*** of a book! This deserves all the stars and it’s the third book this year that I gave a 5 star review. I loved the format and the various perspectives in this novel. The story kept me engaged and on my toes from page one. I really loved Heather’s writing style and how she was able to create such depth with multiple characters. Her way of being able to write adult and child perspectives is captivating. Also just when I thought I was figuring out the ending, another twist I didn’t expect comes in. Overall, I highly recommend anyone who loves thrillers to pick up this book. You don’t want to miss out!

Review: I’ll Be Watching You

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I’ll Be Waching You by Courtney Evan Tate

Publication Date: 3/26/19
Publisher: Harlequin Books (Harper Collins)
Rating: 3/5

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from TLC Book Tours & Harlequin Books (Harper Collins) in exchange for my honest opinion. This has no effect on my opinion, review or rating.

Review: Courtney Evan Tate’s latest novel, I’ll Be Watching You, follows the story of Emmy who is grieving over the loss of her fifteen-year-old Leah, who supposedly drowned close to shore one summer night according to police. Emmy discovers that Leah has been secretly involved with someone who was possibly older and has a dark appetite. I thought this was a mediocre thriller. The alternating perspectives of the mother and daughter were interesting to read. I did prefer the daughter’s perspective as I found the mother’s perspective to be a bit immature and unbelievable. I found the writing style to be gripping and interesting, but I felt that the story was a bit too formulaic for thriller which I found to be a bit dull. On a somewhat unrelated note, I usually don’t comment on cover art, but I think a better image could have taken its place. Overall, it’s a decent read, but there are better thrillers out there.

Best 9 Books I Read In 2017

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This year I decided to pick up my old hobby of reading. I couldn’t remember the last time I read a novel for leisure. I used to read a lot back in middle school and high school and dropped it off after I went to college. After that, I made up excuses of work, lack of time or that I didn’t have the attention span for it anymore. But then something in me changed for the better this year. Getting back into the habit of reading was difficult at first, but I slowly gained momentum and finally realized what I’ve been missing out on these past few years.

When I started to read again this year, I didn’t set up any goals on how many books I would read in a month or how many I wanted to read by the end of this year. I didn’t want to set too high expectations so then I could easily get discouraged.

I don’t think I’ll do a reading goal for next year either. For me, it’s not about the quantity of books. It’s about the quality that I read and finding ones that resonate with me.

Without further ado, here are the best 9 books I read in 2017 in no particular order: Continue reading →