Jay
5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Absolutely loved this book! I loved the plot, the characters, the writing. It was perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed this. The Lunchling creeped me out. Loved the family dynamic. Can't even really put into words how much I enjoyed this.
Just. Read. It.
I'm hoping for a sequel. Jay Alexander's writing was great and I think I'll pick up anything he writes after this gem.
Thank you again to the absolutely wonderful, Ruth, for gifting me this 5 stars!!
HUGE 5 stars!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This has GOT to be my favorite book so far this year. I've heard the hype about it but honestly wasn't very interested in reading it. I saw it on Scibd and decided I'd give it a shot while I was at work and OMG I'm obsessed!!!
The story was amazing and I loved how it came together! I was wondering how both POVs had anything to do with each other so once it connected I was like YES!!
3.75 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
This was a great popcorn thriller! Short and quick enough to keep me engaged. I felt connected to the main character Gwen. I thought the story around the BH killer was intriguing and the ending did surprise me.
No surprises that made me gasp or feel any real emotion which was why it wasn't a 4 star.
I enjoyed it enough and will certainly recommend but probably not something I'd think about in the future.
Overall, it was a good one!
A VERY surprising 5 stars!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was NOT expecting to enjoy it even.. dare I say.. LOVE this book as much as I did! I'm much more of a thriller and horror reader so the thought of reading Magical Realism made me skeptical. I read it for Talk Bookish To Me (Gwen's) buddy ready and ommmmggg did it surprise me in so many ways. The deep emotions and thoughts this provokes is so intense, I was crying while listening to the audiobook at work.
There are many characters so at first I thought that was. A shoe in to not be interested in them.. but you learn about their lives on such a deep and emotional level and see fall in love with these characters and you see how their stories connect.. it's just so beautiful.
It poses the question of what would you do if you knew how long you had left to live. Or if you knew your loved ones time. How would you live life differently? How would you treat others?
This was an undoubtedly powerful read and I'm so thankful I took the chance to read it regardless of genre “preference”.
This was amazing and I feel like would be a great discussion as well.
So happy I read it!
5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow!! It's been a while since I read a book that has kept me that engaged beginning to end! Action packed and fast paced from the very beginning. Not a dull moment and I was super invested in the characters. They were well fleshed out and I cared a lot about Gina/Gwen and the kids. This was amazing! I was dizzy with all the twists that I wasn't expecting. So so well done and for the first time in a long time, I want to continue a series!!
No Exit by Taylor Adams level of action packed. Thoroughly enjoyed!!!
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dystopian time where an event with the sun makes a worldwide power outage. It definitely gave me anxious feelings on what me and my family would do incase of a worldwide power outage. The thought of social structure being completely unraveled and left to a every man for himself situation. Cultivating food and gathering water while trying to stay safe in an environment where you can't call for help.
I didn't give it higher stars because I wanted more to happen within the story. There's a lot of pointless details that didn't help the story along. Would've like to see more of the dystopian aspects. Aubrey and Scott where my favorite characters I enjoyed their banter. I also enjoyed Brady, he was the only male character that wasn't insufferable. Thom (Aubrey's brother) was so narcissistic and full of himself that his chapters made me mad.
The end of the book was more where the action was. Exciting things were happening and character development was being revealed. The ending is what bumped this up to a 3 star.
I tried my had at the audiobook while I physically read but the narrator just wasn't my favorite. Probably contributed to my mediocre feeling towards this book.
3.75 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
This was a good time and an easy read but definitely not as good as The Hunting Wives by her last year. I think I had just too high of hopes for this one after thoroughly enjoying her previous book.
The characters were so unlikeable, which I don't mind if the plot is good. But these woman just made dumb decisions, obsessive decisions, and threw away things and people who mean the most for a stuck up, snobby guy who was so terrible it was annoying.
Very salacious scenes for the majority of the book which I do not mind at all but I felt like it's what kept the story going and added to the pages.
I guessed one of the plot twists from the beginning which was fine. But there were parts I didn't understand like what he was going to do with Cynthia for their “trip” if he has other plans with someone else. Like if Cynthia didn't see them together, what would've happened?
Overall, it was a popcorn thriller type of time. I didn't want to stop reading it, so it was good but it just didn't live up to The Hunting Wives.
2 stars ⭐️⭐️
Higgggghly disappointed in this. First, this read super YA for an adult book. Then there were WAY too many characters to keep up with - the story was way too short to give you enough backstory to really care about any of the characters. There was a love story that was formed out of nothing as the characters barely communicated with each other and honestly, I had no idea what was going on. It just went in a completely different direction that I wasn't expecting and not in a good way. I understand the commentary the author was trying to portray but there was so many different things going on, it all kind of fell through.
Stick to Bird Box.
2.75 stars ⭐️⭐️✨
Honestly, it had a great start. I was super invested in the storyline. I thought the characters had personality, I liked the diverse case of characters as well.
Unfortunately, as much as I was loving it in the beginning, it's left me with a bunch of questions. Not that the ending was ambiguous, because it wasn't but so much didn't make sense to me. I feel like the twist wasn't my favorite trope and the explanations weren't great and didn't really explain anything at all. I feel like everything was quite convenient when it wanted it to be all while leaving the whole plot a blurr.
There was soooo much unneeded storylines. It just made everything so confusing. Disappointed.
5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was WILD. Talk about keeping me on my toes. I was invested from beginning to end. I thought the writing and story telling was excellent. I felt like it was a slow progression into madness but it was perfect. It didn't go from one extreme to the next, you were right there with all the small changes. Great at keeping me interested as I didn't know if it was an unreliable narrator or if the child was just that scary. Fantastic read especially for my first Lucinda Berry book. Got me out of a reading slump
I read this because I heard GabbyReads raving about this in a Vlog. I had just read books about obsession back to back and figured this would be a good one to add to the mix!
This book was anxiety inducing as well as very frustrating. The main character Cassie wasn't very likable but I don't think she was meant to be. She was VERY unreliable. I DID like being able to know her thought process with things although skewed, the reasonings were pretty sad.
We did spend the entire book just waiting for SOMETHING to happen which I think is what brought my rating down. The drama and twists didn't happen until the very end of the book. The twists were also kind of hard to believe - like what are the odds, ya know? The last few pages annoyed me as well. I just feel like I wasn't rooting for anyone.
Over all, I got through it and it was an okay book but probably wouldn't think about again.
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my second book from this author. The first being “The Wife Upstairs”. I just feel as though this authors writing style isn't for me. Although the characters are all in their 20s (some early 20s, some later) it felt as though they read younger to me - more like teenagers.
I did want to DNF in the beginning but I pushed through. It got more interesting half way through. I could've done without countless use of the word “reckless” - we get it from the title.. they're reckless.
Some of the things that happened and the choices made in the book just didn't seem to make sense to me. The characters weren't very likable. I was a bit bored with the “Before” chapters although I guess I understood why it tied in. Although I do understand the point the author was trying to come across with the ending, it just felt convoluted and nonsensical at times.
It was just an okay read for me.
Solid 4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm living for the rich bitch mama dramas much like May Cobb's The Hunting Wives. I need something that was like that or like The Last Mrs. Parrish.
This one was certainly very entertaining!! Would've given it 5 stars if the ending surprised me but I did predict the ending about 60% of the way in.
It did feel like it was a lot of build up to a pretty quick ending but I didn't mind at all. Great book, my first of this author but will not be my last.
3.75 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Totally here for the rich people mama drama books. The cover was beautiful and I think I heard Gabby from gabbyreads mention this quite quickly in a Vlog.
Slow start but certainly entertained. I could have done without the use of the word “clout” in the beginning.
I don't know why but I do not like when a lot of character names are thrown your way in books. They're not even actual characters in the book but you have to mention Trixie or Beth or Carol. I can do without. I can also do without one of the characters and their part in it but I won't spoil anything.
Overall, decent read and was entertained by these moms lives and their prestigious neighborhood and mystery that was happening.
5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow!! This is my first Alice Feeney book and it was soooo good. Unfortunately, when I started it, I was in a reading slump. So I put it down a couple of months but I heard that an adaptation of it was coming out on Netflix so I wanted to finish it and it certainly did not disappoint!!
I loved the writing, the atmosphere, the wittiness of it was perfect. The TWIST I didn't see coming in the SLIGHTEST!!
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Super excited about this book because I heard Gabby rave about it. Honestly, in my opinion, I was really into it the beginning of the book. It was fast paced and you kept just wanting to turn the pages.
I fell off the wagon with it a little over half way because I felt like there was no progression in the plot. It was just kind of saying the same things over and over again.
You did certainly root for the main character and I did enjoy her character development.
Over all it was good, nothing that excited me too much but the end.
