Book Life Rambles

  Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson   *DNF* G👀dreads In seven days Jet Mason will be dead. Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time. Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder. She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm. She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something: Jet is going to solve her own murder. Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Fiction **DNF*** It started off interesting but then started getting stupid. It is written like YA even though the main characters are like 30-something. Lots of F-bombs which is fine, I'm certainly not offended by that, but really Holly, do yo...

The Once and Future Witches  by Alix E Harrow   "There's no such thing as witches. But there will be." G👀dreads In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters -- James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna -- join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote -- and perhaps not even to live -- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Witches. Holy cow the audio book is 16 hours. 🤯 It better knock me off my...

Thirst For Sin by Kennedy Layne Don't judge a book by it's title! It's a thriller.  G👀dreads  Brooklyn Sloane works as a special consultant to the FBI as one of the most adept profilers in the agency’s history. She had been recruited at a relatively young age from her career in academics, but her colleagues have no idea the disturbing motive for her success. While her current investigation into a cold-blooded serial killer garners the attention of the media, Brook is able to discover the unsub’s first kill. When a tragic shooting takes place involving one of the agents assigned to the case, Brook finds herself unexpectedly out in the field searching for evidence that will eventually lead her to a viable suspect. Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Serial Killer #1 in the  Touch of Evil Series . Yikes there are 14 of them!  🤦🏼‍♀️ ⭐⭐⭐ It's a tough one to review because there wasn't anything specifically to deduct for, I feel like it was average so I gave it  ⭐⭐⭐ O...

  Funny Story by Emily Henry *DNF* G👀gle The romance novel follows librarian Daphne and Miles, whose exes are dating each other. Magazine Paste says it "has lots of heart but too little mischief". Genre: Contemporary Romance. Not my fav but I'll give it a go. A little mischief aye? Some people have said it's their favorite Emily Henry novel. **DNF** I gave up on Funny Story. I actually got to about 75% which at that point one might say "I'm invested so I might as well finish it". I say "If I'm not enjoying it, I'm moving on to something else". It still had over 2 hours left. Two hours of rehashing the same ole-same ole, over and over and over. I think I only stuck with it as long as I did was because of the narrator (Julia Whelan). It's 100% predictable. Bottom line, the only Emily Henry book I really enjoyed for Great Big Beautiful Life. And ironically Librarian Google says: " Great Big Beautiful Life is not a typical Emily H...

A Web of Obsidian by Lydia M. Hawke G👀dreads At 69 years old and with two martial arts black belts to her name, Sister Monica Barrett has never been one to back down from a fight. But the one that just landed on the ragged front lawn of the women’s shelter she runs may be more than she’s equipped to handle. At first glance, the assailant in pursuit of a young woman seems like an all-too-familiar story. But this attacker has powers—he moves with uncanny speed, strikes with brutal accuracy, and isn’t after the woman at all. Instead, he wants what she has: a flat, black stone with a spider’s web embedded in it. Genre: Urban Fantasy. 🤷 A little outside the box for me but it 🎣 me right off the bat. Who doesn't like a book that starts with a 69 year old former nun saying "Well, fuck!"? Literally the first two words in the book. My initial complaint (not a deal breaker, just a minor annoyance) is the narrator is too young for the part of a 69 year old woman. She has an engagi...

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict G👀dreads Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side and understood more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis and revolutionize modern communication...if anyone would listen to her. A novel based on the true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication. Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII This picture is on the inside cover. She was so gorgeous. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Overall Enjoyment 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 Did it grab and keep my attention? ...

T he Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristen Harmel  Robin Hood vibes, except instead of stealing from the rich, the rich had to be bad people. G👀dreads Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance. But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found. Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistribut...

  Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza  Queue Michael Jackson 🎵 Cause this is thriller, thriller night 🎵 G👀dreads The #tradwife murder mystery we’ve all been waiting for. From the bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance and the creator of the Under the Influence podcast comes an explosive thriller about two estranged friends, a grisly murder, a sudden disappearance, and the truly shocking revelation that everyone is lying to you about something... My condensed version of the very long "about": Former college besties, one is an IG influencer with millions of followers documenting her perfect life, children, husband. The other is a struggling magazine writer. Influencer invites writer to a conference for an exclusive interview. Influencer's husband is murdered and she goes missing. Writer finds herself on the dark side of the cutthroat world of social media. Back to G👀dreads Piazza’s master storytelling and razor-sharp insight into the world of social media brin...

  People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry G👀dreads Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Genre: Romantic Comedy, Fiction, Contemporary Romance  On one hand it has the Goodreads Choice Award even though it only has 3.85 stars. On the other hand it has really mixed reviews in the FB group from slow and DNF to loved it. I'll let you know which side of the fence I land on. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I liked it but deducted half a star for the non-linear storytelling which I didn't enjoy like I do typical dual timeline with HF. I felt it was not necessary to build the suspense of how...