Book Review: Her Every Fear

Title: Her Every Fear
Author: Peter Swanson
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 384 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life. 

Soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London. 

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves--until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment and accidentally learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? What about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jet-lagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself, so how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?

My Thoughts:

I love Peter Swanson's writing and I really loved one of his earlier books The Kind Worth Killing. So I was really excited to finally read Her Every Fear. I really like the way his writing just flows and it's so easy to read. 

Her Every Fear follows Kate as she moves from London to Boston as she apartment switches with her cousin for six months. Kate is the type of person who always believes the worst is going to happen. She had gone through a really traumatic even back in England and moving to Boston is really her first venture out of her home since then. When she arrives in Boston and goes to the apartment for the first time, someone is pounding on the neighbors door and says that the neighbor is missing. Of course, Kate thinks that worst; that the neighbor has been murdered and it turns out to be true! 

But I gave this book 3 stars. Here's why: I don't typically enjoy characters like Kate. She frequently has panic attacks, has anxiety so bad she can't go to the grocery store, gets lost in thought and realizes it's been hours. But what I did like about her is that she didn't try to be a vigilante and solve the crime herself. Whenever she found something, she almost immediately took it to the police. Another reason I game this book 3 stars was because the ending was a little too neat for my taste. I enjoy a little bit of an open ending but this one tied up all the loose ends. 

I would definitely say that if your a fan of Peter Swanson, Her Every Fear is worth reading. I thought it was a really entertaining thriller with some fun little twists and turns. This was the second Peter Swanson book that I've read and it definitely won't be my last. 

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Mall

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly blog hop of anticipated book releases hosted by Tessa @ Wishful Endings!

Title: The Mall
Author: Megan McCafferty
Release Date: June 09, 2020
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall. 

The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans... 

Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

Why I want this:

I am a longtime fan of Megan McCafferty. I LOVED the Jessica Darling series! I liked Bumped. It was weird but okay. But The Mall sounds like it is going to take me straight back to middle school in the 90's. I can't wait to jump into all this nostalgia! It sounds like it's going to be so fun! 

Podcasts I've Been Listening To: April 2020

I love listening to podcasts. Podcasts are my thing. I've been listening to various different podcasts since about 2009 and I've been hooked ever since. I used to listen to music in my free time or in my commute to work, but since I've discovered podcasts, I've slowly phased music out until I hardly listen to it at all. Since podcasts are something that I love to talk about, here are some of my current favorites.

1. Potterless Podcast: A Grown Man Reads Harry Potter for the First Time

Mike Schubert had never read the Harry Potter series as a kid and even only saw the first couple of movies. In this podcast, he starts reading the books and jokingly makes fun of all the plot holes. Each episode has a guest host that is usually a Harry Potter fanatic. I've really been enjoying this podcast so I've decided to use it as a way to re-read the series. Currently I'm reading and listening my way through the third book, only continuing to read after I've completed the appropriate chapter.

2. Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders

One of my favorite type of podcasts are true crime podcasts, specifically cold case murder podcasts. The Delphi murders are not necessarily a cold case as it's still an open investigation, but it is just as fascinating. Basically, it's about two teenage girls who were murdered and found on the outskirts of their small town.

3. After Buzz TV's Married at First Sight

One of my favorite guilty pleasure TV shows is Married at First Sight. I love this experiment where strangers marry each other and try to decide if they could make a marriage work. After watching the show, I like to listen to commentary and I love hearing other people's perspectives on these relationships. I also do this with The Bachelor, when it's on, where I listen to an after show podcast. It's very satisfying to know that other people also like to watch these people's train wreck lives!

These are just a few of the podcasts that I'm currently enjoying in my headphones. And I'm always on the hunt for new ones and open to recommendations! So if you know of any that you think I might like, I would love to know in the comments!

Book Review: The Turn of the Key

Title: The Turn of the Key
Author: Ruth Ware
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Release Date: August 06, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 337 pages
Source: Library
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. 

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unraveling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant. 

It was everything. 

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

My Thoughts:

The Turn of the Key was the perfect book to get me back into reading. It has almost everything that I wanted at the time. This is the fourth book that I've read from Ruth Ware and she has quickly shot to the top of my list of auto-buy authors!

The creepiness in The Turn of the Key was what I loved the most about it! I kept wondering to myself: is this house really haunted or are the children just trying to scare her? It's what made me continue to come back to the book, I just had to know what was going on! I also liked that the story went into the history of the house and talked about some of the bad and tragic events that had happened there, which further led me to believe that maybe it was haunted!

Even though I liked the ending, I think some parts of it were a little unbelievable. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but if you've read it then you know what I'm talking about. Also, the whole premise of the book is that the main character, Rowan, is supposed to be writing a letter to a perspective lawyer. Who would write a 325 page letter? I just found some parts of the book to be a little far fetched. But I still really enjoyed The Turn of the Key and I think it was a really good mystery/thriller!

How I'm Slowing the Spread and Spending My Time

Wow! What a time to be alive! I literally can't believe that we are living through an actual pandemic right now. A lot of craziness is going on in the world and in order to keep me and my family safe, we have been social distancing, self-isolating or quarantined or whatever you want to call it.

We are on week 3. Day 23 as I'm writing this.

I'm lucky and privileged to be a teacher right now. I'm a special education teacher in CCSD in Nevada and luckily they have allowed us to figure out this whole distance learning thing so I haven't lost any pay. I'm lucky and privileged to be able to send my children to a private daycare that was nice enough to let us pull them out without having to pay for the time that they're not in attendance. That right there is saving us so much money. We are lucky and privileged that my husband is a real estate agent and somehow still has business coming in with the interest rates being so low. We are lucky and privileged to live in a state that hasn't been hit nearly as hard as some of the others. We are lucky and privileged and I'm so grateful.

I'm grateful for the extra time that I'm getting to spend with my children. I'm grateful that we have a nice neighborhood where we can walk around daily. I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to participate in weekly staff and special ed meetings. I'm grateful that my children are young enough so this time is just fun at home time and that they don't understand fear and anxiety yet.

Now that I have a lot of extra time, I've picked up my books again and gotten back into my blog. I'm also taking my last three classes over the summer so even though school will be starting again, I know I'll still have time to keep up with reading and blogging.

Although there is a lot going on in the world right now, there is still so much for us to be grateful for. I hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy.

Can't Wait Wednesday: The Guest List

Can't Wait Wednesday is a week blog hop of anticipated book releases hosted by Tessa @ Wishful Endings!

Title: The Guest List
Author: Lucy Foley
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the author of The Hunting Party. 

The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body 

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. 

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. 

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

Why I want this?

I am a sucker for a good thriller and it's basically the only thing I'm reading right now. And I decided to sign up for Book of the Month and this is my April pick so I get to read it early! I'm so excited! 

Book Review: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Title: Walk Two Moons
Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Release Date: May 24, 1996
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Length: 280 pages
Source: Library
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

"How about a story? Spin us a yarn."
Instantly, Phoebe Winterbottom came to mind.
"I could tell you an extensively strange story," I warned.
"Oh, good!" Gram said. "Delicious!"
And that is how I happened to tell them about Phoebe, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold — the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech goes to show that a book that is written and aimed for young readers in middle school can be just as powerful as a lengthy adult fiction novel. Walk Two Moons can be read by young readers and adult readers alike because the themes throughout can be applied to both children and adults. I wish I would have read this book as a student in middle school because I know it would have spoken to me differently than it did as an adult now.

One of the major themes of Walk Two Moons is loss as in death and grief. We see loss and grief from the perspective of a teenage girl who has lost her mother, we see loss and grief from the perspective of a mother who has lost her baby and we see loss and grief from the perspective of a husband who has lost his wife. We see how each character processes their feelings differently from Sal who doesn’t want to talk about the death of her mother with her father to Sal’s mother who falls into a deep depression and needs to get away after the death of her baby and Sal’s father who moves closer to Mrs. Cadaver because she was with Sal’s mother during her last moments. Walk Two Moons really highlights that grief hits each person differently.

Another major theme throughout Walk Two Moons is fear. We see many of Sal’s fears such as her fear of being in the car and her fear of pregnant women. As the book progresses, Sal learns how to voice these fears instead of keeping them bottled up inside.

Identity is clear throughout Walk Two Moons. Sal is growing up and that always comes with it’s own set of identity issues and “who am I?” questions. Sal’s mother seems to have forgotten who she was before she got married. And she has never felt like she is a true Hiddle because she doesn’t feel as though she is as good as the Hiddle family. Mrs. Witterbottom is also grappling with her identity now that her older son has resurfaced.

A clear strength of Walk Two Moons is themes throughout the book because there are so many and each theme is seen in almost all the characters. This is why this book appeals to both children and adult readers. If I were to teach this book in the classroom, some questions I would use to drive discussions would be: What are the themes throughout this book? What do you think will happen when Sal finds her mother? What does it mean to “know” someone? I chose these questions because they can be asked throughout the whole book without giving away any spoilers.

As a reader, I really enjoyed this book and it really spoke to my mommy heart. I really felt Sal’s mom’s grief and her confusion of her identity because it’s so easy to get lost in motherhood. I think I would like to read it again when my children are older and see what things I pick up on that I didn’t notice the first time through.

Life Update: April 2020

Looking back at my blog, I can't believe that the last post I published was way back in August of 2018!!! That was so long ago and so much has happened since then. Since it was nearly two years ago, I literally feel like I'm a different person now.

When my last book review was published on this blog, my baby girl, Emery, was only two months old and now she is almost two years old! She has grown up so much over the past year and has a sassy little mouth on her. She is so spirited and there is never a dull moment with her. I also had another baby since then and he is almost six months old! RJ is so chill, hardly cries, loves eating and much to my delight, is sleeping through the night in his own room! After Emery, I never thought I would have a baby like him!

I'm still teaching special education and with everything that is going on right now, I'm trying to figure out this whole distance learning/teaching thing. Speaking of these unprecedented times, I have found that I have a lot of extra time to get back to reading now! And I thought, why not get back to blogging again too! It's unlikely that I'll be back to work this school year so it looks like I'll have extra time throughout the summer too!

So far in 2020, I have read 14 books. 3 adult fiction, 2 young adult fiction, 1 middle grade book and 7 picture books (I'm taking a children's literature class right now). I think this is the perfect time to get back into reading and blogging and being involved in this community again! After having two children and getting my teaching license, I'm starting to feel like myself again and it feels so good! Hope to see you back here soon!