Review: Jar of Hearts

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer HillierTitle: Jar of Hearts

Author: Jennifer Hillier

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Publication Date: June 12, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)


This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who’s been searching for the truth all these years …

When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

But fourteen years later, Angela Wong’s remains are discovered in the woods near Geo’s childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he’s something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo’s first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.

For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela’s death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.

While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it?

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Review: The Word Is Murder

The Word Is Murder by Anthony HorowitzTitle: The Word Is Murder

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)


The New York Times bestselling author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty brilliantly reinvents the classic crime novel once again with this clever and inventive mystery starring a fictional version of the author himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes, investigating a case involving buried secrets, murder, and a trail of bloody clues.

A woman crosses a London street.

It is just after 11am on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service.

Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.

Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material.

As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery. But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes he’s at the center of a story he can’t control . . . and that his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.

A masterful and tricky mystery which plays games at many levels, The Word Is Murder is Anthony Horowitz at his very best.

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Goodreads Monday: June 4, 2018

goodreads monday

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off!

This week’s pick snuck its way onto my TBR at the onset of the year, and then I promptly forgot all about it. Does anyone else have that problem? This meme is constantly serving as a reminder to me that I do this way too often …

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Stacking the Shelves: June 2, 2018

stacking the shelves

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tygna’s Reviews and Reading Reality and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

After a crazy month, I’m getting back into the habit with these memes, and this was a good week to jump back on board! I grabbed a fun haul from the library bookshop this morning, and I’m so excited for all of them.

If any of these appeal to you, too, check out their Goodreads pages via the links on the cover images.

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Review: Lovesick Gods (Lovesick Series #1)

Lovesick Gods by Amanda MeuwissenTitle: Lovesick Gods

Author: Amanda Meuwissen

Series: The Lovesick Series, #1

Genre: Urban Fantasy, M/M Romance

Publication Date: October 2, 2017

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)


Heroes aren’t meant to act like their villains—or fall in love with them.

The elements touch everyone on Earth—Fire, Water, even Light—but every so often someone becomes more attuned to their elemental leaning and develops true power. When an evil Elemental known as Thanatos arrived in Olympus City, it saw the rise of its first hero—Zeus. But the death toll caused by defeating Thanatos changed Zeus, who by day is young detective Danny Grant. 

It’s been six months since Thanatos terrorized the city at the start of Lovesick Gods. Danny should be used to his duty behind the mask, but the recent past haunts him. His girlfriend left him, he snaps at the barest provocation, his life feels empty—he needs an outlet, any outlet to pull him out of his depression.

Enter notorious thief Malcolm Cho, the Ice Elemental Prometheus. There was a time when Danny welcomed a fight with Cho, filled with colorful banter and casual flirtations that were a relief compared to Thanatos. Even as a criminal, Cho had recognized the threat Thanatos posed and promised to help Danny stop him, but the day Danny needed Cho, he never showed. Cho was the reason so many people died that day—including Danny’s mother.

Danny decides to teach the man a lesson and fan the fire of their attraction into something more. At worst, he’ll get some no-strings-attached sex out of the deal and finally blow off steam; at best, he’ll get Cho to fall in love with him and then break his heart to spite him. Danny doesn’t expect to fall for Cho in the process, and he certainly can’t predict the much darker threat on the horizon.

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Review: All the Little Lights

All the Little Lights by Jamie McGuireTitle: All the Little Lights

Author: Jamie McGuire

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Romance

Publication Date: May 29, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5 stars)


The first time Elliott Youngblood spots Catherine Calhoun, he’s just a boy with a camera, and he’s never seen a sadder and more beautiful sight. Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.

Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.

Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.

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Blog Tour: We Other – Giveaway + Review

We Other BannerTitle: We Other

Author: Sue Bentley 

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publication Date: April 28, 2017


A gripping fantasy for young adults and anyone who enjoys a journey into a twilight world. Sue Bentley is a master story teller.

Family secrets, changelings, and fairies you never want to meet on a dark night.

Jess Morgan’s life has always been chaotic. When a startling new reality cannot be denied, it’s clear that everything she believed about herself is a lie. She is linked to a world where humans – ‘hot-bloods’ – are disposable entertainment. Life on a run-down estate – her single mum’s alcoholism and violent boyfriend – become the least of Jess’s worries.

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WWW Wednesdays: May 2, 2018

www

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme is hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. It’s simple – just answer the three questions below. And check out her post this week to get inspired by what everyone else is reading!

The Three Ws are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

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Monthly Wrap-Up: April 2018

Monthly Wrap-Up Meme

Happy May! I’ve been completely MIA this past week with real life craziness, but I wanted to take some time today to sit back and reflect on my April reads. I had a packed month with a lot of strong novels and several not-so-strong ones … but nothing ended up with less than a 3.5 star rating, so I’m counting it as a great month overall!

What I Read

In April, I read 12 books and 4,168 pages.

I did plan to read 12 books in April back when I threw together my monthly TBR … they just weren’t these 12 books. I ended up not starting Mister Tender’s Girl or Bone Music in favor of first reading Not That I Could Tell and The Wicked Deep. Both were library books I gave priority because of their due dates! I’m still happy with my finished stack, which is a predominantly thrillers as usual, but there’s some YA fantasy and even a horror and historical fiction novel thrown in there. Check out my April reads below; all covers are linked to their Goodreads pages.



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Review: I Was Anastasia

I Was Anastasia by Ariel LawhonTitle: I Was Anastasia

Author: Ariel Lawhon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publication Date: March 27, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (3.5 stars)


Russia, July 17, 1918 Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed. 

Germany, February 17, 1920 A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal in Berlin. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water, she is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless, horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious woman claims to be the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Her detractors, convinced that the young woman is only after the immense Romanov fortune, insist on calling her by a different name: Anna Anderson. 

As rumors begin to circulate through European society that the youngest Romanov daughter has survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats are awakened.

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