Review: The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Right from the start this book sounded edgy and different. I haven’t read anything by Hank Phillippi Ryan before, but I liked that the main character in this book sounded like she had her shit together but yet it might all be a lie.

I have been having quite a bit of luck with thrillers this summer but I was looking for something with a little more suspense rather than the thrills and chills of a psychological thriller and this book sounded like it would fit the bill. I mean it does have ‘a novel of suspense’ in its formal title on Goodreads!

Eager to read this one, I started it one afternoon and flew through it in a few days time! If you love interesting and suspenseful legal mysteries then you will probably devour this one as quickly as I did! Continue reading “Review: The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan”

Review: The Perfect Son by Lauren North

Full disclosure, I wanted to read this book because I loved the cover. It was eye catching and coupled with the title suggested and interesting and complex mystery that I was instantly dying to read.

This book is also the author’s debut and I was even more excited to read it since her author bio sounded so relatable! Here’s the CliffNotes version—Lauren’s love of psychological suspense has grown since childhood and her dark imagination of always wondering what’s the worst thing that could happen in every situation—I felt like I found my person!

Like many kids I had a huge imagination but unlike other kids who were dreaming of unicorns and rainbows, I was fascinated by the worst case scenario. For instance, I wondered what would happen in a car crash and I also watched the weather channel like it was the most intense thriller known to man (I loved natural disasters) and I was constantly questioning what would happen is a volcano erupted and how bad it would actually be. Needless to say I have never out grown that imaginative phase. So when I read her author bio I was like—F(*@ YES I need this book! Continue reading “Review: The Perfect Son by Lauren North”

Review: The Matrimonial Advertisement (Parish Orphans of Devon #1) by Mimi Matthews

I read a short story by Mimi Matthews back in December last year and loved it but it was months before I read one of her full novels. In fact, I just read my first full length book by Matthews a couple of weeks ago and I fell even more in love with her writing!

So much so, that I knew without a doubt that I needed to read all of her books and the sooner the better. So I binged this book in the space of 24 hours. I started with the Audible edition, but quickly changed to the written form since I read much faster that way and I needed to know what happened next.

If you haven’y discovered Mimi Matthews yet—you simply need to. She writes historical romances but more of the drawing room type rather than bodice rippers. That’s not to say that her romances don’t pack some heat, she writes novels with rich chemistry between the characters and I was excited to see how the romance in this book came together but most of all I wanted a happy ending! Continue reading “Review: The Matrimonial Advertisement (Parish Orphans of Devon #1) by Mimi Matthews”

Review: The Me I Used to Be by Jennifer Ryan

I was kind of lukewarm about this one when it came up for review, but I’ve heard such great things about Jennifer Ryan’s cowboy romances so I was interested to see if her romance talents transferred over to a different style of romance novel.

I haven’t read anything by her but I was open giving this book a try if nothing else beyond being curious about a new romance. I’ve had great luck with women’s fiction and romances lately so I felt like, why not?

Even if I was lukewarm about it initially, I thought the author sounded experienced and the book itself had a fun setting (Napa) so if nothing else I would get a well written book with a lot of wine! Continue reading “Review: The Me I Used to Be by Jennifer Ryan”

Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audible Edition)

I am about to come at you with an unpopular opinion. I haven’t read Lord of the Rings, I watched the films but was completely lost and hated them so much. I’ve tried to watch them so many times and simply gave up.

This is a series that I want to love so so so bad. I have multiple copies of the books but I am afraid to read them because I hated the movies so much and feared I would find the books boring.

Having discovered audiobooks recently, I thought this would be a good time to try my hand at reading this classic series especially with this fantastic narrator. After all, Tolkien is like the inventor of the modern fantasy genre so it’s basically required reading in my opinion! Continue reading “Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audible Edition)”