ARC for review. To be published November 19, 2024.
This South Korean self help book, although apparently incredibly popular, just wasn’t for me. FirstARC for review. To be published November 19, 2024.
This South Korean self help book, although apparently incredibly popular, just wasn’t for me. First off, it really seems to be directed specifically toward South Koreans, and perhaps the Japanese as it makes a number of references to things applicable only in their culture. I don’t know anyone who spends anytime worrying about not making it to a chaebol (I didn’t even know what that was…if you are as ignorant as I, it’s one of about a dozen family controlled conglomerates that dominate South Korea’s economy. Look at how educational my reviews are! Now I will show you how to use the key to a 1987 Subaru to shotgun a beer!)
Second, the primary piece of advice? “Be yourself.” Um, thanks? Maybe that’s more revolutionary in South Korea, I don’t know.
Third, most of the rest of the advice is on the same level, stuff an eight grader could come up with if he or she was writing a self help term paper: don’t be so focused on materialism, don’t engage in gossip, etc. The author includes no helpful hints on how actually accomplish these worthy goals, however, so I’m still desperately lusting after $400 jeans that will make my ass look like J.Lo’s.
Oh, and there was one more story about cooking a baby than I expected, which was none. ...more
ARC for review. To be published February 25, 2025.
“Everyone loves a ghost story, don’t they? Everyone loves to look into the darkness.” Well, I can’tARC for review. To be published February 25, 2025.
“Everyone loves a ghost story, don’t they? Everyone loves to look into the darkness.” Well, I can’t speak for everyone (though I try) but _I_ certainly love a good ghost story and I quite enjoyed this little tale.
It’s summer, 1989. No cell phones, Britain is in the middle of a horrible heat wave and Mina Ellis is gearing up for her wedding to scientist, Oscar. She has recently graduated with her master’s in psychology. As a teenager she lost her brother, Eddie, and she has never gotten over it. From time to time she still goes to a grief group and it is there she meets journalist Sam Hunter who has lost his daughter. He also has an interesting proposition for Mina.
The two travel to the small town of Banathel to investigate the case of thirteen year old Alice Webber who claims she is being haunted. The residents of the town are a bit odd. Is something off in Banathel?
This is a type of story you’ve likely read before, but made a bit more interesting in that Mina and Sam both want to prove and disprove the haunting. They are realists, and it’s 1989, but at the same time it would be wonderful to be able to contact Eddie and Maggie in some way. There’s a nice sense of menace throughout this, and Banathel is a town with scars, both literal and figurative. I liked this. ...more
Pearse’s books always sound so very good in the descriptions. Heck, even the TITLES are good. And yet eARC for review. To be published July 16, 2024.
Pearse’s books always sound so very good in the descriptions. Heck, even the TITLES are good. And yet each time I come away disappointed.
Kier Templer had a dark childhood but was always close to fraternal twin Penn. Now Kier living the #vanlife (I think this will always make me think of the tragedy of Gabby Petito) with her boyfriend, bad boy chef from New York, Zeph. They are traveling throughout Europe. However Kier has disappeared, likely in a Portuguese national park.
Detective Elin Warner and her brother Isaac are hoping to reconnect on a trip to this same park and then they start searching for her. Their only clue is a hand drawn map Kier left behind.
Though I wanted this book to be better I guess I enjoyed it more than the first two Elin Warner books, and I’m glad we’ve seen the last of this detective. One of the problems in the book is that a bit more than halfway through there’s a reveal that changes everything and I found what happens after to be completely implausible (no spoilers.). So, book was just OK. ...more
Told in alternating points of view, Crystal Giordano suspects ARC for review. To be published October 8, 2024.
Who doesn’t love a teenage psychopath?
Told in alternating points of view, Crystal Giordano suspects that she and her crew, best friend Gayle and Paul, Trevor and Harmony (she really doesn’t seem to know the rest of them very well for them to be her best friends, but, whatever) are being targeted by the new kid in town, Aaron Fortin. Probably because they are. And he’s a really, really bad guy who is lucky enough to have his parents move just when he needs them to.
Pretty good for YA, if you buy that teenagers are basically mostly awful people just wearing for permission to BE awful. Up to you.
NOTE: I didn’t listen to the audio version; this is being released in book form. ...more
A loose mix of memoir, interviews with other and general reporting, this book examines one woman’s experience ARC for review. Published July 9, 2024.
A loose mix of memoir, interviews with other and general reporting, this book examines one woman’s experience with an eating disorder and a fixation on food that has existed much of her life, and then also looks at weight and disordered eating as a societal issue.
The book is an interesting perspective as the author has spent years working in the fashion industry (most recently for Vogue.). After years of struggle she ultimately gave up her battle to be stick thin and allowed herself to gain weight. It is so disheartening to see how much she still struggles, though, It is somewhat surprising that she has been successful in fashion. She references many books which would be helpful to those seeking to make a deeper, more scholarly dive into the subject. ...more
It’s Halloween in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, (the ONLY home of Mothman, by God!) and here, sweet MARC for review. To be published August 6, 2024.
It’s Halloween in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, (the ONLY home of Mothman, by God!) and here, sweet Mothman owns an organic produce farm, because, of course he does! But, oh no! It’s RAINING on Halloween! Can Mothman and his friends save the holiday?
Cute as can be, of course! Highly recommended. ...more
Funny thing about women and thrillers…I mean, these books are geared toward and marketed to women, rightARC for review. To be published July 9, 2024.
Funny thing about women and thrillers…I mean, these books are geared toward and marketed to women, right? Yet sometimes some seem almost ANTI-woman - women are portrayed as always being acted upon by men, or are making poor decision because of their adoration of men, or the like. And often the women in the books are women who have chosen to leave the work force to raise children, then they suffer because of that. Here’s a book that finally acknowledges, at least, the way things are for women, STILL are for women, and this in an upper class white woman, in this, the year of our Lord, 2024, and she doesn’t even mention the fact that we have had our bodily autonomy stripped from us by a Supreme Court which is mostly male.
In this dual time line book in 2019 Stella Parker has everything (uh-oh) - a great husband, two wonderful kids and she’s a stay at home mom after an early career as a lawyer, with a beautiful house outside of D.C. But something is off. She receives an odd visit from a neighbor that starts her down a strange path. Is her husband having an affair? Or does someone know her secret?
In 1987 Julie Waits wants to be a cheerleader, to have a normal life, with regular friends. But her widowed mother and her boyfriends makes that impossible. Then something happens and things will never be the same again.
What is connection between these two women?
As to life for Stella, she notes there are “things so small she never considered them violent until she stopped to consider what they steal. The interrupting while she’s speaking, the assumptions about her intelligence, the shrinking options to make choices about her body (OK, maybe Roe comes up a little), the underrepresentation in every decision making sphere, the free-for-all on guns that has given her a constant grade of low grade anxiety and the consistent commoditization of the female body to name name the first things that came to mind.” Sing it, sister!
As the work, Stella also determines that “violence is telling women the path is clear when, in fact, it’s filled with land mines in the shape of no children and unequal pay.”
And, “I’ve investigated my fair share of murders. They fall into two categories. Men who get murdered taking risks. And women and children who are murdered trying to survive.” And if you are female you probably nodded your head, even if you just did it in the inside, at that one.
I would love to see more thrillers with at least a bit of this feminist bent. Really elevated this for me. ...more
Another day, another holiday themed cash grab with beloved characters in an abbreviated Yuletide rompARC for review. To be published October 1, 2024.
Another day, another holiday themed cash grab with beloved characters in an abbreviated Yuletide romp, this time it’s the world’s favorite maid….Alice from The Brady Bunch!
Oh, wait. Guess I’m showing my age there. The world’s NEW favorite maid is, of course, Molly Gray, from the two astoundingly popular cozy mystery books.
It’s Christmas time at the Regency Grand Hotel and if you can’t see how this is all going to turn out by about page three, well, let’s just say The Brady Bunch might have been too much for you.
I like, but am not in love with this series, and this installment is so silly you can call me a humbug but I find it hard to suggest that anyone should shell out the suggested print price of $22 ($9.99 for ebook) just to read it. You can catch up on what happens at the beginning of the next book or buy a used copy or something. But you do you. If you are a big fan it’s a perfect stocking stuffer! ...more
I just didn’t get this one. I would say maybe I don’t get trauma, but I don’t think that’s it. To meARC for review. To be published October 29, 2024.
I just didn’t get this one. I would say maybe I don’t get trauma, but I don’t think that’s it. To me, the main character here was just making unexplained conclusions, and I guess we, as readers were just supposed to drift along with that? The whole thing was odd.
So, in it Ruth-Ann Baker, college dropout, bartender and true crime addict is still mourning the loss of her one time best friend Beth Lovely who was murdered by suspected serial killer Ethan Oswald nineteen years ago. Oswald has since died, but now it’s suspected that he did not act alone and now another girl is missing.
So, pretty typical story with not a great resolution. Can’t recommend it. ...more
To the surprise of, wait….show of hands? Hands? No one, the men of clan Kennedy physically, psychologicaARC for review. To be published July 2, 2024.
To the surprise of, wait….show of hands? Hands? No one, the men of clan Kennedy physically, psychologically and emotionally destroy women. This book covers thirteen of them, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Mimi Beardsley, Diana deVegh, Marilyn Monroe, Mary Richardson Kennedy, Kick Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne, Joan Kennedy, , Pamela Kelley, Martha Moxley, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and Rosemary Kennedy.
First off, is anyone asking RFK, Jr,, current candidate for President hard questions about his first wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy? She committed suicide after he cut her off financially and told her she would be better off dead. This delightful charmer also tried to blame two inner city youths, one Black, one brown for the killing of Martha Moxley. Great guy, that RFK, Jr.
And in an effort to keep the Kennedy name clean (um, yeah. About that…) the Kennedy women have become complicit. Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver were instrumental in having a miniseries about the family blocked.
“Kennedy men tended to treat their women as afterthoughts.” They all seem to have “that male Kennedy entitlement that their wives should be mind readers, hostesses who could throw together a dinner for twelve at the last minute, the uncomplaining Cool Girl.”
The book shows, over and over again, how the women are either told explicitly or made to think that they know what they are getting with a Kennedy man, and, therefore, deserve the way in which they are treated. The mere idea of being with a Kennedy man makes up for it. It really makes you want to vomit.
Oh, and you’ll come out hating Diane Sawyer, too. ...more
I have absolutely adored Chizmar’s “Boogeyman” books so I was hoping for great things from this stanARC for review. To be published October 22, 2024.
I have absolutely adored Chizmar’s “Boogeyman” books so I was hoping for great things from this standalone and he mostly delivered…mostly. It’s 1983 and I have feathered hair and a spiral perm (and I DO look gorgeous, thanks so much!)
Oh, and also, in this book, three students, Billy Anderson, Troy Carpenter and Melody Wise from York College in Pennsylvania are taking an American Studies class together. Their assignment is to film a documentary and they have decided to frame theirs around the roadside memorials placed after vehicle accidents. They plan to make a week long road trip to film the memorials and to find loved ones of the deceased to interview. They will film in the Pennsylvania Appalachians, Billy’s home. This is personal to him; he lost both parents in a car accident and they have one of the memorials the trio will cover.
As they go deeper into the mountains they start to notice a symbol on some of the memorials. What does it mean? Paranoia sets in. They feel the locals are treating them oddly. Strange things begin to happen. What is the mystery surrounding the memorials?
The book starts off with a great first sentence, “Later, when the trip went bad, I would remember the bleeding man on the bicycle and wonder if he was a sign of things to come.” I hope Chizmar doesn’t feel it’s an insult to say this is very reminiscent of Stephen King for me, in a good way. And I’m guessing Chizmar would not be miffed in the least, for there are little shout outs and Easter eggs to King throughout the book…I won’t spoil them as they are fun to find for King fans.
The three man characters, narrator Billy, Troy and Melody are all richly drawn. I love that Troy reminds us of the casual racism that was still very much present in the early 1980s (well, OK, is likely still present, but less obvious, now).
The horror aspects of the book are well done. I wasn’t exactly surprised by what went on, as I had called it (to myself) early on, but it was still very strong throughout, and if it dropped off a bit at the end, I can honestly say that probably only speaks well to the tension Chizmar maintains throughout. There were a few things I thought just didn’t make much sense, but, hey, it’s a horror novel, so expecting people to act rationally is probably a little much.
My one problem, and this takes the book to four stars for me instead of five….I have lived in the mountains all my life, not Pennsylvania, but Virginia and West Virginia, so we’re likely considered even more backward than your hoity-toity Pennsylvania hillbillies. The Appalachian stereotypes were a little much. Chizmar plays it as if every mountain town is filled with backwoods lunatics, howling at the moon. Only Billy’s aunt, and the police office escape his glare. There are actual doctors and lawyers and such, even in some of the small towns. Allegedly. I live in a city. You think I go to those small towns? People are crazy there.
That was a joke. Well, I do live in a city, but I just wasn’t crazy about the Appalachian stereotypes. We get a hard enough time.
Other than that, really loved the book. Chizmar is rapidly becoming a “must read” author for me. Now pick on somebody else next time! ...more
