Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney | Book Review

Adam and Amelia are on a weekend gateway to the snowy mountains of Scotland on their anniversary…it sounds romantic, but the truth is, this is their last attempt to save their marriage which is no longer alive. This weekend will either make or break there marriage, but what they don’t know is that future has another plans for them….One way or another, this romantic weekend is bound to turn ugly as one of them is not being entirely truthful...and they are not entirely alone!

I went into this with very low expectations as I am wary with these type of ‘trouble in marriage‘ kind of books but it was surprisingly good and I really liked the writing.

What worked for me here was the snowy isolated atmosphere we got when they were in the cottage. There were so many foreshadowing author did while these couple thought about things, which kind of was convenient with the big reveal we got by the end. It can be a little unsatisfying for someone but I did not have that much issue with this.

It did felt little slow in some places, where I was not able to guess where all this is going.There were a lot of things that did not feel correctly placed in the story, so that we can have the big reveal in the end.The structure with which it was written…with letters and the twist it was suprising and I liked it.

Very fast read. I liked Alice Feeney writing and how atmospheric it was. This was my first book her, definitely will be reading more from her in the future.

“If every story had a happy ending then we’d have no reason to start again. Life is all about choices, and learning how to put ourselves back together when we fall apart.”

Overall Ratings : 4/5

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The Final Girls by Riley Sager (Trying a New to me Author) | Book Review

I wanted to pick a Riley Sager book for the first time, so went with the one which got me intrigued the most, which was 'Final Girls' AKA his debut novel. But it did not live up to my expectations, was overall an okay read.

'Final Girls' follows Quincy Carpenter, sole survivor of a tragic event happened during a vacation with college friends. She, along with two other girls, who also survived similar tragic events, were dubbed as the final girls by the tabloids. But Quincy hates everything it represents and tries to avoid any limelight and put everything behind with the support of her boyfriend and baking website. But when the first final girl, Lisa, suddenly dies in mysterious circumstances, she tries to get out of her self created prison to uncover the mystery of how Lisa's death is related to her and her past.

It started out very well, I was anticipating a very atmospheric and creepy suspense thriller. But there was only a little part of that here.it was mostly slow and boring, where Quincy is baking, walking and mostly having dialogues with herself and Sam. I wanted to root for her but had trouble connecting or liking her at any level.

The ending was unpredictable but not very believable...I did not like most of the explanations for what happened. I somewhat liked the overall character arc of Quincy but did not like the journey of getting there very much. There were few gory and chilly scenes but they did not help much in making the overall book worth remembering.

Overall an average read, hoping to pick another books by the author with more positive reviews than this one!

Overall Rating - 3.25 stars

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***Suspense Thriller Read*** | Eyeshot by Taylor Adams | Book Review

AMAZON:INDIA | US

A very solid & intense thriller! 

This has to be the first time I am reading a thriller set in a desert and I loved the setting of this book. A deadly sniper is targeting this young couple - James and Elle Eversman, in the open grounds of Mojave desert. They are completely out in the open with nowhere to go, with only their broken-down car as a protection. Are they going to survive the bullet of this killer? For how long? Will they get the chance to start a new life in Tulsa? - With very slim chances and so many chapters left, I also wondered the same thing! 

There were so many odds against them and so much to lose, and all this made to a very tense and thrilling ride for readers. I loved the couple and their relationship; it was hard not to. Author spent so much time on their backstories, it was hard not to get attached with them. We also got the chapters from the killer’s perspective so the action was not all one sided. 

The only reason I did not give it five stars was because there were some moments where I felt the book was a little slow, as we spent a big amount of time on exploring the backstories of our characters. The scenes also felt unrealistic in few places. It was not a big issue for me, but it takes you out of the action a bit. 

I loved Taylor Adams writing, which I also liked in ‘No Exit’, so it was not a surprise. He writes such gripping action thriller scenes, worthy of being on a movie. It steals your attention and expand your imaginary senses! Definitely planning on reading my last unread book ‘Our Last Night’ by him soon! 

OVERALL RATING  - 4/5

BUY ON AMAZON : INDIA | US

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I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Iain Reid | Book Review

AMAZON: INDIA | US

Weird and kind of unexpected.... but in a good way!

This was such a unique experience for me. I went into this book knowing that the twist is quite polarizing among readers and not fully understandable. And I completely agree why.

It started out with a basic scenario - Jake and his unnamed girlfriend are heading towards a secluded farm to meet Jake’s parents. His Girlfriend is thinking of ending things with him and trying to justify and debate the reasoning with herself before confronting.

In the middle of this, there is also a strange man who is leaving missed calls and creepy messages to the girlfriend. On their way, the couple has discussions related to relationship, solitude, memory and some other random philosophical things.

"Just tell your story. Pretty much all memory is fiction and heavily edited. So just keep going."

"The more we tell ourselves that we should always be happy, that happiness is an end in itself, the worse it gets."

And for the major part of the book I seriously had no idea where we were going with this story. There were so many directions this book could have gone at that point, but then they finally reached their destination and met the parents. But after that the things got interesting as we had more creepiness and suspense in the story. And then something else happened, and the story took a bizarre turn and got more creepy. The ending was not very predictable but as the author gave us so many clues, I kind of also went through that possibility in my mind. So, I was not shocked, but still loved the ending and the way it was executed.

I really liked Iain Reid’s writing, it was introspective, atmospheric and creepy. The first 30% was a little slow for me but I loved the second half of the book. This is one book where author left a lot for its reader to make sense of. Not sure if I understood every single thing, but it was enough for me to appreciate the book. 

Will surely read more by Iain Reid in future!

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OVERALL RATING : 4/5

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AMAZON: INDIA | US

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'Everything I Never Told You' by Celeste Ng | Book Thoughts / Review

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.

So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.

A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

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MY THOUGHTS / REVIEW

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Lee family’s middle and the favourite child, ‘Lydia’, is dead - we literally start ‘Everything I Never Told You’ with this sad piece of information. And that sets the tone of the overall book perfectly well, because things get sadder as we delve further into the story.

Going into the book I expected a mystery/ thriller book with a strange family dynamics in the mix, but it was completely the other way around. This book gets deep into the mind of this Chinese-American family, and we get to know everything about them - from the background of James & Marilyn (the parents), to how they met and how their childhood shaped them into the way they are now and how it affects the relationship with their children.

I had a very hard time liking the parents. I can understand their background, their interracial marriage and how hard things had to be in the 1950s for them, but the ignorant way they treated their children just made me a little angry and sad. Lydia, the favourite child is burdened under the expectations of her parents, while they completely ignored their oldest son Nath and youngest daughter Hannah. It was so hard to see all three siblings and coping with things in their own way. That was the most depressing part for me to read, seeing their hopes, dreams and love for their parents.

Overall, it was an emotional, sad yet a realistic and a little hopeful read. I really liked the writing style of Celeste Ng. Her character development was on point and realistic and I felt somehow connected to this family. 
This was my introduction of Ng, and I will definitely read more books by her in future!

OVERALL RATING : 4.25/5

BUY ON AMAZON: INDIA | US

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Book Review | The Passengers You Cannot See by The Behrg

Every story has its beginning and end. But some stories won’t let go. Some stories dig their claws into you. They infect your dreams. They carve out a residence in your mind. They become passengers . . .

Ones that never leave.

Within this collection of short stories by esteemed horror author The Behrg you will discover a haunted house that is not quite what it seems. A trophy collector who prefers living statues to cold ones. A truck driver who, with one good deed, finds more than he bargained for. And a world where happiness can no longer be felt.

Light and darkness. Hope and despair. Depravities and humanity. These passengers and more await. And they’ve been sharpening their claws to greet you.

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MY THOUGHTS

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'The Passengers You Cannot See' is a collection of 15 short horror stories, and you have all different sub-genres of horror in these stories. Few of them I really liked & few were either disappointing or too boring for me.

Stories I really liked :

- One Star Review : Creepy & dark side of a writer, I really liked the twist in this one

- Kill Your Darlings : It was really disturbing and I liked the concept very much

- Patterns : This one was kind of psychological and paranormal horror, and the twist completely took me by surprise.

- Stillborn: Another one with creepy & cool concept, really liked this one.

Apart from this, there were few stories I thought had so much potential but due to the writing style author chose, made them so vague and kind of pointless that I lost my interest. And few were just underwhelming and not scary at all.

Overall, I really liked the concept but the writing style was so not for me.

MY RATINGS : 2/5

**Received an eARC from Netgalley and Victory Editing for an honest review**

GET THIS ON AMAZON : INDIA | US

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And Then There Were None | Agatha Christie | Book Thoughts

Ten strangers gets trapped in this private island called 'Soldier (or Indian in some editions) Island', allured by its mysterious owner for a weekend getaway. As we uncover the sinister intention of their mysterious host, it seems that these guests are also not as innocent as they appear. Next comes a series of deaths in the sequence of this old nursery rhyme of ‘Ten Little Soldiers (or Indians)’. Will these guests be able to identify the mastermind of this trap and escape the island? Or they will fall prey to this well thought out murderous mayhem? 

My fourth read by Agatha Christie and so far the best by her! I just love mystery/thriller with ‘trapped in an island/house/cabin/jungle’ kind of premise and this was one of the best I have read with this trope. Definitely different from her previous books I have read where we are following a specific person investigating a murder. But none the less very engaging and fun read!

I loved the inclusion of the nursery rhyme in the story; it added the creepy factor in this mysterious story. Following all these characters with their inner demons, so in contrast to their reputation was very interesting to uncover. I loved the ending and how things were revealed. 

Definitely one of the accessible classics, which keeps you hooked from beginning to the very end. And one of the few books I will go back and reread for sure in future!

MY RATING : 5/5

Buy on Amazon : US | India

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Book Thoughts | ****Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn****

I have mixed feelings about this book. Maybe I was expecting a lot because of the interesting premise and few good reviews I read, as for me it was overall an average read. Still, I liked the way it started and how disturbing few things were.

Our protagonist 'Camille', a reporter, is back in her hometown to cover a story on a girl’s disappearance, somehow related to a murder happened in town a few months back. Now here in Wind Gap, Camille has to face her distant mother and 13 years old step-sister she doesn’t know much about. As she delves more into the case and young victims, she slowly remembers the incidents from her past she is not ready to deal with. Are these murders connected to her past or is it something else?

As I said earlier, I really liked few disturbing incidents in the book and the premise was so up my alley that I was super-hyped for this one. It started very well, I really liked the super depressing family dynamic. All the characters were unlikable, so I did not expect to connect with any of them.And I really did not like Camille, and some of her actions towards the end of the book did not make much sense, those felt more for the shock value instead of adding much to the plot. But few shocking reveals about these characters were disturbing and I liked them.

I guessed the real killer, so ending was not very shocking or unpredictable. And I did not like the way actual killer was revealed at the end, it was so quick and abrupt! Instead of showing us the actual events, we were just told about them, I so did not like that.

Overall, it was engaging but a little underwhelming read, especially compared to some other mystery/thrillers I have read so far this year. But this is Gillian Flynn’s first book, so would love to read her later books - ‘Dark Places’ &‘Gone Girl’ and then will see.

CW : Self Harm, sexualization of underage, murder and child abuse (to some extent).

OVERALL RATING - 3 out of 5 Stars!

Get it on Amazon here

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Book Thoughts | The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

The Broken Girls is a suspenseful, creepy unresolved mystery kind of book with great ghost story and historical elements mixed into it! This has to be my favourite read so far this year, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

So, we are following two timelines - past (1950) and present (2014) in Vermont, both somehow connected to this Boarding School called 'Idlewild Hall'. In 1950, we follows four roommates, who bonds over the haunted stories of Mary Hand, a ghost rumored to be haunting this school. In 2014, we are following Fiona Sheridan, a journalist who is still not over her sister's murder which happened over 20 years ago. Her murder was resolved and the guilty party was convicted. But Fiona still is not convinced that this is the whole truth. Her search for uncovering the whole truth leads us deep within the history of Idlewild Hall and an unresolved disappearance that happen in that other timeline.

I loved both timelines, but my favourite was the 1950 one, which was more creepy and atmospheric with awesome friendships between all girls. All four girls had a very different personalities and past, which we slowly gets to know. 2014 timeline was more on the mystery/suspense side, where we follow Fiona as she is uncovering the past and what actually happened to her sister in 1994 and girls in 1950.

The best part of this book was that it was not at all what I expected when I started. There were few expected turns but mostly it went on a totally different direction. I felt very connected with all the characters and was able to empathize a lot. This is definitely one book which is going to stick with me for various reasons for a very long time. My first Simone St James book and I loved her writing style, it was atmospheric and engaging. Will be picking more from her!

FULL RATINGS - 5/5 

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Book Thoughts | The Martian by Andy Weir

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

MY THOUGHTS

I am trying to get into more Sci-fi this year and 'The Martian' was my first choice for that. Having seen the movie and really loving it, I was really hyped for it. And it was a good time for most of the part.

Loved Mark Watney as the protagonist. There was something hopeful and positive about him, that even in the bleakest of the situation we had a ton of hope and cheer inside us as we follows his log entries. 

“Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be “in command” if I were the only remaining person.”What do you know? I’m in command”

“I started the day with some nothin’ tea. Nothin’ tea is easy to make. First, get some hot water, then add nothin’.”

Loved the humor and smart ways Watney tackled all the impossible tasks one by one. On some level, all this made me motivated enough to tackle my issues one by one without thinking about all of them on a whole level and freaking out!

What I did not expect was to like the whole Ares-3 crew and the little tidbits of their personal life. I loved their dynamics and interactions. I also loved reading about the team from Earth which helped Watney throughout the book. 

The reason this was not a 5 star for me was the large amount of scientific terms and info dumping we got in many places. Sometimes there were paragraphs after paragraphs of them. I was overwhelmed, and honestly, a bit bored in few places and had to reread them more than once. It took me a while to adjust with that and I finished this in a whole month. 

By the end, I appreciated a lot of those things and got on-board with the writing. But I still liked the movie more than the book and it's definitely time for a re-watch!

MY RATING - 4/5

BUY ON AMAZON HERE

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The Perfect Mother by Caroline Mitchell | Book Review

She thought they wanted her baby. But they won’t stop there.

Roz is young, penniless and pregnant. All she wants is to be the perfect mother to her child, but the more she thinks about her own chaotic upbringing, the more certain she is that the best life for her baby is as far away as possible from her hometown in Ireland.

Determined to do the right thing, Roz joins an elite adoption service and can’t believe her luck. Within days she is jetting to New York to meet a celebrity power couple desperate for a child of their own. Sheridan and Daniel are wealthy and glamorous—everything Roz isn’t. Her baby will never go hungry, and will have every opportunity for the perfect life. But soon after Roz moves into their plush basement suite, she starts to suspect that something darker lurks beneath the glossy surface of their home.

When Roz discovers she isn’t the first person to move in with the couple, and that the previous woman has never been seen since, alarm bells start ringing. As the clock ticks down to her due date, Roz realises her unborn baby may be the only thing keeping her alive, and that despite her best intentions, she has walked them both into the perfect nightmare…

**Received an eARC from netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK in exchange for an honest review**

Overall Rating - 3.5 stars

When 24 years old Roz finds herself pregnant and penniless, she turns to an adoption site in the hopes of providing a better life for her baby. A too good to be true opportunity comes along when a celebrity couple decides to adopt Roz's baby. But everything is not as simple as it seems, and by the time Roz realizes that, it might be too late to back out.

The interesting premise convinced me to request for this book. Overall it was a fun ride! I liked the Mitchell's writing and short chapters, it made this book an easy and quick read. Roz was an okay MC, but I was not too attached to her. Sheridan was a complex, quite an evil and unlikable character, but you do feel bad for her sense of desperation in some places.

I really liked the deep friendship and progression of mother- daughter relationship shown in the book, there were some good moments. Plot and story was okay, but the mystery and thriller aspect of it was underwhelming. It had a very strong start but got kind of went pretty average by the end.

Overall an enjoyable book, but not a very strong mystery/thriller for me.

Buy from Amazon here

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Book Review | The Long Walk by Stephen King

In the near future, when America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Among them is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty, and he knows the rules—keep a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you’re out—permanently.

My Thoughts 

I had to think about my feelings about this book before writing my review. 

And let me tell you - my feelings are very mixed and complicated!

To start with what I liked — I really liked the simple premise of this competition in the dystopian world. I liked how bleak and brutal things turned out as we got deeper into the competition.And that simple premise turned into unsettling and full fledged series of horror events. That was my favourite part of the book!

What I did not like is basically my usual complaint with King. I have never liked the unnecessary sexual things in his stories, and this book was no different. We are in the head of this sixteen years old horny virgin teenager and let me tell you that was not a pleasant feeling for me to read! I can understand few of these things, given the time and person, but understanding does not mean I enjoy reading them. It always brings me out of the story and make me resent them! And there were so many instances which were not really necessary!

Second thing which really bugged me was how weak the reasoning of our MC to join this competition was. I thought maybe we will be able to understand his motivation further, but it was very weak and unconvincing to me. I was able to understand other boys' reasoning and mindset but was not sure of Garraty's, despite being inside his head! I was also not a big fan of the ending, it was nothing special.

Not my best read from him, I liked his ' Salem's lot' a lot better. But an interesting read overall!

OVERALL RATING (out of 5)-  ★★★

Buy online - Amazon (IN)

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Book Review | Hunted by Darcy Coates

She only went off the trail for a moment...

22-year-old Eileen goes missing while hiking in the remote Ashlough Forest. Five days later, her camera is discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken after her disappearance.

Chris wants to believe Eileen is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends create their own search party to scour the mountain range. As they stray further from the hiking trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to believe they’re not alone in the forest… and that Eileen’s disappearance wasn’t an accident.

By that point, it’s too late to escape.

MY THOUGHTS

I had a very good experience with Darcy’s previous book, ‘Dead Lake’ and that continued with her terribly underrated ‘Hunted’ too. Synopsis gave me pretty much the whole idea what to expect from this book, but it turned out much more than that!

Darcy Coates gives us a horror novel with the mystery/thriller elements in it. We see one part of events happening from Chris and his friends’ perspectives as they go on this unofficial search mission. Another part we see from Carla’s perspective, the police officer assigned on Eileen’s case and her investigation. I absolutely loved the way Coates laid out this story before us, absolutely loved her engaging and atmospheric writing! The revelation towards the end was good, it was not very predictable (not to me, atleast!).

All the characters were interesting to read, they were flawed and many of them were frustrating but won me by the end!

Talking about the characters -

Todd was one of Chris's friend who had a weird obsession with Eileen, which I found creepy as hell. I felt a little bad for him in some places, but he was still a creep!

Chris, one of our main POV, was a frustrating character for me. He started out very well, but as we got further into this search, I pulled my hair out so many times due to some of his choices. I get where he is coming from and understood his actions, but those actions were so not helpful for him and his friends.

Loved Anna and Hailey, both were complete opposite but smart as hell. Anna was the brain of the group and lifesaver on so many points. Hailey was a complete surprise for me and became one of my favourite by the end!

Carla, our another main POV, was complete opposite to Chris.I hated her in the beginning, but as we got into her backstory, we understood her as a person and why she was this way. I really liked her by the end!

Overall, it was surprisingly a very good book with interesting characters. I really liked this college friends group and their friendshio  which was a nice change for a horror novel!

Loved it!

OVERALL RATING - 4.5 Stars!

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Book Review | No Exit by Taylor Adams

On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside, are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?

Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.

But who can she trust? 

MY THOUGHTS

I am in such a thriller/horror mood from past few weeks that following that mood, I picked 'No Exit' for my Jan TBR. And it was a good book to start my year with, such a thrilling ride! 

The book started with your usual 'people got stuck in a blizzard' kind of situation and took such an interesting turn! It was like a chess game between good vs evil — between our protagonist vs antagonist, where they kept trying to outdo the other. I like that trope a lot in my mystery/thriller. And add Taylor Adams's atmospheric and engaging writing with this, it was a solid read in this genre.

What I did not like -

Convenient dumb actions taken by Darby (our MC) to move things forward. It really bugs me in mystery/thriller/horror when such 'out of character' actions are the catalyst for moving the story forward. It happened with our evil guys too and that made me remove one star from this book.

But despite this, I really liked the overall story and writing style. This was an engaging book, and I was not bored for a second!

Definitely will be picking more from this author!

Overall rating — 4 stars!

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Book Review | Snowball by Gregory Bastianelli

A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays.

MY THOUGHTS

**Received ARC from netgalley in exchange for a free review**

I requested this book because I found the premise to be totally up my alley and the kind of horror I like. Overall, it was a 3 star read for me. There were things I really liked and few things were kind of disappointing.

Eight vehicles get stuck on their way to a highway on Christmas Eve. So, the perfect time for me to read it! And we spend the first half of the book following these people and get to know them a little. Which I think was great as it helped in forming the attachment to get invested in them. I really liked the way author created tension and the chills I got from descriptions. Those were my favourite parts! There was a little romance which was so cliche, we could have done better without it. And that was the only thing I was not a fan of in the first half.

The problem started with the second half. All this buildup and anticipation made me hoping for something more. So, when the second half came and all the action started, it kind of went ‘meh’ for me. What really did not work for me was the direction it all went. All the bloody and gory part was underwhelming, I expected this to be a little more gruesome, which it was not. And the explanation for everything? We spent so little time processing that and it was so ineffective because of that. I felt nothing for the antagonist, nothing! Wished author spent more time on the second half as he did for the first half. 

Overall, it was an okay book. Will surely pick his other books and hope to like them more!

MY RATING - 3/5 

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Book Review | The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When Rowan came across an advert for Nanny position, she could not believe this too good to be true opportunity. Next thing she knows, she is hopping on a train to Scotland for the interview, and there she encounters the Heatherbrae House and is mesmerized by the perfect beauty of house, scottish highlands and the Elincourt family. 

But every good thing comes with a price, and Rowan realizes that when she spends more dark and haunted nights in that tech enabled Victorian house. 

Is it truly haunted or it is just an old man’s tale?

Now on remand for a murder she did not commit, Rowan goes back to her whole encounter and tries to reflect upon this very mystery.

MY THOUGHTS

‘The Turn of the Key’ is my first introduction to Ruth Ware and has to be my second or third mystery/thriller of 2019. And I have to say, the best thing about this book, hands down is Ruth’s writing style and the format with which the whole story is being narrated. Her ability to create such atmospheric and creepy scenes with that much clarity makes her a very talented writer in this specific genre (house thriller). I really loved the way she described the house, all polished and advanced on the surface, yet rusty and creepy to the very core.

“There was a strange feeling of split identity too—as though the house was trying hard to be one thing, while Sandra and Bill pulled it relentlessly in the other direction, chopping off limbs, performing open-heart surgery on its dignified old bones, trying to make it into something against its own will—something it was never meant to be, modern and stylish and slick, where it wanted to be solid and self-effacing”

Now as much as I loved the way it was conveyed, this book took a very long time to actually get into exciting parts of the plot. It started out very slow, as we got into the very detailed narration of Rowan’s experience of starting out her job with Elincourt family. Author spent a very large portion of the book with all the descriptions to create a visual story for us to experience. I loved the payoff but getting there was quite slow in some places.

Now coming to the actual ending - I was quite underwhelmed by it. Not because of the ending itself, but rather the abruptness of that ending. The last 10% of the book felt quite rushed and we did not spent much time with all the explanations of what happened. I would have loved to explore that part a little bit.

Overall, I really liked the book, and the short chapters made the book quite easy to read, even when it was slow.

Definitely a great intro to this new author, will be picking her other work for sure!

Did you read any mystery this month? How was it? Let me know in the Comments below!

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Book Review | Half a King (Half a King #1) by Joe Abercrombie

I really wanted to pick a Joe Abercrombie book this year, but was not ready for his 'First Law Series' and the commitment it would have brought with so many books after the original trilogy. So, I started with his YA one and read 'Half a king' - It was wonderful! I was completely hooked from start to finish and completely flew through the whole book!

PREMISE

Born with a bad hand and soft heart, Prince Yarvi is considered as a weakling in the eyes of his people. He wants no part of all the politics and bloody war in his life and plans of joining ministry and serve his country that way. 

But of course nothing goes as planned,he finds himself with the throne after the unexpected death of his father. With the throne he gets the biggest betrayal of his life and we see how it changes his entire world and gets him in the slavery and in the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea.

Will he be able to take his revenge and reclaim his lost throne and power from someone once very dear to him? That is the rest of the story!

MY THOUGHTS

This book has so many tropes I like in my fantasy -  'Coming of Age', 'Underdog', reluctant ownership of throne', 'Friends becoming Family' and best of all 'Revenge' trope! Joe Abercrombie pulls each of them masterfully and with a lot of heart in it. Creating awesome and morally gray characters whom we cannot help but fall in love, is I think one of his best strength! 

Loved Yarvi as our main character, he starts out as a soft hearted naive boy with a sharp mind, but as he goes through so many hardships and meets new people, he gains a new strength,shrewdness and confidence in himself which was just awesome to see! I was so rooting for him on every step. I also loved all the people he met and friends he made along the way. They were some very shady people with questionable morals, but fun and interesting to read! The hardship and camaraderie Yarvi shared with his unexpected set of friends was my favourite part of this whole book!

It was also very adventurous and sometimes very bleak and little bit dark for a YA book, but it was not 'hard- to -digest dark' or borderline 'grimdark' ( even though I will love that too!) to read. I loved the travelling part and the high stakes at every steps also made it a very thrilling read for me. 

I loved Abercrombie's writing style, it was quite direct but not simple, little flourished but not flowery and it made the whole reading experience more engaging for me!

OVERALL RATING - 4.5 Stars!

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Book Thoughts | Unwind (Unwind #1) by Neal Shusterman

Set in the near-future USA, 'Unwind' takes place in a dystopian society, where parents can legally order their children to be unwound, i.e dissect their body parts as organ donors, with or without their consent. The book starts when Conner - a troublesome teen, finds out that his parents are ordering him 'unwound' and runs away from home. On his way, he meets other unwinds like him - Risa and Lev, who have their own history and situation and rest is about their journey and whether or not they escape from the government.

⧭⧭ MY THOUGHTS ⧭⧭

After I got over my shock from the horrifying world and the social norms, I was completely engrossed and quickly finished the whole thing. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge how unique and interesting the premise is. I have not read many dystopian books (not even 'Hunger Games') as it never attracted me, but this was surprisingly engaging and thought-provoking on so many levels. I felt bad for many characters, some I really liked and few really angered me but I 'felt' something for each of the characters and that is a very rare occurrence for me (especially in YA).

This is my first Neal Shusterman book and I especially liked his writing style and the subtle way he writes every horrifying detail. For Example, this book has a scene where we are finally seeing how unwinding actually happens in harvesting camp and that was so bleak and terrifying, but not 'In your face' kind of way, I really like that about the author.

Will definitely be continuing the series, as I want to know more about this world and what will happen next. I also have more of the author's other series to catch up, so I can see a lot of Shusterman in my future reads.

Overall - 4.75 Stars!

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Book Thoughts | The Priory of the Orange Tree | Samantha Shannon

Finally finished this book and made myself write down all my thoughts before the words escape me. And I will start it by saying that I had a very complex journey with this one. It took me almost three months to finish it. But still I am glad I finished this and able to appreciate many things Samantha Shannon did with 'The Priory of the Orange Tree'.

My favourite part has to be the 'World Building'.! I loved how Samantha created such an intricate world and explored all the sides of it in detail, especially the conflict between East and West. We get to see our four POVs from the very far end of the world and parallelly we get to see their religion, their shared history with their ultimate enemy and how it shapes the world and beliefs as it is now. The way both sides converge in the second half through the past and present was amazing.

Characters - As I mentioned above, we have four perspectives from both sides of the world.

We have Ead Duryan, in the court of Inys (west), as a lady in waiting for the queen.

Tané, an ambitious student aiming to be a dragon rider (east).

Areloth Beck (Loth), a noble and close friend of Ead & Queen(west).

Niclays, an exiled alchemist in the East.

I liked all of them from the start with the exception of Tané. Due to some stupid move by her in the beginning, I had trouble warming up to her. But she grew on me as the book progressed. Another thing I really liked was all the character arcs. All the experiences and hardships these characters had was believable and developed them as an individual. I did not like Sabran at all and cannot tell you a more useless queen than her. But I liked all the other secondary characters and their role in the overall journey.

Most people really liked the romance, but I was not a super fan of it. It was refreshing to see F/F romance, but I was not completely sold into it.


The plot was kind of meandering and felt aimless many times. I would have appreciated it if I have not lost my interest so many times in between. It kind of dragged and that had me feeling - What is the point? But things started picking up a lot in the second half and I enjoyed it a lot more after that. There were so many angles and scenes I wanted to be explored but it did not happen. Instead, we spent an incredible length of the amount in court doing not much - that took most of the first half of the book! I would have also loved to see more about the dragon but that was a very secondary part of the overall book which I did not like.

I loved Samantha Shannon's writing. It was easy to follow and the detailed way she described the surroundings and how easily I was able to picturise the places and differences in the locations. But I would say that action scenes are not her strongest point. These scenes did not thrill me or made my heart jump with the anticipation or the consequences. That is why the 'Final Battle' kind of underwhelmed me!

Overall, I am glad I finished this as I really liked the last 40% of the book more than the rest. Would love to see more in this world about all the characters. Especially with that end scene with one of the character, that was so open-ended!

Overall Rating - 3.5 Stars!

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