Review: Killer by Nature

Killer by Nature by Jan Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This reminded me of radio theater. I was freaking entertained all the way! Why then only 4 stars? One, being brought out of the drama as each episode ended. It was jarring and irritating. I hated that. A simple break then perhaps a title episode and #. Going through the whole this is audible, blah, blah, blah was too much. It brought me entirely out of the story. Two, it ends on a cliffhanger! I have no idea if another season will be made. This killed me. The twist at the end was brilliant but I need to know it’s going to be continued. If you can handle the interruptions and the not knowing..this production is excellent. Well worth listening to.

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Review: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was hilarious along with being interesting. Rob and I enjoy hiking. My family is from the Appalachian area in Kentucky, his in Georgia. So we knew this book was a good fit for us. What we didn’t realize was how fun it would be listening to it. We would have listened to it in less days, (we meaning me), except every day Rob would tell me do not listen to that book until I’m home. It was so hard to not cheat! I can’t recommend this recoding, (and the book, which I did read years ago. Listening was actually more fun), enough! I can’t believe how long we had it on the audio tbr. Armchair travel at its best! We had no blisters. Haha.

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Review: Unfollow Me

Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book intrigued me with the title. Unfollow Me. I have an odd relationship with social media. Most of us probably do.
I love how you can stay in contact with family and friends who are far away. That’s what sucked me in. I had moved across the country, leaving behind everyone I knew and loved. It was lonely. Seeing everyone on social media made me feel closer to them. Like I hadn’t lost everything. I saw it as an amazing tool. Then games became big and I accepted friend request from people I didn’t know. From there, I found a book community. An introverts heaven! I still have a lot of those people on my social media. I can tell you quite a bit about them. I’m positive they can do the same. They became real friends, some very close.
A few years ago social media expanded. More options became available. I started playing on a game site, meeting people there. Writing a blog, I started reading blogs. Some were awesome. I was still innocent, though. Believing everything people said about their lives. It didn’t occur to me to lie or that others would. How can you have friendships if your lying? I did notice that some people started living glamorous lives. Some people changed. A number, the bloggers, worried about numbers of followers. Then my world was shaken. Someone I had met on the game site lied about who they were. Actually two people did and it resulted in the death of a young man. I played games with them. I didn’t question who they said they were. After that, I changed. I became more wary of the Internet. I knew people lied and it could go horribly wrong.
So when I saw this title on NetGalley, I was prepared for it to be a story about people who lie and it goes horribly wrong. I wasn’t prepared for all the twists and turns. I wasn’t prepared for how close to reality the writer was going to take us. I wasn’t exactly prepared for a thriller to give us a reality check message in the form of entertainment. Because it is a cautionary tale. We leave clues all over social media of who we are, where we live, what we have and what we want others to think we have. It is what Violet did. As an influencer, she opened the door. I’m not certain yet how I feel about her and Henry. I like Yvonne’s sense of humor. She has some of the best lines. There are also Simon, Lily and Luke. I’m not going into the story more than this. You know who the players are. You know someone lies and you know it goes wrong. There is so much, though, that you don’t know. Put this book on your TBR. It’s what you know combined with all the twisty turns that will have you turning pages.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for offering the book for review consideration. All thoughts on it are mine. I’m delighted I read this book. If I hadn’t been so busy analyzing the characters and the situations I would have probably finished it in one sitting. I’ll most likely read this again. Flawed characters and social media are a huge draw for me.



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Review: His Forever Valentine

His Forever Valentine by Kit Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoy mail order bride stories. Maybe because when I first learned of them I was fascinated with the concept of going to a new place and marrying someone you never met. I couldn’t decide if it was a grand adventure or the worst thing that could happen. I’ve been obsessed ever since. I enjoy the location of this one. I think it’s the farthest north and west I’ve read of them. I enjoy Kit Morgan’s sense of humor. The story has a love triangle going on. It presented a lot of opportunities to enjoy that sense of humor.
I wasn’t excited about the narration. He wasn’t bad. He just didn’t excite me. Over all it was a fun book for me.

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Review: Sparks and Landmarks

Sparks and Landmarks by Trixie Silvertale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series is such a surprise for me. When I read the first book, I wasn’t so sure about Mitzy. But every book has been solid! This book is no different, except to endear Mitzy to me even more!
Mitzy starts out a troubled girl, a bit rough around the edges. Foster care will do that to you. But now that she is settling in to her inheritance, has found her family and friends, she is overcoming her childhood. I love this series so much! Every book shows positive growth in Mitzy. Her love for her family reminds those of us who have been lucky, just how lucky we are. For those of us with family that left us yearning for love, well, she reminds us that family can be who you want it to be and it’s never too late to acquire one. Her romantic life seems to be getting a boost. Though that might get tricky as there may be two fellers in the running. I enjoy this storyline more than I should for a cozy mystery. The mystery. Ah, the mystery! Very well done. As with each of the books, the mystery is completed by the end of the book. I really found this mystery to be interesting. I like how it played out. I don’t want to say much about it so your enjoyment isn’t ruined. Though I do want to talk about it. Ah, the problem of a good book! Go. Read the book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Review: Witches' Cat

Witches' Cat by Morgana Best
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoy Morgana Best books. They are entertaining. Witches’ Cat is part of a series. I don’t have any problem reading them out of order as everything does wrap up. However some things do flow better if you have read the prior books.
In Witches’ Cat we are back with Valkyrie, (yes I know..Pepper. I just love Valkyrie.), and her aunts. I adore her aunts! In this book an unpleasant relative has died, bringing her just as unpleasant daughter and granddaughter home. Thoughts of an inheritance will often do that. Everyone thinks it was just her time but the aunts come across some interesting information and become convinced it was murder. The dead person was not a liked person and more than one person had a reason to wish her dead. There were plenty of suspects. I loved that and the twists, turns and discoveries that had me constantly changing my mind about who did it. It was a highly entertaining book, balanced well with the mystery and a good dose of humor. I recommend reading this book, as well as, the series.

*I was given a digital copy for review consideration. I voluntarily reviewed and all opinions are my honest feelings after reading it.*

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Review: The Woman in the Car Trunk

The Woman in the Car Trunk by John Meany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is about an ex husband seeking revenge on his ex wife for divorcing him. I am ambivalent about it. I went through a soon to be ex husband threatening me, and my children, with a loaded gun over the filing for divorce. It really does happen. The story, I felt, was possibly made with good intentions. As such, it brings to the table a scenario that happens too often. However, the raw emotion was missing. Trust me. The terror you feel is paralyzing. When you’re sitting in a chair with a six month old in your arms and a ten year old holding her three year old sister in hers, you are absolutely aware of everything you can’t do. You are absolutely aware the man in front of you, with the gun, has taken away any physical chance you may have had. You don’t argue. You lie. You lie worthy of an Oscar but you don’t pick a fight. You know with all your heart you pick a fight and those children are either going to die in front of you or they are going to watch you die. You don’t bring up things he did wrong. You don’t bring why you want the divorce. Their only chance is on you convincing him that the divorce is something you regret, (not a lie, as, in that moment, you are regretting with everything in you), you lying about getting back together, lying about how much he is wanted at home and how you just didn’t know how to stop it. You lie with your heart pounding so hard you are certain you will die, once the children are safe, from a heart attack. There was no raw fear. It was like it was just another argument. The only time I felt her fear was when she was in the trunk.
I don’t know the author’s experience with domestic violence. It didn’t feel to me as if he had any knowledge outside of bad movies. He made a big point of her nudity under her robe and her breast spilling out. I felt like that was there to titillate and it really bothered me. Domestic violence is a real problem. The victim may be female or male. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Most likely, in the abuse situation, they weren’t. I know I wasn’t. I can’t even begin to write out that horror. It stays with you. The memories can bring you down at any time. You can be fine and then a crying mess in a moment. I’m hoping the author wrote this to bring attention to the issue. If he did, even though it was poorly written, it earns the actual 2 1/2 stars, (I round up as I can’t actually give a 1/2). But I’m left feeling as if what I, and thousands of others, experienced was just for entertainment purposes. And that’s why I can’t give it more stars.

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