Search

Search only in certain items:

Intelligence Check (Dungeons and Dating #3)
Intelligence Check (Dungeons and Dating #3)
Katherine McIntyre | 2022 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mason has a big-time crush on Hunter who they work with. However, when they were drunk and made a pass at Hunter, he turned him down flat out, leaving Mason a little heartbroken but he kept the friendship going. Hunter has an attraction toward Mason and wishes he could tell them what truly beautiful and wholesome human being they are and how they make him feel.


Oh my gosh, this story is beautiful! It's the third instalment of the dungeons and dating series and every story is written with so much feeling and passion that you get an understanding of each character.


Both Mason and Hunter have their different heartaches regarding drugs and addiction, you get a feel of the turmoil both characters have going on inside them and in some instances have my heart breaking for them.


It is a beautiful story that focuses on drug misuse, the loss of loved ones through drug use and the love and friendship people can find in the darkest of times
  
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Love Will Tear Us Apart
C. K. McDonnell | 2023 | Horror, Humor & Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I try to avoid book series like the plague (commitment issues). But here we are, and I’d like to start The Stranger Times Addiction Club. I listened to Love Will Tear Us Apart on audiobook, and the narrator Brendan McDonald has made me realise that I’ll probably need to buy all subsequent Stranger Times instalments on audiobook as well (except for the next one - I’ve already read that on NetGalley. Review to follow 🫢). Brendan, you are superb!

Bancroft thinks his wife is still alive and he’s acting very strangely; Hannah (assistant editor) has not only had the cheek to resign, but she’s gone to a spa as well; and an ex-columnist (who never strictly existed) has disappeared. Sounds confusing? Well, that’s The Stranger Times for you!

God, I enjoyed this - these books are always so uplifting (like some of the staff!), and I laughed so much. Which is ideal on your dog walk…

This is a series that I really don’t mind being caught up in at all. Just fabulous!
  
Two Sisters
Two Sisters
Kerry Wilkinson | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
9
8.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Such a great Read
Two Sisters By Kerry Wilkinson is well worth a read.
I would describe this as a psychological mystery but with the added bonus of it dipping its toe into the waters of mental illness and addiction to.
To summarise we have two sisters Megan and Chloe who after the death of their parents in a road accident, journey back to their parents holiday cottage in Whitecliff to stay, supposedly to sort out their affairs and get the cottage in order.
But for Megan, there are different reasons for her return she has received a postcard with the letter Z spelt on it.
years ago the girls older brother Zak went missing at Whitecliff his body never found, Megan the oldest sister is determined to figure out the truth of what has happened to her brother and she will bulldoze down whoever gets in her way.
Now the sisters are an interesting pair, having spent their time at different boarding schools growing up, these two are like chalk and cheese.
We have Chloe the younger of the two nearly seventeen a bit shy, but friendly and open, Chloe doesn't like to rock the waters and I get the impression she's a bit of a people pleaser. She's also a fabulous artist, A vegan and looks like her mother.
Now Megan, by contrast, is the exact polar opposite of her younger sister, she's prickly, bad tempered, goes out of her way to cause strife and shock in people.
there's a lot of deep-seated issues that are girl needs to get a handle on she is addicted to prescription drugs which she acquires through dubious means and as if that's not enough she is also suffering from an eating disorder, which her sister pretends to turn a blind eye too.
So as you can see there is an awful lot going on here.
As the story progresses truths that people want buried come to light, Megan puts herself and sister in extreme danger and some people are so not what they seem in Whitecliff.
Two sisters was definitely a page turner with a flowing easy storyline that sucked you in from the start. I especially appreciated Megan's issues, this added a whole extra layer to the storyline enriching it greatly. Eating disorders are a subject close to my heart, so it was fascinating to kind of get into the mindset of an individual suffering from this type of mental illness. The addiction storyline was also an extremely fascinating issue, we often see drug taking in novels but prescription drug addiction, even know so prevalent, is not explored so frequently in fiction.
But I have to say my favourite aspect of Two Sisters was seeing the two girls connect together after being virtual strangers growing up, now that was really charming indeed.
So, in conclusion, I found this a Fabulous book and I would definitely recommend this to other readers.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance reader copy of Two Sisters by Kerry Wilkinson. This is my own unbiased opinion of this novel.

Arc Reviewed By BeckieBookworm
https://www.beckiebookworm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
  
Who Did You Tell?
Who Did You Tell?
Lesley Kara | 2020 | Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Compelling and engrossing
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of "The Rumour" comes another cracking story from Lesley Kara.

I was looking forward to reading this after having read and enjoyed Ms Kara's debut novel "The Rumour" and I certainly wasn't disappointed although this was sometimes a difficult read due to the main character, Astrid, being a recovering alcoholic with a chequered history.

Initially, Astrid was a difficult character to like but as the novel moved on, I found myself rooting for her to succeed against the inner voices in her head pulling her back towards the demon drink and although I am not an alcoholic, recovering or current, it does feel authentic. The way Ms Kara describes the impact addiction has not only on the person themselves but also on the family and wider relationships is well captured in this book.

Astrid is trying to rebuild her life - moving back to her childhood home to live with her mum, attending AA meetings, trying to rekindle her gift of painting, rebuilding the trust of her mum but she is full of shame and guilt regarding events she recalls from her past drinking days; events that only she and her ex-boyfriend know about or so she thought ... someone is watching her, someone is sending her notes, someone is going out of their way to try and prevent her from moving on.

The book is told mainly from Astrid's point of view with snippets included from the "stalker's" perspective. This, I think, was genius as it not only immersed me into Astrid's thought processes and daily struggles with addiction but also gave me an idea of what she was up against.

The story starts quite slowly but develops in intensity and pace with twists along the way and although you would think it would be heavy-going given the subject matter, it isn't as there are lighter moments sprinkled throughout. All of the characters are well developed and interesting and the setting of the small coastal town is perfect.

This is a compelling and engrossing read dealing with a difficult subject matter with sensitivity and one I would definitely recommend to readers who like to get their teeth into something a bit different.

Many thanks to RandomHouse UK, Transworld Publishers via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
  
40x40

Christine A. (965 KP) rated Lies in Books

Dec 9, 2018  
Lies
Lies
T. M. Logan | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
8
8.3 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
Quick read (0 more)
Rollercoaster of twists and lies
Wow! I am a frequent reader of psychological thrillers and nearly always can figure out the twists, turns and the obligatory “big reveal”. With T.M. Logan’s “Lies”, I found myself on a rollercoaster of twists and lies. This quick read book felt as if each chapter ended on a cliffhanger that made the book impossible to put down.

The author did such a fantastic job at making the characters so realistic I sympathized with them, but was also suspicious of each of them at different parts of the book.

When I realized I was nearly finished the book but the story was not complete, I thought the author was going to rush the ending. Some authors end a story as if they have reached their minimum amount of words needed for an assignment. Rest assured, Logan did not.

In one of the blurbs, Nancy Macfarlane (Fiction Addiction), described “Lies” as “one of the scariest…”. I do not think it was scary but definitely was a page turner. I added T.M. Logan to my list of authors to read.
  
The Mars Room: A Novel
The Mars Room: A Novel
Rachel Kushner | 2018 | Thriller
8
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
A stunning debut.
Romy Hall has been given 2 consecutive life sentences for the murder of her stalker. This novel follows her arrival at prison, and reveals the story of her life in the lead up and at the start of her incarceration. We also meet some of the women who she lives with during this time.
I can see why this book has been nominated for The Man Booker Prize 2018 - it clearly shows how a childhood of poverty and benign neglect can lead to drug addiction and crime. It also shows the awful conditions of the prison that Romy is kept in and the hatred of the guards towards their charges. This isn't an environment of rehabilitation, it's an environment of harsh punishment. Which probably explains the high rates of reoffending.
It's a frustrating book to read, because I think the reader really does start to care about the people that they read about (at least I did), even though the writing doesn't actually invite us to feel for the characters. In fact it's all written in quite a detached way. They are more than just the crime they committed, and this book shows that.