Title: The Boyfriend
Author: Friday McFadden
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Length: 368 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Source: Library (Audiobook)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.

Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She’s seen it men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.

Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.

Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.

Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can’t shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn’t get to the truth, she’ll be the killer’s next victim...

A dark story about obsession and the things we’ll do for love, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden proves that crimes of passion are often the bloodiest…

My review: 

I am a big fan of Frida McFadden and I have listened to many of her audio books. I really enjoyed listening to The Boyfriend and found myself listening on the edge of my seat (the driver's seat because I was always driving while I was listening!). 

I really enjoyed the back and forth format of the book, Tom's perspective from when he was a teenager and Sydney's present time point of view. I really though I knew what was happening and how the characters were correlating from past to present but it turns out, as usually, I was very wrong! 

Sydney was a god character but I felt like she was dramatized at times. It was almost like I was watching a horror movie in my head and I would be yelling at the main character, "why did you set down your phone!!!" She was dumb at time, especially since she knew there was a killer out there and the killer was somewhat close to her. She didn't' have a very good gut instinct and she didn't make very smart decision. 

Overall, it was a pretty entertaining book! My only criteria for mystery/thriller type books is that they are fast-paced and that the ending surprises me. The Boyfriend by Friday McFadden has both of those checked off so it was four stars in my book!

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.

Book Review: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

Title: Something in the Water
Author: Catherine Steadman
Publisher: Ballantine
Release Date: June 05, 2018
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 342 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

A shocking discovery on a honeymoon in paradise changes the lives of a picture-perfect couple in this taut psychological thriller debut--for readers of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Shari Lapena.

If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . .

Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?

Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .

Ever since I had a baby, I haven't read nearly as much as I used to. I still wanted to read at least one book a month, so I decided to keep up with Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club and the June book was Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman. It sounded really interesting and since I love a good mystery/thriller, I thought I would give it a go.

When I read a mystery, I really don't want to be able to predict what is going to happen at the end. I don't like when it's obvious who the "bad guy" is. Something in the Water really had me guessing almost until the very end. Since the book is told from the perspective of the main character Erin, you only know her motivations and her thoughts. The reader is not privy to what the other characters are thinking so we don't truly know if the other characters are who they say they are or if they're telling the truth.

Something in the Water is told from Erin's perspective so we really get her inner monologue and we get to understand her motivations. She's a really strong female character who is trying to secure her safety and her future after she and her husband find this mysterious bag in the ocean on their honeymoon.

If I could sum up the theme of Something in the Water in one phrase or sentence it would be: How well do you really know the people around you? Something in the Water was a really great summer read for me and a very engrossing mystery/thriller all around!

Book Review: Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Forever, Interrupted
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Release Date: July 09, 2013
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Source: Library
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

Have you ever heard of supernovas? They shine brighter than anything else in the sky and then fade out really quickly, a short burst of extraordinary energy. I like to think you and Ben were like that . . . in that short time, you had more passion than some people have in a lifetime.

Elsie Porter is an average twentysomething and yet what happens to her is anything but ordinary. On a rainy New Year's Day, she heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn't expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Ben cannot even wait twenty-four hours before asking to see her again. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they've eloped.

Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. Elsie hears the sirens outside her apartment, but by the time she gets downstairs, he has already been whisked off to the emergency room. At the hospital, she must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met and who doesn't even know Elsie exists.

Interweaving Elsie and Ben's charmed romance with Elsie and Susan's healing process, Forever, Interrupted will remind you that there's more than one way to find a happy ending.

My Review:

Taylor Jenkins Reid and her novels were recommended to me by Angela @ Musings of a Literary Wanderer and I'm so glad she did! I now have another author that I want to catch up on and read all her books!

Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the very sad story of a woman who meets the love of her life, they fall in love very quickly and getting married only a few months later. About a week after they're married, her husband tragically dies in an accident. The rest of the book is about grief, healing and learning that it's okay for your life to move on and to be happy again.

I really loved how Forever, Interrupted went back and forth from the past of when Elsie and Ben first meet and it would take place in the present and Elsie and Ben's mother are trying to heal from their loss. Throughout this healing process, a friendship emerges between Elsie and Susan (Ben's mother) and Reid really focuses on how these two women need each other if they're going to be able to move on with their lives. I also loved the relationship between Elsie and her best friend! Reid depicted a true friendship that can survive the think and thin.

If you really love women's contemporary fiction, then I highly recommend Forever, Interrupted and probably all of Reid's novels even though I haven't read them yet! Taylor Jenkins Reid is definitely an author that I will be reading for many years to come!

Book Review: The Stranger Game by Cylin Busby

Title: The Stranger Game
Author: Cylin Busby
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Length: 288 pages
Genre: YA, Mystery
Source: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

The Stranger Game is a dark, suspenseful, and twisty young adult novel—perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver and E. Lockhart—about fifteen-year-old Nico Walker, whose sister returns home after a four-year disappearance.

When Nico Walker's older sister mysteriously disappears, her parents, family, and friends are devastated. But Nico can never admit what she herself feels: relief at finally being free of Sarah's daily cruelties.

Then the best and worst thing happens: four years later, after dozens of false leads, Sarah is found.

But this girl is much changed from the one Nico knew. She's thin and drawn, where Sarah had been golden and athletic; timid and unsure, instead of brash and competitive; and strangest of all, sweet and kind, when she had once been mean and abusive. Sarah's retrograde amnesia has caused her to forget almost everything about her life, from small things like the plots of her favorite books and her tennis game to the more critical—where she's been the last four years and what happened at the park on the fateful day she vanished. Despite the happy ending, the dark details of that day continue to haunt Nico, and it becomes clear that more than one person knows the true story of what happened to Sarah. . . .

My Review:

I always enjoy a good little mystery, especially one that is quick to read and easy to follow. Which is what I found with The Stranger Game. It wasn't anything particularly memorable which is probably why I'm struggling to write this review.

One aspect that I remember very clearly was the Sarah, the girl who is missing, was an absolute bitch before she went missing. I had a very hard time feeling bad for her even if she was kidnapped and forced to do horrible things. She just seemed like a really horrible person and acted like she was better than everyone else because she was beautiful and thin. At least, that's the way the reader see her through Nico's eyes.

Even after Sarah is found, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on even though I wasn't exactly sure what had happened to her to make her go missing. I was pretty shocked when the truth was revealed, which is good, because I don't like to guess the ending. I always like to be on the edge of my seat, looking around the next corner and anticipating the next twist!

What I found most fascinating was the dynamic of the family who had lost one of their own and the uncertainty of whether or not Sarah was dead or alive. Busby did a good job of writing the grief, the anger, the denial, the depression and the attempt at moving on with the unknown always looming over their heads.

The Stranger Game is a very YA type book, one that is sort of forgettable and yet enjoyable while I read it. It was a good enough mystery to have me guessing all the way through! 

Book Review: All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Title: All Our Wrong Todays
Author: Elan Mastai
Publisher: Dutton Books
Release Date: February 07, 2017
Length: 373 pages
Genre: Fiction/Sci-Fi
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

You know the future that people in the 1950s imagined we'd have? Well, it happened. In Tom Barren's 2016, humanity thrives in a techno-utopian paradise of flying cars, moving sidewalks, and moon bases, where avocados never go bad and punk rock never existed . . . because it wasn't necessary.

Except Tom just can't seem to find his place in this dazzling, idealistic world, and that's before his life gets turned upside down. Utterly blindsided by an accident of fate, Tom makes a rash decision that drastically changes not only his own life but the very fabric of the universe itself. In a time-travel mishap, Tom finds himself stranded in our 2016, what we think of as the real world. For Tom, our normal reality seems like a dystopian wasteland.

But when he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career, and—maybe, just maybe—his soul mate, Tom has a decision to make. Does he fix the flow of history, bringing his utopian universe back into existence, or does he try to forge a new life in our messy, unpredictable reality? Tom’s search for the answer takes him across countries, continents, and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future—our future—is supposed to be.

My Review:

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai is probably one of the most unique books I've read this year. I've literally read nothing like it so the story will always stand out in my mind. Even though it's says in the synopsis that it's about time-travel gone wrong, I agree but I would put it more on the plane of parallel universes because of time-travel.

One of the things I didn't like about All Our Wrong Todays was all the scientific jargon. I'm not a science person at all so a lot of it went over my head. And I would have to imagine that Mastai, who is a writer, had to do a lot of research to get all this scientific jargon correct or he just made it all up. And if he did make it all up, he sure fooled me because I'm not sciencey enough to know the difference! Another thing I didn't like was the character of Penelope in the second world. She was a classic manic-pixie dream girl and I just thing that stereotype is so flat and a little boring. And I think she just went along too easily with everything that Tom was telling her.

I don't want to give any spoilers away but I really loved how the book was structured. I love how it started in one place, went to a whole completely different universe and then ended up where it should be. I know that sounds super weird but if you've read the book then you know what I'm talking about! It's definitely worth the read because it is so different from anything I've ever read before. I would also recommend it to you if you like sci-fi because it definitely has those elements!

Book Review: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Title: I'll Meet You There

Author: Heather Demetrios
Publisher: Henry & Holt Co.
Release Date: February 03, 2015
Genre: Contemporary YA
Length: 388 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

If Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing separating Skylar from art school is three months of summer…until Skylar’s mother loses her job, and Skylar realizes her dreams may be slipping out of reach.
Josh had a different escape route: the Marines. But after losing his leg in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be.
What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and, soon, something deeper.
Compelling and ultimately hopeful, this is a powerful examination of love, loss, and resilience.

My Review:

LOVE LOVE LOVE! I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios is one of those perfect contemporary novels that I would recommend to all readers no matter what genre they prefer. The story is wonderful and the romance is absolutely beautiful!

"If you could make a beautiful piece of art from discarded newspaper and old matchbooks, then it meant that everything had potential. And maybe people were like collages-no matter how broken or useless we felt, we were an essential part of the whole. We mattered." -pg. 103

I’ll Meet You There has, what I like to call, the perfect love story. There’s no insta-love, there’s no I-just-met-him-but-I-know-we’ll-be-together-forever type thing and there’s no “perfect” characters in this novel either. Skylar and Josh are somewhat like acquaintances when we first meet them. Two years prior, Josh had graduated high school and went off to Afghanistan and Skylar had just started her junior year. Now Skylar has graduated and Josh has come home and their paths seems to cross no matter what. Which is good cause they’re getting to know one another and they have this tension between them that just keeps building in the best way possible! They take the time to build this strong foundation of friendship before anything crosses the line.

Josh has experienced all kinds of tragedies because of the war and Skylar has a lot of home problems with her mom which has made her wise beyond her years. They are just the perfect match for each other! They’re both learning how to cope with a major life change and they lean on each other for their support. They couldn’t have been brought together at a more perfect time! Everything about this story and Josh and Skylar’s relationship just seemed so perfect to me! It was friendship and then is was a little something more and then it was intense and learning to trust each other and learning to be vulnerable and learning how to cope and being open with each other. It’s a great example of how a healthy relationship can start out small and grow to become more!

Heather Demetrios really hit it out of the park with I’ll Meet You There! And, like I said, I recommend it to everyone!