chloek608's reviews
238 reviews

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-thriller with an untrustworthy narrator
-short chapters
-brilliant clues and twists

Wow, T.M. Logan fast becoming an auto-read author for me. This is my third read from him and every one I am left shocked and cannot believe the twists. This thriller was a fast paced read for me and I love the fact that it had short chapters.

Joe is a high school teacher, he has a wife and a young son. He lives a rule-abiding life and is happy with his day to day routines. One day on the school run, his son spies his mother’s car going into an underground carpark for the Premier Inn. The son wanted to see his mummy and show her his latest certificate from school. Joe went along with it thinking that would be a nice surprise. He didn’t expect to see her having an argument with their friend Beth’s husband. Joe left without being spotted and waited in the carpark. One thing led to another and Joe and Ben were in a scuffle and Ben falls and hits his head. Joe can’t help Ben as his son has an asthma attack. Joe returns later to check on Ben but he is gone and so is his car.

Strange things start to happen to Joe. Ben’s missing and Joe’s the last person to see him alive and he finds out his wife had an affair with Ben. All fingers point to Joe. He is suspended from work, he is a police suspect and no-one believes his innocence. It is down to Joe and Joe alone to find Ben and prove that he is not a murderer.

So many twists and turns kept me reading this book at lightning speed. I was gobsmacked to uncover the truth.

Ben was a victim in all of this, much like Joe. The two wives were actually the ones having an affair and their plan was to kill one and set the other husband up for the murder. They nearly got away with it too had it not been for the loyal daughter of Ben.

Content Warnings

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-Adult mystery
-Holiday setting
-Multiple points of view and goes between past and present

Fran is on the search to find out what really happened to her sister Jenna on Gozo island. Her sister was on a mental health retreat and she never returns. The family have been told it was a suicide but they want to do their own research to get answers as to why their Jenna would do such a thing.

Fran signs up for the next mental health retreat happening in Wales which is ran by Tom and Kate the owners of SoulShrink. Fran doesn’t anticipate running in to three previous members of the retreat, they knew her sister and she feels they all know something which they are keeping secret.

Jenna had slept with Tom the owner without realising that he was married to Kate. Tom was in love with Jenna and wanted to leave Kate and start a new life. Kate found out about the cheating due to recording the 1 on 1 sessions and she threatened Jenna to leave her husband alone or else all her secrets she shared in her therapy sessions would be exposed. A girl on the retreat, Renata, was very protective of Kate and her relationship and so she hit Jenna on the head with a rock and warned her away from Tom. What we later find out is that she is still alive and Damian had helped her escape the retreat and start a new life in Valetta, Malta. The family all reconnect and Jenna even has a partner and baby.

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Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-Young Adult high school setting
-covering hard issues like bereavement and family problems
-unlikely friends

I loved how easy this book was to read. Chapters are short and at the start of each chapter is a letter or email to read which made it very hard to set down as I kept wanting to read more. I love books that include note type parts, texts and letters etc.

There was a lot of character development and we dive head first into Juliet living with grief from her mum’s death.

Declan has a lot going on in his life and his family have never been a supportive unit which has led to some bad decision making landing him in community service, mowing grass at the cemetery.
Declan starts anonymously writing letters to Juliet and they confide in each other like no-one else before. But they come close to figuring out who each other is.

The mystery with the possibility Declan was involved in Juliet’s mum’s death was intense and I was glad that the two incidents were separate. Juliet uncovered that her mum actually flew home days earlier, was involved in a long term cheating scandal all discovered by developing her mother’s film camera.

I wish there was more of a romance and that they had discovered each other earlier in the book.

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The Hunter by L.J. Shen

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-NA romance
-enemies to lovers
-multiple points of view

Hunter is the son of a billionaire and has gone off the rails. His father places him in a Boston apartment with a ‘babysitter’. Sailor agrees to babysit Hunter. She gets a good deal; a nice apartment to live in, paid to keep Hunter in check all whilst pursuing her Olympic archery dream.

Hunter has started working in his dad’s firm, learning the ropes and going to college. But, he overhears one of his dad’s associates plotting against the company, yet loyalties are so thick that no-one believes him. Sailor helps Hunter with his mission to prove the company is in danger.

This is a steamy story, but it has a lot of character depth and good plotlines. It explores arranged relationships, not fitting in with family, life goals that impact on your life and realising that your dreams can change as you grow older.

Hunter saved his family from danger and the company although, Sailor’s dad was already involved in the rescue mission. Hunter was able to prove his loyalty to his family and show himself how capable he really is. Sailor realised there are more important things than wasting her life away training every hour for the Olympics. Hunter and her have formed a relationship that neither of them thought they needed but it was exactly the answer to both of their lives and futures.

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November 9 by Colleen Hoover

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-contemporary adult romance
-timeline over many years
-multiple points of view

Fallon was involved in a fire incident two years ago which altered her life. Her acting career in ruins and her confidence shattered due to her burns.

Ben was a stranger in a restaurant at the right time, overhearing a conversation and he steps in to be Fallon’s pretend boyfriend. They enjoy their time together but Fallon is moving across the country from LA to NY that night. They make each other promises and to meet up with each other again next year on the same date at the same place.

This is a lovely romance story of two people who were meant to meet and fate brought them together.

Until we learn of Ben’s shameful past and secret that he has harboured. How could he have kept this from Fallon? Will they be able to get past the past?

Ben’s mother took her own life and Ben placed the blame on her at the time boyfriend who happened to be Fallon’s dad. He went to his house and one thing led to another, Ben started a house fire. He didn’t realise there was another person in the house. He lived with a massive secret and a lot of regret. On his mother’s anniversary of her death he visited her grave and Fallon’s dad was also there which led him to follow him right to that very restaurant. Years later Fallon reads the book Ben is writing which reveals the truth. It was hard for her but after reading his novel she found that she could be with him after all.

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-adult murder mystery with multiple points of view
-island and private school settings
-whodunnit that has a big backstory but intertwines amazingly at the end

This is quite a big book and I must admit it took me a while to get into. The story is told by multiple characters and each give their backstory of how they know the couple getting married and how they have ended up on the island for this wedding. The last third of this book was enthralling and the way it set up many characters for a motive for the murder, it had me guessing right to the end. I do think the story could have been shorter though.

We have TV famous Will marrying Jules the successful magazine owner. The perfect couple, or so it seems. Their whirlwind romance has led to this hasty marriage.

Will’s best man Johnno has not been able to move past an incident that occurred during their school days. They went to an all-boys boarding school that had traditions and pranks that sometimes took it too far.

Johnno held a lot of guilt for a prank he helped Will pull off at high school and in hindsight he knew Will had tricked him into doing his dirty work, all to cover up him stealing exam papers to cheat in his GCSE’s.

The prank involved taking a 1st year down onto the beach and tying them against the railings. The prank was called survival. It was meant to be a test of courage and they find their way back to school. Johnno realised too late that the tide coming in would make it impossible for the boy to survive.

The bride’s sister and Hannah both have similar reasons to hate Will. He’d seduced Olivia and Hannah’s sister, ruined their lives, abandoned them and moved on. Both girls were suicidal because of him.

The amazing twist I did not see coming was that Aoife, the wedding host had lured the couple their just to confront Will, you see as it turns out she is the little boy’s sister. She finally got revenge.

Content Warnings

The Catch by T.M. Logan

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-adult mystery
-not knowing which characters to trust
-thriller but only slightly

The book shows us from a dad’s point of view when his daughter gets a new fiancé and it is a very quick, whirlwind wedding. The dad is not trusting of Ryan and will do anything to prove his gut instinct is correct, including snooping and hiring a private eye.

This story is a page turner and kept me guessing and doubting what to believe. I am looking forward to watching this story unfold as a Channel 5 series.

Ryan has everyone fooled, thinking he’s a nice guy. What Ed uncovered was that Ryan had lied about his whole life. He actually killed his family in a house fire and then continued to kill and change his identity each time. Unfortunately, Ed had went to follow Ryan and took a knife with him so we are led to believe that he might kill Ryan. Next thing we know, Ed is missing in the moors of the Peak District along with a missing ex-boyfriend of Abbie’s. Abbie uncovers the truth while searching for her dad with Ryan. She read the private eye’s email report. I wish Abbie would have played it more cool and got help and got out of there. She continued to hike with Ryan and he then turned on her when she confronted him. He chased her and attacked her. Abbie’s mum showed up to rescue her and as a team they killed Ryan.

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Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-YA college romance
-slow burn
-Normal People by Sally Rooney

This story switches between the two characters Penny and Sam. I was annoyed however that it isn’t written in first person. This is a very much character based plot and very little happens across the 400 pages. Although we do get to know the characters a lot and dive deep into their issues and lives.

Penny and Sam are unlikely friends who become each other’s emergency contact. Someone they text, vent to, open up to without feeling self conscious.

Penny has just started college and Sam works at a coffee shop and lives in the back as his mum is reckless with money.

Sam had a pregnancy scare with his ex-girlfriend. At the very end of the story, Penny and Sam finally get together. I wish this would have been written into the story earlier as it feels like the ending is only the beginning.

Content Warnings

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

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informative lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-contemporary romance
-Pretty Woman movie
-main character with quirks

Stella has Autism and finds it difficult to be in a romantic relationship. She has a guy in mind but fears she lacks the skills to snag him. She hires Michael, an escort to be her pretend boyfriend, but the line gets blurry. Feelings get real, emotions get involved and both parties feel like they are alone in their feelings. Both feel unworthy of being loved.

A very cute pretend dating story with an added uniqueness with Stella’s autism.

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-YA mystery
-high school setting
-whodunnit

I am a big fan of Karen M. McManus books which all started with One of Us is Lying. I have enjoyed all her books and they are so easy to read yet have a lot of mystery and intrigue packed into them. The covers and sprayed book edges also make a beautiful addition to my collection.

Brynn is returning her hometown and her old school for senior year. She has also landed a cool internship with a crime tv show where she pitched the idea of looking into a cold case which is right on her doorstep. Her old teacher was murdered in the woods and three of her classmates found him. Were they involved in the murder or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Brynn reunites with her ex-best friend Tripp. He was one of the classmates involved but is he guilty of anything?

This whodunnit kept me guessing until the end and I didn’t see it coming!

Brynn had to quit her job at Motive to prove loyalty to her friends, although it didn’t stop her investigation. She uncovered that the teacher Mr Larkin had changed his name and was looking to reconnect with his younger brother who studied at the school. This turned out to be Mason. Somehow Charlotte had overheard a conversation which led her to believe that Mr Larkin’s brother was actually Shane, her boyfriend. Mr Larkin posed a threat to his brother by telling their abusive father where he could find Mason. Charlotte would do anything to protect her boyfriend so she did the ultimate crazy girlfriend move and killed their teacher.

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chloek608's reviews 238 reviews

chloek608's reviews
238 reviews