Genevieve

Marcus Kkwelier does it again with The Caretaker.

This one starts off a little slow, but once it picks up I was all the way in. The world building and suspense were great, there’s this constant eerie feeling creeping in that makes you keep turning pages just to see what’s going to happen next.

We follow Macie Mullins, who’s down on her luck and just needs a job. She ends up taking a position as a caretaker, but from the beginning, nothing about this place feels normal. She’s given simple rules to follow, but of course, things start going left real quick. This job turns into a freaking nightmare.

And Macie, she got on my nerves so many times. Like girl please just do ONE thing right. But honestly, that frustration just added to the tension because I was so invested in what was happening to her.

Once the story really gets going, it becomes a page-turner. Creepy, tense, and super engaging.

And that ending! Honestly perfect. It wrapped things up so well and still had me sitting there like, wait a minute, what just happened!

I have really mixed feelings about Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea.

It started off strong, the first couple of chapters had my full attention, but then it slowed down a lot. For a good stretch (like 15 chapters), I found myself losing interest. I also felt like I could see where the story was going pretty early on, which took away some of the suspense for me.

I will say, it did pick back up toward the end, and that helped, but it was just an okay read for me.

This book wasn’t what I expected at all, I went in completely blind after my husband bought the book home, and I’m so glad I did. It ended up being extraordinary.

We follow Sam Hill, the boy with red eyes, as he shares his remarkable life story, including childhood bullying, the deep bonds with his close friends, and his relationship with his parents, especially his mom.

It’s definitely a slow burn, but I was completely engaged the entire time. I stayed fully invested in Sam’s journey and it was hard not to love him or feel everything he went through. His friends Mickie and Ernie, along with his parents, really added so much heart to the story.

I highly recommend experiencing this one through both the audiobook and the physical book, it really brings the story to life.

I went into this pretty open minded. I read Hidden Pictures, I didn’t really have any expectations going in.

But man, I honestly didn’t like a single character everyone just got on my nerves. The story kept me reading, but I kept waiting for it to really do something, and it just never fully got there for me.

I wasn’t a fan of the ending. It left me more annoyed than anything. It was just okay for me.

Orphan at the Lake was okay. I liked it, but it didn’t really do anything new or shocking for me.

We follow Hazel, a private investigator hired to find a missing girl. At first it seems like a typical runaway case, but the more she digs, the crazier things start to get.

I stayed interested enough to keep reading, but the ending was kind of underwhelming for me. It wasn’t as thrilling as I wanted, it was just, okay.

The kite runner was such a powerful read.

We follow Amir, who grows up privileged, and Hassan, who is nothing but loyal to him and is also the son of his family’s servant . Their friendship is complicated, and one moment really changes everything between them.

This book honestly had me in my feelings. It’s emotional, heartbreaking, and at times hard to read, but I couldn’t put it down. Watching how everything plays out and how Amir deals with it later in life, really stuck with me.

Khaled Hosseini really did his thing with this one and he also narrated the audiobook which made it even more personal.

I still feel like I’m not even saying enough, but just know, this one is worth the read.