OOF- where has this year gone?! Being an adult is kinda hard, so I went to a Sasha Sloan concert and at least I look cool now 😉
Hope everyone had an excellent Spooktober! My sister threw a Descendants themed party- so you know I had a great time 😉
Speaking of creepy, this was largely a month filled with thrillers, with a handful of romance thrown in to keep things spicy!
The Getaway– I was reasonably surprised that I enjoyed this- even though I’ve been looking for a book like this for quite some time! It’s an isolated thriller, set on an island, where the (mostly wealthy) guests are killed off one by one… What’s not to like? Aside from having an entertaining premise, the characters are intriguingly well drawn, with plenty of secrets up their sleeves. The best part of this book for me was the fact it had a Rupert Murdoch stand in- because seeing the media mogul in an “And Then There Were None” style thriller was exactly what I needed.
Rating: 4/5 bananas
Love on the Brain– this made me remarkably happy- even if it wasn’t the smartest book I’ve ever read. For one thing, it’s not a very good version of the enemies-to-lovers trope, since it solely relies on miscommunication to pull it off. In fact, it relies on miscommunication for way too much of the book. Plus, it had some ridiculously woke views that made very little sense even by woke standards (I don’t know who decided that it’s okay to decide women and minorities are bad at taking tests and so shouldn’t have to do them… but it comes across as pretty offensive to me and an amazingly bad take). Even funnier was the fact the main character had an AOC t-shirt (never understood why anyone would stan a politician- but o-kay). Also, it’s bizarre to forgive someone who slept with your fiancé because she told you it came from a place of jealously- hOW iS ThAT An ExCuSE?!? Oh dear- I’m making this sound like I didn’t like it. Still, I swear there were plenty of good parts! The humour was on point for one! And I loved how she slowly realised how much in common they had. Finally, huge bonus points for not being Kylo Ren fanfic 😉 It’s a flawed book- but I did have a good time with it.
Rating: 4/5 bananas
Verity– well, it’s quite hilarious to me that I found Hoover makes a far better thriller writer than a romance writer. I guess it tells you something about how scary I find her idea of a love story 😉 Following a desperately broke ghostwriter and her job to finish a bedbound (and potentially insane) famous author’s series, this mind-bending thriller will absolutely get inside your head and make you question everything. In fact, I’m still asking questions long after I finished it- which is the sign of a great read. While I guessed some of the twists, I never could’ve figured out the reasons behind them. Other than being a little dark for my taste, it was the perfect thriller.
Rating: 4½/5 bananas
Deadly Waters– so, this twisted Me-Too thriller started off swimmingly, then it sank below my estimation. The idea of a girl killing off rapey and gross frat boys by feeding them to crocodiles was too juicy for me to pass off. The only trouble was the overlong writing and repetitive preachiness meant it just wasn’t snappy enough to keep up the excitement of the premise. There were some great moments (and I particularly liked the satirical edge to the patronising uni’s response “be careful of crocodiles”). Unfortunately, the author seemed to think we wouldn’t get the message if she didn’t beat us over the head with it. I struggled to return to this book after a while. So, see you later alligator, this book was just an average read.
Rating: 3/5 bananas
Dark Objects– here’s a solid mystery, with well-drawn characters and an excellent final twist. This follows a professor of crime scenes who only ever works on cold cases… being drawn into a live case and finding herself embroiled in the outcome. There’s some atmospheric writing, good attention to detail and a killer plot. I thoroughly enjoyed figuring out bits and pieces along the way. Sadly, the author couldn’t pass up a few opportunities to moralise and throw in some random plot points (minor spoiler: I’m really not sure why the author wanted to have the aside of the teenage daughter attempting suicide… I feel like it was just to keep the audience on their toes and because it’s topical? But I feel like it’s a serious enough topic not to be an aside in a book like this). Otherwise, it was a very satisfying read, with an outcome that actually makes sense!
Rating: 4/5 bananas
Ballad of Never After– ahh this was precisely what I needed!! A fun, frothy, fantasy romance, this sequel is packed with romance and curses and tricksy characters! I just loved where Garber is taking this series, introducing more mysteries and some background myths. I was definitely along for the ride as this took some unexpected turns and didn’t end up where I expected. The only downside I’m finding to this series is that I’m enjoying it too much to take notes!
Rating: 5/5 bananas
The Bullet That Missed– Osman returned to form with this third book in the Thursday Murder Club series. While I did enjoy the sequel, I personally found this one far superior, with new characters to grow attached to and the most substantial mystery yet. I loved how this explored even more of the former spy aspect- especially the links it had to spying on the Soviets. There was something so unexpected and heartwarming in that subplot that it made the book all the more joyous for me! And best of all, I really appreciated the double meaning to the title… which I won’t reveal to you, you’ll have to read it for yourself!
Rating: 5/5 bananas
That’s all for now! Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments! And I hope you all had a good month! ❤
the orang-utan librarian 