Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

 

Title: Home Before Dark

Author: Riley Sager

Rating 📖📖📖📖 / 5

Thank you Riley Sager for making a comeback! 

I’ve been a fan of Mr. Sager’s since Final Girls, but haven’t really liked any of his other books since. The others were ok but lacked that same punch as Final Girls had. Home Before Dark has made up for the others. While not a perfect book, it definitely satisfied my need of a good thriller recently.

Our main character, Maggie Holt, has been plagued her whole life by her father’s book, House of Horrors, detailing their dealings with the supernatural at Baneberry Hall. Her only recollections of her twenty days in Baneberry Hall are limited to the day her family left in a hurry leaving all their possessions behind. After her father dies, she inherits Baneberry and sets out to restore the home to its former glory. Of course Maggie doesn’t believe a word of her father’s book nor does she believe that her family was haunted by malevolent ghosts. However, as she spends more time in Baneberry, she starts to question whether the experiences her family went through may have actually happened after all. 

I must admit this book was a slow burn. That’s probably why it took so long to finish it. I would often put it down as I just wasn’t invested in the story. The characters seemed to lack a reason to invest in their stories and there wasn’t much of a plot to follow either for a while. The story did pick up luckily around halfway through the book. I did start to question whether Maggie was nuts or if the haunting was true myself. Not many books have made me question my own view of the characters like this one did. I only wish Maggie’s chapters were as captivating as the chapters from House of Horrors. Maggie’s chapters just never gripped me as much as they should have. 

Home Before Dark does end on a couple different twists that, in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting. And when I say a couple, I mean it. There were at least three different twists that all happened within the last thirty pages of the book. Had some of these twists come sooner in the story, I probably wouldn’t have put it down so often.

Well done, Mr. Sager!

Crescent City (House of Earth and Blood #1) by Sarah J. Maas

 

Title: Crescent City 

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 4/5

So overall, I liked this book. I know Maas is the queen of re-using plot lines and tweaking them for different situations but I will still read her books anyway. Does this read a lot like ACOTR and TOG? Yes. Did I still like it? Yes. Is it a work of literary genius? No. But does anyone really go into these books and expect marvels of literature? If you do, then you should probably look at your viewpoint.

Anyway, in this new series we are introduced to Crescent City and its penchant for slavery, violence and overall "cityness". I will say this about Maas' writing: she is an expert of world-building. I can always visualize what her cities/towns/kingdoms look like and it really brings me into the story. HoEaB is no exception. Even though it is a fantasy book, I could relate what I was reading to the real world and could see this being any other major city if we all lived in a fantasy world.

I just wish she put as much effort into the characters as she does with the world.

We again have the female who is "sassy" and the males who are jerks (sometimes, though they do get better). Unfortunately there isn't much character building until the last part of the book where we start finding out everyone's secrets. And this is only book one so I'm hoping some of the side characters can get some more spotlight and that we get more depth from Bryce and her friends/family.

I don't want to say too much because every little detail could give away something. So...I recommend this book to Maas lovers, and those who love good world-building along with a pretty decent plot.

#books #reading #sarahjmaas #fantasy #bookreview 

The Other People by C.J. Tudor

Title: The Other People

Author: C.J. Tudor

Rating: 📖📖📖 / 5

Tudor's third book, The Other People, is another thriller that ended up being quite the slow burn. And when I say slow, I mean SLOW. It has been a while since I have read another Tudor book but I remember The Chalk Man being the same way. And for a lot of books the slow burn works but this one just left me wondering "so when do we get to the good part?" 

The story follows Gabe, a father who lost his daughter and wife to a home invasion gone wrong. But something nags him about his daughter Izzy's death when he thinks he sees her in the back of the car in front of him on the night of their murders. He cannot let go of his vision of his daughter in the back of the car and searches for her for years. Nobody believes him of course. Then there's Katie the inconspicuous waitress at the diner that Gabe often frequents. We also follow Fran and her daughter Alice on the run from someone or something that will not leave them alone. We learn that not all is well with Alice and she seems to have an otherworldly fear of mirrors...Finally there are "The Other People", a group on the Dark Web that you turn to when you need just a bit more justice than the law can provide you. And their price is steep.

Overall, the book wasn't bad. I just wanted MORE. It seemed like a perfect book to me and had so much potential but just fell short. Most of the actions and revelations happen in the last 50-60 pages which sort of stinks because had it been a bit more spread out I think I would have gobbled the story up more. There just wasn't enough action. There are supernatural aspects to the book which definitely help the story from being completely stale and predictable. Tudor always delivers on the supernatural. Tudor also writes very well. It isn't difficult to follow her style of writing and her jumping between characters is smoother than many thrillers out there with multiple main characters. Her books are definitely stepping stones into the larger thriller universe.

I recommend this one for the casual thriller lover. Enjoy!

Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston

Title: Crisis in the Red Zone

Author: Richard Preston

Rating: 4.5/5

"If we did some basic preparation for a major outbreak...we could actually make it not such a huge, dramatic, crazy thing. [Referring to a Level 4 pandemic] Why should we be waiting for something that is truly bananas to break out before we start planning for it?...There's not a lot of value in preparing for a war, because what happens in a war is unpredictable. But there is a lot of value in preparing for an outbreak, because what happens in an outbreak is predictable. Let's be prepared, not scared." (Richard, 363)

I'm going to say what I pretty much always say after reading a Richard Preston book...the world is doomed. Not to be a nay-sayer, but if this book isn't timely I don't know what is. It is AMAZING to see the parallels between this book and our current pandemic situation. Now, we don't have Ebola on our hands but we do have Covid-19 which has pretty much decimated the world with little to no trouble at all. Especially in the United States. Once again I am thinking about just how underprepared this country has been in dealing with Covid-19 and I can't even fathom what would happen if Ebola hit the States in the same way Covid has. It would be beyond awful. I truly believe that our country would react in much the same was as the people of the various countries in Africa presented in this book: denial. 

But to get back to the book...a winner! Preston wastes no time re-introducing us to the world of Ebola and how it first ravaged Africa in the 1970s. While reminding the reader of the first outbreaks, Preston talks more in depth about the more recent outbreak in 2014. This was the outbreak that brought Ebola to the shores of the United States for the first time. Preston gives us details of how the disease was brought to our doorstep and does so in a way that reminds us just how close we came to facing Ebola on a national pandemic level. While there is heavy scientific jargon in the book, Preston makes the science easy to understand even for the casual reader. 

Overall, I believe everyone should read this book. And while you're at it, pick up his other books too. And do it ASAP.

#crisisintheredzone #richardpreston #randomhouse #ebola #pandemic #librarybook #reading #currentlyreading #nonfiction #outbreak #mrsmadonnareads #books #bookreview

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Title: The Sun Down Motel
Author: Simone St. James
Publisher: Berkley
Rating: 4/5

The Sun Down Motel is one heck of a ride! This ghost story crossed with a murder mystery leaves the reader not knowing what direction to go in next. The book is told in two different times, in two different points of view and I actually didn't mind it. Usually I hate when this happens because there is one side of the story I just honestly don't want to read about. However, both Viv and Carly's were intriguing and kept me engaged in the story. I couldn't put it down, reading about 2/3 of the book over the span of 24 hours. And it has a few good twists and turns that were A+.

Please read this book if you're into thrillers, mysteries and/or ghost stories.

#books #reading #thriller #ghoststory #murdermystery #thesundownmotel #simonestjames #botm #bookofthemonth #mrsmadonnareads #bibliophile #bookworm #berkley

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Title: The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Books

Rating: 4.5 /5

I just want to state that I read the last 130 pages in one sitting...

AND I COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN!

For the first book read in 2020, I made a good choice. The Family Upstairs is a constant game of Twister for the reader. I haven't read a lot of books recently that did a twist well but I'm thoroughly satisfied with this recent Jewell book. She may have moved to my top authors list. The differing points of view in the story definitely added to the experience in the past and the future. And man-oh-man does it really play with your mind.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good thriller.

#books #reading #botm #bookofthemonth #bibliophile #bookworm #lisajewell #thefamilyupstairs #thriller #mrsmadonnareads #reading2020 #pageturner

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Title: Stepsister

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Rating: 📖📖📖.5 / 5

This alternative telling of the Cinderella story was a decent twist on the old tale. We are presented the story of Isabelle, one of the ugly step sisters, and her family in the aftermath of Cinderella (Ella) becoming queen and leaving her family behind. We learn that Isabelle has cut off her toes to fit in the glass slipper and has become a pariah in her town as a result of her deceit. Forces work for and against Isabelle (Chance and Fate, respectably) as she tries to mend her broken heart and become a better person. To make matters worse, there is a threat by the name of Volkmar that wants to destroy everything and everyone in his path. 

This isn't a love story. Not in the regular sense anyway. There is a love aspect, but it is more a story of redemption with the darkness that is missing from the typical Cinderella story. And I really, really appreciated that. There's nothing I hate more than reading the same story over and over when promised something different. While different, however, I felt like Donnelly's retelling was missing something. It just wasn't different enough to set it apart. In the end it felt like just the Cinderella story but with a different, less girly character. I felt like I liked Isabelle's sister, Octavia more than Isabelle. But that's just me.

Overall, Stepsister is an interesting take on the Cinderella tale and is a welcome twist at that. I do recommend it to those who want the hints of a familiar story but with a different, darker point of view. 

#books #bookstagram #currentlyreading

#librarybook #library #jenniferdonnelly #scholasticpress #yabooks #accordingtomrsmadonna #reading