Summer Romances Didn’t Make The Cut
I have many summer romances on my physical TBR and yet, none of them made the cut. I don’t put a monthly TBR together because I’m such a mood reader. Although there was one book I was determined to read this month.
On with another monthly reading wrap up…
The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas
This was an Amazon purchase I made back in May and I remember thinking “I can save that for the Autumnal Months”. Didn’t think I’d be reading it during August but it was a great way to kick off the month.
Journalist Jenna Halliday is on a new assignment. Visiting rural Wiltshire, she is investigating a twenty-year-old car crash for a podcast. On that night, in 1998, three girls went missing. A fourth girl, Olivia Rutherford, was found badly injured at the car crash site.
But, what happened to the girls? With rumours that they had run away, Olivia had killed them or aliens had abducted them, Jenna has her work cut out.
The locals are not happy with Jenna digging into the past. What are they hiding?
This was a very interesting story line. I have watched a few different murder mystery movies with a podcast theme. Reading one was very different. There were some instances that I saw coming and some twists I never imagined. Right up to the final few lines.
Without giving too much away, this is not just one story. There is a second flashback story alongside Jenna’s investigation. It was unusual at first. But once you get into a pace, it is easier to take in both timelines.
I really enjoyed Claire Douglas’s writing style. After enjoying this so much, I have already picked up another one of her books for the autumnal season. A 4 star read.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Riley Sager is one of those authors I’ve heard a lot of American book reviewers and bloggers talk about. I feel I’ve come to know him as an author with “all the twists”.
At seventeen, Lenora Hope hung her sister with a rope. Stabbed her father with a knife. Took her mother’s happy life.
Or so the schoolyard rhyme said…
In 1929, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine Coast. Lenora was the only one left alive. Many believed she was responsible but she denied it and the police couldn’t prove it.
Fast forward to 1983 and we meet Kit McDeere. A home health worker who is assigned to care for Lenora. After mysterious circumstances surrounding her previous nurse leaving in the middle of the night. Now mute and a wheelchair user, Lenora doesn’t leave Hope’s End. The cliffside mansion where the murders occurred.
Using a typewriter, Lenora can tap out sentences to communicate. One day Lenora typed out to Kit, “I want to tell you everything”.
If you are looking for a thriller / mystery for the autumnal season, pick this up! I cannot explain how many times I gasped, physically closed the book in shock and then had to go back and reread parts. There were so many twists that I never saw coming. There were moments when I was certain I knew what was coming and….nope! I feel like I cannot even talk about certain characters in fear of giving anything away.
Riley Sager writes really well and sets the scene brilliantly. There are parts in the earlier chapters where you can feel he is a little overly descriptive. Remember it. It all makes sense in the later chapters. I cannot wait to read more from him. 4.5 stars.
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
I saw a few reviews for this book and it was described as “Willy Wonka for booklovers”. Of course, I had to purchase it.
The only issue? It’s not available at the usual UK retailers. I managed to find a copy at Scifier. Which opened up a new book retailer for me. A bonus!
The Wishing Games is about a competition for one book, the newest in the Clock Island series, by bestselling children’s author, Jack Masterson. An author who has been a recluse for the last couple of years.
Lucy, our protagonist, is competing to win that book. Like the other competitors, she has a childhood connection to Jack Masterson. And to Clock Island where the competition is taking place. Winning the book would change one of their lives, but for Lucy, it would also change the life of someone very special to her.
This is a massive 5 star read for me. It is so hard to review without just giving the plot away. It was wonderful. I laughed, I cried and was so excited by all the twists.
As mentioned, in this story, Jack Masterson is an author and, with the nature of the competition, there are references to his work. The detail that Meg Shaffer went into for the author’s backstory is incredible. This is her debut novel and I would be so thrilled if she actually wrote all the books mentioned. Of which there are 66! Yes, she created 66 different children’s books. She seriously could backstop for the FBI.
Cannot recommend this enough. If you see it, buy it, borrow it, read it.
Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
I really love Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot movies. When I saw the trailer for A Haunting In Venice, I knew I had to read the book before hand.
Being loosely based on the novel ‘Hallowe’en Party’, this is one of the later Hercule Poirot books written by Agatha Christie.
At a children’s Halloween party, thirteen year old Joyce Reynolds boasts that she once witnessed a murder. Only, she didn’t know it was a murder at the time. No one believed her, that was until Joyce was found dead. Drowned in the apple-bobbing tub.
Writer Ariadne Oliver, present at the party and a witness to Joyce’s story. As well as the discovery of her body, she calls upon an old friend. Hercule Poirot.
Just as Poirot starts to investigate, Joyce’s brother is found drowned too. Is Poirot now looking for a murderer or a double-murderer?
I love an Agatha Christie novel. The ABC Murders is a favourite of mine. But, this one was a little more difficult to get into. I decided to read it in tandem with the audio book. I find, when reading a “classic”, it is harder to find a pace. The audiobook helped immensely. I did really enjoy this. It was a little predictable in parts and I am interested to see how they have adapted this.
Because I wanted to read it before the film came out, it reinforced how much of a mood reader I am. For now, I give this 3.5 stars. I think if I hadn’t forced myself to get it read this month it may have scored higher.
Well, I may not have had any fictional summer romances this year, but I got a hell of a 5 star read this month.
As always, thanks for reading…