august 2022
you’re invited by amanda jayatissa
alex’s rating: 8/10
what would you do if your childhood best friend grew up to marry your ex-boyfriend? be pretty pissed right? if you haven’t spoken to said best friend in years, it would make it that much more difficult to say something though. when amaya is surprisingly invited to kaavi’s wedding, she’s determined to stop it at all costs. secrets, no matter how deeply buried, always come to the surface. i loved how jayatissa made each characters perception totally different when speaking from first person pov - not everything is as it’s perceived by the other cast.
daisy darker by alice feeney
alex’s rating: 9.7/10
growing up i always loved the movie clue, a whodunnit murder mystery involving characters stuck in a house together over night. alice feeney apparently liked it too when writing daisy darker because it’s a twist on clue, involving daisy’s entire family. one by one during a cold night in october, daisy’s family members are killed, leaving everyone to ask who? and why? what started as a family gathering for dear nana’s 80th birthday turned into a walking nightmare as the family can’t leave nana’s beach home until low tide. this was particularly spectacular in the conclusion -- a real aha moment for me! but i won’t spoil it, you’ll have to read to find out what happened.
the lunar housewife by caroline woods
alex’s rating: 9.8/10
one period of time i’ve never really read much on is the cold war and caroline woods’ the lunar housewife was a great start. a female journalist is fighting for her voice in a male dominated publishing world during the height of (you guessed it) the cold war. she interviews ernest hemingway and is about to finish her debut novel when she begins to suspect she’s being followed. Is it even safe to publish her scandalous book? who can she trust? it sure as hell isn’t looking like her fiance anymore! really enjoyed how this book parallel pathed louise’s life (main character) to katherine’s life (louise’s book’s main character).
all good people here by ashley flowers
alex’s rating: 9/10
crime junkies listen up! if you thought you loved hearing ashley flowers’ voice every monday for a new podcast episode, you’ll looove reading her new thriller, all good people here. as you might have guessed it, the story takes place in a small indiana town where everyone knows everyone. when little natalie clark goes missing, the town’s rumor mill starts up spreading word that a serial killer is among them because wouldn’t you know, 25 years earlier, january jones disappeared under very similar circumstances. margot davies—journalist turned caregiver for her failing uncle—is determined to figure out what happened. this story takes you on some serious twists and turns right up to the very end!
outlawed by anna north
alex’s rating: 6/10
“in the year of our lord 1894, i became an outlaw.” gripping intro right? in anna north’s alternate wild west, women who cannot bear children are considered witches & cursed. all in contact should beware. when 17-year-old ada is banned from her town, she joins a group of other similar women known as the hole in the wall gang, led by fearless leader “the kid.” all throughout the book, ada is searching for answers - why can’t she have children? what causes this? how can she get help? - and in the end, we don’t really get that closure. it was a very different read but just not my favorite.
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