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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated You in Books

Mar 25, 2022  
You
You
Caroline Kepnes | 2014 | Crime, Mystery
8
8.0 (27 Ratings)
Book Rating
I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy this book, knowing that it was about a man stalking a woman. But I decided to give it a try and before I gave the TV series a try.
I was blown away by Caroline Kepnes’s writing, it drew me in from the first page and made me want to keep reading so much that I had to force myself to put it down to sleep.
It is all written from the perspective of Joe Goldberg as he falls in love with Guinevere Beck. The trouble is Guinevere (or Beck as she prefers to be called) doesn’t know who he is and has a boyfriend of her own. Joe begins to stalk Beck and try to learn everything about her by watching her while she is in her apartment.
After a while, Joe and Beck finally go on a date and Joe starts to see his dreams become a reality… while Beck is still hung up on her ex. Joe knows that he needs to do something about him and all of the other people in Beck’s life that take the focus away from him.
This book gives an insight into the delusions that a stalker might have that leads them to start stalking the object of their desire. Whilst I enjoyed reading the book, at times it was quite disturbing to read some of Joe’s thought processes and how he wasn’t wrong, everyone else was.
I will be looking at reading the sequel at some point in the future as I would like to know what else Joe gets up to.
  
My Guardian Vampire (The Guardians #1)
My Guardian Vampire (The Guardians #1)
Roxy Wilson | 2015 | Erotica, Paranormal, Romance
8
5.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
My Guardian Vampire (The Guardians #1) by Roxy Wilson
My Guardian Vampire is the first part of a five-part serial, but it does come to a (sort of) conclusion to this part of the story. We start with Lacey living her normal life when she is saved from an attempted mugging. However hazy her memory may be, she is sure that the mugger just wanted to kill her, rather than take her purse. She is saved by Aric, who unbeknown to her has looked after her all her life. Aric is also a vampire, fighting the mysterious big bad with a team by his side. However, they come second when Lacey is in trouble for the second time in the same night. A fire starts in her apartment and she suffers smoke inhalation. She is inserted (somewhat involuntarily!) into Aric's world, and becomes more than even he realised.

This IS the first part so expect there to be some holes, that I am hoping will be filled with the next instalments. Aric and Lacey suffer from miscommunication in a BIG way, but I am hopeful that they will settle into a more communicative relationship. They have all the positives, but quite a lot of negatives too, that I am hoping they will work through. I am also interested in the other team members so I also hope that they will feature in their own stories during this serial.

All in all, this was an enjoyable book that was a quick read. There were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading. It will be interesting to see where this story goes.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Blue Monday (Frieda Klein, #1)
Blue Monday (Frieda Klein, #1)
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I probably would have given this book 5 stars if I would have read it first. I would recommend that anyone who is interested in reading these books would start here with Blue Monday. I read [b:Tuesday's Gone|13613568|Tuesday's Gone (Frieda Klein, #2)|Nicci French|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1335652266s/13613568.jpg|19213552] first, so when I was reading this book, I just wanted to get to the end since I knew what was coming.
Freida Klein is a psychotherapist in London. Her main focus is to help her patients. She is also a very private person and letting people into her life is very difficult for her. She has a boyfriend who hasn't even been to her apartment.
When Freida agrees to take on Alan Dekker as a patient, he tells her about dreams and fantasies he has been having that are keeping him awake at night and affecting his relationship with his wife and work colleagues. The dream involves a small boy with bright red hair, that Alan is imagining as his son. He and his wife have been unable to have children, so this thought has consumed him. It gives him terrible anxiety as if the boy should be with them.
So, it becomes very strange a few days after Freida takes Alan on, that a boy matching the boy that Alan is describing goes missing. Freida feels inclined to take this information to the police. The discoveries that come from that inquiry will uncover a whole lot of things no one saw coming.
This book is really good. It will leave you on the edge of your seat. Can't wait for the next book in the series.
  
How to Walk Away
How to Walk Away
Katherine Center | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.6 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
READ THIS BOOK. That is all.

OK just kidding. That's not all. But really. There is not one bad thing I can say about this book. It's honest, it's painful, it's funny, it's refreshing. I sailed through it and I didn't want it to end. It's one of those uplifting stories that is disguised as a story of pain, and heartbreak. But did I mention it's funny too!?

Margaret seems to have it all. The job, the boyfriend, the apartment, the fiancé.... a super bright future of loads of money, the crazy hot guy to wake up next to, and endless white picket fences. And then everything changes.
Most of her story takes place in some pretty gut-wrenching hospital situations. Her fiancé may not be as great as she thought, the bright future may not be as bright anymore, and her family has some pretty serious skeletons that are about to rock her world.

And then there's Ian {{swoon!}} - who doesn't want a brooding, rock hard, gorgeous man with a Scottish accent in their life? Yes, please! Ian is gruff and salty, and pushes Margaret to extremes that make her hate him but thankful for him all at the same time... who is this guy?! And what is his story?!

It's almost a journey of Margaret becoming Maggie. The so-called picture-perfect life she had all buttoned-up, just may have been buttoned too tight, and a major life-changing event could show a side of her she never imagined possible.

I adored this book. It's so inspiring and the end was not the typical end I imagined it would be. It was refreshing, and honest, and brutal at times, but a definite new favorite. I'm adding this to my top 5 of 2018. Great story, and highly recommend!
  
Keeping secrets is a very bad idea.
Former teenage runaway and new single mother Nadia Armstrong moves to Kingston to turn her life around. But six months after she rents a low-end apartment, her body is found on a concrete slab at an isolated construction site. Major Crimes begins piecing together her last days, uncertain if this is a case of suicide or murder. To make matters more difficult, a member of the team is leaking information to reporter Marci Stokes, putting Staff Sergeant Rouleau in a precarious position.
Meanwhile, Officer Kala Stonechild’s niece, Dawn, is secretly corresponding with her father, who’s out on early parole. Dawn isn’t sure what he wants, especially when he turns up in town uninvited. Dawn’s friend Vanessa is also keeping a dangerous secret — her relationship with an older man named Leo, who preys on young girls. And it’s not long before he has Dawn in his sights.
*Disclosure - I received a free copy for purposes of an honest review; Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn for the eARC.*
I have not read any other books in this series and this has not hindered me in any way with how I was able to pick up with the already established characters. The author did a great job of giving me just enough to give the story depth with back story tidbits.
This book has plenty of twists and turns to it to keep you engrossed from the start. I like the story-line of this book and it had relevant topics; sadly things that are happening daily in our world.
I don’t want to give too much away to the story-line but will say completely hooked me and a very surprise ending but also sad.
Will be reading the previous ones as really enjoyed this.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Forgotten in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
F
Forgotten
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Emma Tupper leads a busy life as a corporate lawyer. But after her mother passes away, she takes a month-long leave of absence (basically unheard of in her firm) to visit Africa -- the dream trip her mom never had the chance to take. But things go awry and Emma gets sick in Africa. Shortly after, an earthquake hits the region where she's recuperating, and her one-month trip becomes a six-month odyssey. Unable to communicate from her remote village, Emma finally returns home, only to find out that everyone thinks she died in Africa and that life has gone on without her.

This was an interesting novel. It's a fun and diversionary story, to say the least, even if not much of it seems too rooted in truth. Emma is so easily declared dead in a mere six months? When she returns back to find her apartment rented, the new tenant has no issue with her staying with him, and even wearing his clothes? Hmm. Okay. A romance triangle is thrown in, of course, with Emma's pre-Africa boyfriend having moved on (or has he?). So much of the book seemed downright silly to me, but I found it oddly addictive. Emma's a little irksome from time-to-time, but I'm not sure what I would do if I came back from vacation and everyone thought I was dead and had sold my life out from under me! It's a good exploration on how we often lead our lives out of habit and ease, versus truly going after what we truly want. Nothing earth-shattering here, but an enjoyable read.

Thanks to Goodreads for giving me a copy of this book through their First Reads/Giveaway program.
  
Chasing the Dime
Chasing the Dime
Michael Connelly | 2002 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
7
6.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
"What Happened to You?" "I Got the Wrong Number."
Henry Pierce is just days away from a patent and a huge meeting with a potential investor at the company he founded. However, he's also just moved into an apartment since he has split with his fiancee. That, of course, means a new land line, and Pierce starts to get phone messages for someone named Lilly. Pierce quickly figures out that Lilly is a prostitute, but how did he get her number? Why would she give it up? Pierce isn't able to let the puzzle go, and he begins to spend his weekend obsessing over finding her instead of doing the last-minute things he should be doing for his company. Will he find her? Will he destroy everything he's worked for in the process?

This book is definitely a departure for Michael Connelly, featuring an everyman and bordering on a technothriller. It starts out well with plenty of intrigue, but it gets bogged down in the second half. The pace gets way too slow at one point before picking up again and racing to the climax. Pierce's reasons for getting as involved as he does are reasonable, but we don't find out until the end. He does make an interesting main character, however, and the rest of the cast are just as strong. Since this book originally came out in 2002, it has some dated elements. It's amazing how much our lives have changed in the last decade and a half. This is one of Connelly's rare stand-alones, and you can read it as much, but fans of the Harry Bosch books will recognize some cool Easter Eggs, including a reference to the ending of City of Bones, the Bosch book that came out just before this book did.
  
Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay, #6)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lucas Knight never wants to get shot again. If thinking the pain from a bullet in your side was bad, being stuck at home not released for work duty is a bigger pain to deal with. To top it off he wakes up with a woman at his side and no memory of how they got there. He gets the hell out of his apartment before she wakes up and it gets awkward. Making his way into the office to see if maybe he could fudge his way around his non-release and get back into a case. Joe and Archer might throw him a bone if they see him around the office.

Molly Malone is tired of living as Joe’s younger sister or just the office help. She wants to get her own case to solve for their company and thinks Santa might just be the way. Waking up in Lucas’ bed, even knowing nothing happened, lands her the perfect opportunity to get what she wants one way or another.

Molly and Lucas set out to vindicate the angry elves and figure out the money trail. All the while they start understanding their attraction to each other. Can they find a way to mix business and pleasure for the whole package?

I loved this book, my first Heartbreaker Bay book to read (though I have most on my TBR shelf). I absolutely loved the hashtags as chapter titles angle. And the relationship between Molly and Lucas has all the dimensions we look for in a partner. Her father brings awareness to PTSD and protective father’s humor where their daughters are concerned. I voluntarily read an advance copy without expectations for review. Any and all opinions expressed are my own. 4 ½ stars for this return to Heartbreaker Bay.