kdickerson38's reviews
575 reviews

The Retreat by Sarah Pearse

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

• Second book in the Detective Elin Warner series but can be read as a stand-alone.
• Tropes/themes:
  • Whodunnit
  • Multiple POVs
  • Short chapters
  • Isolated setting
  • Past traumas resurfacing
  • Revenge
• Atmospheric and eerie. 
• Very twisty.
• I definitely liked this one more than the first book in the series. 
• A lot of characters to keep straight. 
• Felt dragged out at some points but the amount of overall suspense mostly made up for that. 
• Not a huge fan of the writing style but it’s hard to pinpoint why. 
• Ends on a cliffhanger. 
• Content warnings:
  • Death
  • Murder
  • Violence
  • Child abuse
  • Child death
  • Grief
  • Mental illness
  • Stalking
  • Infidelity
  • Toxic relationship 
  • Toxic friendship

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

• Tropes/themes:
  • Rebellion
  • Propaganda
  • Sacrifice
  • Implicit submission
• The second prequel novel to the Hunger Games trilogy- this is Haymitch’s story during the 50th annual Hunger Games (second quarter quell).
• Great writing and story telling.
• Great narration.
• Incredibly heartbreaking- President Snow is RUTHLESS! 
• I love the way the reaping was handled- brilliantly unexpected.
• Provides much more insight into why Haymitch is the way he is in The Hunger Games book, and what ACTUALLY happened in his games and a lot of backstory about other pre-known characters as well.
• A lot of lore (and a lot of which I’m sure I didn’t catch on to) and references from the Hunger Games trilogy and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which was really cool.
• Overall, extremely satisfied and sad it’s already over :( can’t wait for the movie adaptation!
• Content warnings:
  • Death
  • Murder
  • Violence
  • Blood
  • Injury/injury detail
  • War
  • Child death
  • Death of a parent
  • Police brutality
  • Torture
  • Alcoholism 
  • Grief

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

• Tropes/themes:
  • Dual timeline
  • Daughter of a serial killer
  • Dark past coming back to haunt
  • Secrets
  • Popcorn thriller
• Dark and twisty.
• Quick read.
• This fell flat for me - wasn’t awful but totally mediocre.
• Very predictable - the red herrings and detractors from the twist were too obvious. 
• Very farfetched as usual with these books, but made to be entertaining.
• Wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator or the writing.
• Intriguing plot but with poor execution sadly.
• Content warnings:
  • Murder/death
  • Serial killer
  • Suicide
  • Blood
  • Stalking
  • Domestic abuse
  • Bullying
  • Car accident
  • Medical content 
  • Death of a parent

Fourth Wing (Parts 1 & 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Rebecca Yarros

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

• Tropes/themes:
  • Dual POV
  • Love at first sight
  • Enemies to lovers
  • Slow burn romance 
  • Strong FMC
  • Brooding MMC
  • Love triangle
  • Chosen one
  • Underdog
  • Resilience 
  • Trust/deception
• Captivating and engaging (ESPECIALLY the dramatized adaptation audio version!)
• Great storytelling and world-building. 
• Easy to read and consume. 
• Similar to Divergent in a way, but with dragons.
• Pretty epic twists, including a couple tragic deaths :(
• The romance was cringey and cliche a lot of the time.
• Ended on one hell of a plot twist and cliffhanger. 
• Content warnings:
  • Violence
  • Death
  • Murder
  • War/genocide
  • Death of parent
  • Death of sibling
  • Grief
  • Injury/injury detail/blood
  • Sexual content
  • Bullying
  • Emotional abuse

Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

• Tropes/themes:
  • Multiple POVs
  • Told in verse
  • Marriage/divorce
  • Love
  • Female friendships
  • Mid-life crisis
  • Betrayal
  • Forgiveness
  • Identity
• Pairs with Tilt by the same author- Tilt is the teenagers’ POVs and Triangles is the parents’ POVs.
• Thought-provoking and deep.
• I didn’t like this one as much as Tilt. I couldn’t connect with the characters at all and there was almost too much drama.
• It wasn’t awful, I just didn’t find it very interesting.
• Content warnings:
  • Child death
  • Terminal illness
  • Infidelity
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Sexual content
  • Homophobia
  • Religious bigotry
  • Abortion
  • Alcohol
  • Toxic relationship
  • Toxic friendship
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Ableism

Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

• Tropes/themes:
  • Multiple POVs
  • Psychological thriller
  • Revenge
  • Trust/deception
  • Vigilante justice
  • Grief/trauma
• I swear, Steve Cavanagh is the king of plot twists.
• A page-turner full of completely unexpected twists that left me stunned.
• Captivating and well-written.
• The entertainment outweighed the unrealistic plot.
• Did a great job at holding the suspense and tension of the different storylines before they finally interweaved in one of the big reveals.
• Content warnings:
  • Murder/death
  • Child SA
  • Pedophilia
  • Child death
  • Violence
  • Stalking
  • Injury detail/blood/gore
  • Suicide
  • Grief
  • Mental illness
  • Kidnapping

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

• Tropes/themes:
  • Dual POV
  • Dual timeline
  • Short chapters 
  • Secrets
  • Trust
  • Naive/gullible/weak FMC (can’t stand this and it’s in all of Freida’s books 😩)
• A page-turning suspense. 
• Fast paced and intriguing. 
• Kept my attention
• I didn’t think I was going to like this, based on the first chapter alone, but I was pleasantly mistaken. 
• Definitely fell for the red herrings; wasn’t predictable despite initially thinking it was. 
• The twist at the end was really great. I loved it. 
• The ending itself felt unsatisfying though. 
• Content warnings:
  • Murder
  • Blood
  • Death
  • Domestic abuse
  • Stalking
  • Alcoholism
  • Sexual assault/harassment
  • Animal cruelty
  • Gaslighting

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

dark mysterious tense

2.5

• Tropes/themes:
  • Murder mystery/whodunnit
  • Remote location in the mountains during a snowstorm
  • Short chapters
• Dark and suspenseful.
• Chilling and eerie; atmospheric.
• Similar vibes to Ruth Ware’s book (One by One in particular).
• The entire book just really dragged for me- it couldn’t keep my interest and I definitely zoned out MANY times.
• Very descriptive writing (which I tend to not be a big fan of).
• The concept is so incredibly far-fetched - everything about this and what played out was unrealistic.
• I really couldn’t even tell you much that happens in this- a combination of disinterest/disengagement and poor plot.
• I’m really hoping the other 2 books in the series are better!
• Content warnings:
  • Murder
  • Death
  • Medical trauma
  • Violence
  • Blood
  • Torture
  • Confinement/isolation

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

• Tropes/themes:
  • Dual POV
  • LGBTQ+
  • Psychological thriller
  • Revenge
  • Vigilante justice
  • Dark academia
• During the first half of the book, I was trying to understand the hype of it, but the second half gave me my answers and was compelling and engaging.
• Yay for feminine rage.
• I enjoyed all the twists, even the ones that were slightly predictable.
• Far-fetched but entertaining.
• Content warnings:
  • Murder
  • Death
  • Violence
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Stalking
  • Infidelity
  • Fire
  • Toxic friendship
  • Alcohol
  • Suicide
  • Grief

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

• Tropes/themes:
  • Legal thriller/police procedural
  • Multiple POVs
  • Flashbacks
  • Justice
  • Morality
  • Motherhood
• Emotional, moving, and thought-provoking.
• Heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, and unsettling at times, while also heartwarming and inspiring at others.
• Very well-written; great storytelling.
• Compelling and gripping.
• As always, Picoult tackles a very challenging and heavy topic expertly and with sensitivity and grace.
• Great twists thrown in, even if some were slightly predictable.
• Some cons that I ultimately didn’t mind: A lot of it was pretty unrealistic, the MC was a little annoying, and the ending was kind of a little too perfect but I feel like any other ending would have made me mad.
• Content warnings:
  • Child SA
  • Graphic detail of child SA
  • Pedophelia/rape
  • Adult/minor relationship
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Sexual violence
  • Blood
  • Mental illness
  • Infidelity