Checked out with my kindle unlimited membership in January 2023. I wanted to love this book, but I could not get into any of the characters. I understand that our MC has an abusive past, as does the other romantic interests in her life, but I was a bit disappointed that she let Gavriel walk all over her. To me, it didn’t appear that she had changed as a character much, even though she calls herself strong. I would have believed it if she had told him off or tried to solve her own problems at all. Sorry this one just wasn’t for me. (2/5 rating)
Tag: Mystery Thriller
Book Review – The Risen Shard (The Chain Breaker 1) by D.K. Holmberg
This was my first book by D.K. Holmberg, and I checked this out with my Kindle Unlimited trained membership. Our male MC, Gavin, is a young assassin who travels with a friend to the city of Yoran for a work contract. One fateful job leads them through a wild chase that pits Gavin against his past and a magic he’s hidden from most. Gavin was intriguing but I didn’t connect with his quest or the characters. The ending didn’t provide any answers to questions from the story. This has a solid base and a good premise, but I think it could use some work. (2/5 rating)
Book Review – NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
This will be my first by Joe Hill and the spirit up Halloween seemed like the best time to dust this off my TBR. Now that I’ve read it, it appears I should have saved this for Christmas time. Charles Manx is our resident bad boy and spends his time luring children into his version of Christmasland. Within Christmasland, Charles transforms the children into his terrifying version of the perfect child. The only child to ever escape his clutches is Victoria McQueen. After she is grown, Charles comes looking for Vic, one final time. Even though this was almost 1000 pages, the pace of the plot moved at a gruesome pace. The plot covered decades between characters and places but that didn’t detract from the story either. It was great to watch Vic and Charles battle to the end. I didn’t expect the sad and clever ending, but it did fit. (3/5 rating)
Book Review – The Wife Before by Shanora Williams
This was my first novel by Shanora Williams. I received this book free from the author for an honest review. This story begins with our female MC Samira Wilder. Samira has always struggled to keep jobs and pay the rent because she refuses to waste her life away the same way their mother did. In a bind for money, she takes a one-night celebrity serving event where she meets pro golfer, Roland Graham. They fall up for each hard, celebrate a quick engagement, before she moves into his Colorado mansion. Soon, she discovers an abandoned shed of his deceased wife that Roland hasn’t entered since her death. Samira offers to clean it out and repurpose it, but the secrets she uncovers could undo her new happy life.
Alert: Spoilers below.
I struggled with my rating for this book. While the ending was nothing I could have predicted, I struggled to get there with Samira as the main character. While I can sympathize that the American work system is broken, Samira seemed to have unrealistic expectations of when her brother should be helping her out. She had no problems asking for money while at the same time complaining that he worked too much and would follow their mother’s footsteps. I could not connect with her as a character and Melanie and Dylan were truly monstrous. Roland was the only redeeming part of this story. I’m glad other people were able to enjoy this, but unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. (2/5 rating)
