January 2024 Reads and Reviews
BOOKS
With the whirlwind of having a baby 10 weeks early, I’ve had a little bit of down time while I’m sitting with him in the NICU.
I still haven’t gotten back up fully to speed with the amount of books I normally read, I’ve definitely upped the amount of audiobooks I’ve been listening to driving back and forth to the hospital or eating my lunch in the parent’s lounge area.
Let’s get it popping for this month!
- Keep It In the Family – John Marrs
- The Last Word – Taylor Adams
- Run on Red – Nicole Ilhi
- No Bad Deed – Heather Chavez
- We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
- Gone Tonight – Sarah Pekkanen
- Those Girls – Chevy Stevens
- His and Hers – Alice Feeney
- The Chain – Adrian McKinty
- Appetite for Innocence – Lucinda Berry
- If You Tell – Gregg Olsen
- The Revenge List – Hannah Mary McKinnon
- The Locked Door – Freida McFadden
- Top Reads of January
- SHOP ALL BOOKS
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Keep It In the Family – John Marrs
*Available on Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon rating: 4.3 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.1 stars
How I read it: Kindle
Read if you like:
- Domestic thrillers
- Family secrets
- Multiple, first person POV
- Serial killer trope
- Alternating timeline
- Unlikeable characters
- Unreliable narrators
Content Warnings: Child abduction/murder
What I loved: Short chapters, multiple POV easy to follow
What I didn’t love: Although I love a first person POV, there were 6 POVs which was a lot sometimes
Book Blurb
“Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a shocking message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their home was once a real-life murder house, with the evidence still concealed within the four walls.
In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Tormented by the terrible things she saw, she is desperate to dig into the past to find answers.
Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family—but will the previous tenants stop her from discovering their secret?“
My thoughts
John Marrs wrote one of my favorite books of last year (tbh it’s one that may make my all time favorite list) so I was very ready to read another one of his novels.
This one was not as enticing as The One, but it was definitely interesting.
The short chapters kept my interest, but it felt a lot to keep up with at times.
I also never knew who to trust which usually makes a book harder to predict for me which I enjoy.
The One is definitely still on top for me, but this was really good and I’m looking forward to reading more of his for sure. His writing style is reminiscent of Chevy Stevens who is an auto read author for me.
My rating
The Last Word – Taylor Adams
Amazon rating: 4.1 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.75 stars
How I read it: Audiobooks
Read if you like:
- Psychological thriller
- Locked room/isolated location
- Dual POV
- Unreliable narrators
What I loved: The same storyline from the dual POVs, one being a narcissist did give me some good chuckles
What I didn’t love: The ending felt a bit far fetched
Book Blurb
“Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.
One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?
As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?
Displaying his trademark command of rapid-fire pacing, unnerving atmosphere, and razor-sharp characterization, Taylor Adams once again delivers a diabolically disturbing—and deadly—game of cat and mouse.“
My thoughts
This was a decent read (listen) on audiobook, but it wasn’t anything earth shattering.
I chuckled a few times with the dual POV because the story would be told as it really unfolded and then the other narrator would swoop in with his grandiose, narcissistic version which was clearly untrue.
I did enjoy the twist at the end and I’ll say the “who” I saw coming, but the “how it played out” I did not but I enjoyed it.
While the ending felt like a bit of a far fetched scenario, I liked how it all wrapped up.
My rating
Run on Red – Nicole Ilhi
*Available on Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon rating: 4.1 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.72 stars
How I read it: Kindle
Read if you like:
- Cat and mouse
- Fast paced
- Short, start to finish timeline (2-3 days)
- Single POV
- Isolated setting thrillers
What I loved: The justice at the end
What I didn’t love: Felt somewhat repetitive
Book Blurb
“A rural country road. No cell signal for miles. A terrifying game of cat-and-mouse.
By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills, it’s too late. What seems, at first, like a case of road rage quickly unfolds into a heart-pounding chase—and a battle for survival.
Who are the men in the truck? What do they want? And can Laura and Olivia outrun—and outsmart—them long enough to call for help, even if it means taking their chances in the hills on foot?
As their situation grows more perilous, the girls realize that the real terror has only just begun. But flight won’t save them from their pursuers. If they’re going to make it home alive, they’ll have to fight.“
My thoughts
This was super short, super fast paced and my heart rate was up from the very beginning.
I love that one of the girls is a true crime junkie and fully prepared for any and all scenarios, but I feel like at the very least, she would have had a backup phone charger.
There were some scenes that felt like they drug on, but with the book being so short anyway, it wasn’t terrible.
What I did love about this book was that there is a short story (novella maybe?) that goes along with it that lets you know about….something towards the end of the book (I don’t want to say because it would be a pretty big spoiler).
It’s totally free and was sent right to my email! I haven’t read it yet, but I definitely will be.
I feel like I started seeing this book all over Instagram and it was hyped up a good bit and while I appreciated it being short, fast paced and bingeable, I did not think it was as good as the hype.
My rating
No Bad Deed – Heather Chavez
Amazon rating: 4.1 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.67 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Action packed thrillers
- Unreliable characters
- Psychological thrillers
- Single first person POV
- Single, chronological timeline
What I loved: I liked the single timeline happening in real time because it helped you feel you were in a race with the clock
What I didn’t love: Forgettable, unrealistic
Book Blurb
“Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, she makes a split-second decision that will throw her suburban life into chaos. Against the dispatcher’s advice, she gets out of her minivan and confronts the attacker. That’s when he turns on her and spits out a chilling ultimatum: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”
A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. But while she’s examining the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. Though they warn her to be careful, the police assure her that the perpetrator won’t get near her. Cassie isn’t so sure.
The next day—Halloween—her husband disappears while trick-or-treating with their six-year-old daughter. Are these disturbing events a coincidence or the beginning of a horrifying nightmare? Her husband has been growing distant—is it possible he’s become involved with another woman? Is Cassie’s confrontation with the road-side attacker connected to her husband’s disappearance? With these questions swirling in her mind Cassie can trust no one, maybe not even herself. The only thing she knows for sure is that she can’t sit back while the people she loves are in danger.
As she desperately searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is more than willing to fight—to go to the most terrifying extremes—to save her family.“
My thoughts
If it’s only been a couple weeks and I’m already trying to look up spoilers because I can’t remember how this ended, it’s a meh from me.
I don’t love action based thrillers – and let me explain what I mean by that.
I love my thrillers to be fast paced, unpredictable and have a good bit going on (within reason), but if everything feels like a giant action movie scene, it’s not something I’m going to jump for or something that will make it high on my list of books I recommend to everyone I meet.
This was engaging and kept my attention while listening, but shortly after reading it, my brain was already on to the next one.
My rating
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
Amazon rating: 4.3 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.68 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Rich kids doing rich kid shit
- YA fiction
- Mystery (???)
- First person single POV
- Alternating timeline
What I loved: When it was over
What I didn’t love: VERY YA
Book Blurb
“A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.“
My thoughts
If “over promised and under delivered” were a book.
You guys, are we just calling ANYTHING a thriller these days?? This did not read like a thriller AT ALL.
There was a “mystery” around the main character’s accident, but other than that, snooze fest.
This book was SO hyped up and has been on my TBR for well over a year so I was pumped to get listening to this. And then it was just NOT it.
It’s giving poor little rich girl and hard pass on that for me.
There’s a sequel to this (maybe a third too?) that were on my TBR and I immediately removed them.
My rating
Gone Tonight – Sarah Pekkanen
*Available on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon rating: 4.2 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.84 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Alternating first person POV
- Mommy issues
- Alternating timeline
- Psychological thriller
What I loved: Felt like a good paced, well rounded book; easy to follow
What I didn’t love: Predictable
Book Blurb
“When Ruth Sterling was a teenager, she slipped away one night, desperate to escape an abusive home and a troubling boyfriend. Pregnant, alone, and prepared to do anything to survive, she eventually makes a life for herself—and soon, for her newborn daughter Catherine. For more than twenty years, Ruth has lived quietly and has provided for her daughter. But she is always ready to run at a moment’s notice, and never allows either of them to put down roots too deeply. Now, Catherine is grown and craves a life for herself. This is something her mother will do anything to prevent—but for what reasons? It has always been just the two of them against the world. But how well do they really know each other? When Ruth’s deeply held quest to keep Catherine by her side reveals cracks in her carefully constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception. They both have secrets. But which one of them carries the real darkness inside?“
My thoughts
I’ve read almost all of the books that Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks have co-authored together, but this was the first one that I read of just hers.
The cadence felt very familiar; I like the pacing of her books. She gives enough detail to develop the plot and characters without it feeling like too much and that’s what I got from this.
So many lies in this book lolz but I still really enjoyed the action throughout, as well as how everything wrapped up.
Solid good, not great.
My rating
Those Girls – Chevy Stevens
*Available on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon rating: 4.4 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.97 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Fast paced
- Stories of escape
- Past/present timelines
- Family bonds
- Multiple POV
Content warnings: Sexual assault, child abuse, murder/graphic violence
What I loved: Fast paced, short chapters, easy to binge
What I didn’t love: The ending made me sad
Book Blurb
“Life has never been easy for the three Campbell sisters. Jess, Courtney, and Dani live on a remote ranch in western Canada where they work hard and try to stay out of the way of their father’s temper. One night, a fight gets out of hand and the sisters are forced to go on the run, only to get caught in an even worse nightmare when their truck breaks down in a small town. As events spiral out of control, they find themselves in a horrifying situation and are left with no choice but to change their names and create new lives.
Eighteen years later, they are still trying to forget what happened that summer. But when one of the sisters goes missing, followed closely by her niece, they are pulled back into the past. And this time there’s nowhere left to run.“
My thoughts
Chevy is an auto read author for me. I know that I’m in for a high heart rate and a really action packed story.
This was no different.
The amount of times that I thought “PEOPLE ARE LITERALLY THE WORST” while reading this was … a lot.
I love the sisterly bond of the girls and hearing the way it all wrapped up, but man these characters went through the WORST of the worst here.
I enjoyed the ending of justice, but there were a couple things that made me sad about it (which I’m sure you’ll feel the same way when you read it too).
My rating
His and Hers – Alice Feeney
*Available on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon rating: 4.3 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.08 stars
How I read it: Kindle
Read if you like:
- Unreliable narrators
- Alternating POV (with mystery third POV)
- Short(ish) chapters
- Twisty, intertwined plots
- Past/present timelines
What I loved: Not knowing who to trust
What I didn’t love: Some chapters seemed to drag a bit
Book Blurb
“When a woman is murdered in Blackdown, a quintessentially British village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Detective Jack Harper is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation.
Someone isn’t telling the truth, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.“
My thoughts
This is one of those books that you honestly didn’t know who to believe or root for the entire time.
Alice Feeney was one of the first books I read when I got back into reading a year or so ago and it was hella hyped up.
I will say she writes a good story. I also feel this would be really good on audiobook, but since there are British accents, I can’t follow.
I know, I’m a freak like that, but I can’t do British shows/movies/audiobooks/etc. My brain can’t get past the accent to focus on what they’re saying and I like my audiobooks to come with ease.
Back to the book, though, I will say I liked this one. I feel like I kind of predicted this, but I know a lot of people don’t. I feel like I predict a lot of books that others don’t which probably says more about me than the author. It takes a LOT for me not to at least predict a bit of the story.
Still, it was a really good read and I enjoyed it.
My rating
The Chain – Adrian McKinty
Amazon rating: 4.2 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.8 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Mama bears
- Psychological thrillers
- Kidnapping stories
- Multiple 3rd person POV
What I loved: The plot was unique
What I didn’t love: The ending (BOOOOO)
Book Blurb
“It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die.
“You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.”Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals—and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you’d have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago.
But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning.“
My thoughts
This came right out the gate with a pulse increase inducing first chapter.
I’ll say this plot is super unique in that it’s not like most thrillers that I’ve read. The multiple POVs kept it interesting, as the norm.
I will say my biggest grip about this (apart from it being a touch far fetched) is the freaking ending. I don’t want to spoil it, but I’ll say I love an ending where victimizer gets what’s coming to them and has to face up to what they did and this did not deliver that.
The story wrapped up nicely with the characters at the end, but I wanted better justice to be served here.
My rating
Appetite for Innocence – Lucinda Berry
*Available on Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon rating: 4.2 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.17 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Dark thrillers
- Psychological thrillers
- Short chapters
- Dual first person POV
- Dual timelines
- Serial type offenders
Content warnings: Child abduction, sexual assault, graphic description of abortion
What I loved: LOVE a good dark thriller
What I didn’t love: The audiobook narrator for Sarah was SO BAD
Book Blurb
“A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he’s not interested in just any teenage girls—only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he’s captured them, they’re locked away in his sound-proof basement until they’re groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he’s stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive.
Until Ella.
Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah—the girl whose been captive the longest—gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah’s hiding something and it isn’t long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over.“
My thoughts
If you don’t know by now, I LOVE dark thrillers. The sick ones, the scary ones, the ones that make people nauseous. Gimme.
This was that.
Lucinda is a former clinical psychologist so you can bet her stories are going to have elements of that in them and I LOVE it. This one features Stockholm syndrome and it was so interesting.
However, if you choose audiobook, listen with caution because the narrator for Sarah was AWFUL. At first, I thought it might be her in character and her character was a little off or socially awkward.
But not. No lie, she sounds like if Siri or Alexa just narrated an entire book. NO.
I am baffled just by HOW MANY GOOD BOOKS are on Kindle Unlimited. Every time I think about canceling my membership, they go and keep it up with all the good books.
I wrote a whole post about the pros and cons of a Kindle Unlimited membership if you’re on the fence!
My rating
If You Tell – Gregg Olsen
*Available on Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon rating: 4.3 stars
Goodreads rating: 4 stars
How I read it: Kindle
Read if you like:
- Non-fiction
- True crime
- Sister bonds
- Stories of escape
Content warnings: Severe abuse (to adults and children), violence
What I loved: Very easy to follow
What I didn’t love: Tough to read knowing this actually happened to real people
Book Blurb
“After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.
For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.
Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor’s story of absolute evil—and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today—loving, loved, and moving on.“
My thoughts
This was almost like the true crime version of Those Girls by Chevy Stevens. The themes were similar, but this was tough at points to read knowing it really happened.
Admittedly, because of my own mommy issues, I have to be real cautious when I read anything about abusive moms – sometimes I can’t handle it.
There were some reviews I read that said this was the most horrible they ever read (because of the abuse) and then there were some who felt it wasn’t that bad.
I don’t like commenting on real abuse stories, but I can with confidence say that I’ve read much worse.
I don’t typically go for true crime in a book -I prefer that in a show or podcast form, but this book has been sitting on my Kindle since 2019 and I recently started seeing it everywhere on Instagram so I went for it.
Shelly is insane and her husband (while you may call him a victim) is also nuts in his own way and drove me BONKERS reading his responses and defense of the abuse.
Again I say – PEOPLE ARE THE WORST.
My rating
The Revenge List – Hannah Mary McKinnon
Amazon rating: 3.9 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.56 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Family drama
- Slow burn
- Alternating timeline/past flashbacks
- Single POV
What I loved: The ending was fun to get roped in to
What I didn’t love: I had the “who” of this predicted about 40% of the way through
Book Blurb
“The people in Frankie Morgan’s life say she’s angry. Emotionally stunted. Combative. But really, who can blame her? It’s hard being nice when your clients are insufferable, your next-door neighbor is a miserable woman and the cowardly driver who killed your mother is still out living it up somewhere.
Somehow, though, she finds herself at her very first anger-management group session—drinking terrible coffee and learning all about how “forgiveness is a process.”
One that starts with a list.
Frankie is skeptical. A list of everyone who’s wronged her in some way over the years? More paper, please. Still, she makes the pointless list—with her own name in a prominent spot—and promptly forgets about it…until it goes missing. And one by one, the people she’s named start getting hurt in freak accidents, each deadlier than the last.
Could it be coincidence giving her the revenge she never dared to seek…or something more sinister?
If Frankie doesn’t find out who’s behind it all, she might be next.“
My thoughts
I haven’t seen this book many places, but it popped up on my Hoopla app as a suggested read and was available so I went for it.
I went in basically blind, but was quickly able to pick up on the plot and follow the characters which is sometimes hard to do if I don’t know much about the story.
This book made me chuckle out loud because the female main character is in anger management so she says a lot of things in her head and out loud that sound a lot like me which made me laugh because I’m like, “Oops, sould I. be in anger management too? lolz
Regardless, the story was good, not great. The plot was easy to follow and not too many characters which I appreciate.
My rating
The Locked Door – Freida McFadden
*Available on Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon rating: 4.4 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.11 stars
How I read it: Audiobook
Read if you like:
- Fast paced
- Psychological thrillers
- Short chapters
- Single, first person POV
- Dual timelines
- Serial killers
What I loved: The twist was pretty good
What I didn’t love: I liked most of this one!
Book Blurb
“While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.
Until the day the police arrived at their front door.
Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.
Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.
Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.
As long as they don’t look in her basement.“
My thoughts
I am working my way through Freida’s entire works because they’re bingeable, fast paced and easy to read.
I am having a hard time finding anything that’s holding a candle to The Housemaid or The Inmate which were the first two I read by her, but this was a solid one.
I read some pretty bad reviews of this from people who hated it, but that just goes to show you that you should read for YOU not based on tons of reviews (I say, as I write reviews for you lol).
In a thriller I’m looking for short chapters, intriguing story lines, easy to follow and quick reads. Freida hits all those marks in every book of hers I’ve read thus far.
I *will* say, however, that I could not for the life of me remember how this book ended, so I did have to look it back up, but once I did, it came back to me very quickly and it was a solid twist. A bit predictable, at least for me, but still really good!
My rating
Top Reads of January
I feel like I read enough this month to choose a top 3, so here’s my choices if you only want the best of the month:
3 – Keep It In the Family by John Marrs
2 – Those Girls by Chevy Stevens tied with The Locked Door by Freida McFadden
1 – If You Tell by Gregg Olsen
SHOP ALL BOOKS
CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO SHOP OR ADD TO YOUR TBR!
