What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron

Cover Image from NetGalley

*I received an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

-This book was published on 9/17/2019. At this point it is available to the public to read. 

When I first picked up this novel, I sort of assumed I knew what happened already. Clara, our main character admits that her sister killed the boy Clara had been in love with for years, because of something that went down between herself and Griffin. Little sister gets raped so big sister kills rapist in her defense; story is all wrapped up in a pretty bow. Been there & done that. 

That's not what happened. There was a whole lot more to this story, and it was twisty and dark and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Work the next morning after staying up all night reading was a different story though). I won't say too much because I don't want to give away the ending for anyone who wants to check it out. Honestly, I wanted to know what else happened to these characters. I would have been interested in this story from Emily's (the sister's) POV as well.

TW: There is talk of rape and abuse, both done to males and females. If you are sensitive to these topics, this book might not be the one for you.  

                                                  

A Girl Named Anna by Lizzy Barber

Cover Image From Google

Cover Image from GoodReads

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. 

So, I believe that this book was originally published in 2018 under the title My Name is Anna but was recently released in September 2019 as the title I am reviewing it under, A Girl Named Anna. I couldn't find out why (Google let me down), but I think the first title was probably the better fit, especially since the line was actually used in the book.

Here's the story: Anna is an 18 year old girl who lives with her mom. Mom is uber religious and seems to have some OCD tendencies. Anna and her boyfriend go to Astroworld for her birthday (even though she is forbidden from going there for some reason) and she has a flashback or a memory of having been there before. The book alternates between Anna's story and Rosie's story. Rosie is a teenage girl who's family was torn apart after her sister was taken from, you guessed it, Astroworld. 

The book itself took me some getting into, because it started off really slow. Then it started to get good, and by the time the two characters were putting the pieces together the book was 88% done, so the ending felt a bit rushed. I would have liked to see how things were handled after they figured out that Anna was the missing girl. I feel like so much could have been done with this book, and it fell flat in the end. I also read the synopsis that painted it as a thriller, but it wasn't very thriller-y. The suspense just wasn't there for me. It was NOT a bad book, just more of a family drama than a thriller, and I wish the ending would have gone a little longer. 

Third Party by Brandi Reeds

Cover Image from GoodReads

I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. 

Me after reading this book...

Okay, so there's really no way to review this book without going into some spoilers, so if you're going to read it (and you should) you might not wanna go much further. The story starts with the suicide of a young college student. It is told in alternating chapters between the dead girl (Margaux), the firefighter who cut her down (Jessica), and Kirstie, the wife of a man with an interesting connection to the other two women. I am actually a really big fan of the alternating POVs and I think this added a bit more to the story than had we been told just through one of their perspectives. 

I HATED Ian/Arlon/Jack whatever his name was supposed to be. I know we were supposed to, but between his need to gaslight everyone around him, his cheating ways, and his smug attitude I didn't feel a bit sorry for him at the end of the book. He might not have committed a murder, but he was a rapist, and let's be real-- as a white man in America if they had decided to ban together and report him for rape and abuse, he would have gotten off anyway, because #patriarchy. I knew that he was going to get his comeuppance, but when he decided to throw his own child into his hole of lies I couldn't deal.

TW: This book deals with a lot of BDSM/auto erotic asphyxiation, rape, and abuse. It was by no means an EASY read, but if you can stomach it, it was a very good one. I finished this book in one day because I had to know how it ended. I couldn't put it down. I did notice a few typos within the text, and some word spacing that was a little bit off, but now that the book has been published I'm sure that those issues have been fixed by now. I can see why it didn't get a ton of hype, given the topics covered; it's not one that you can read and forget about, but for me, it was a compelling read that I will recommend to some of my friends and other patrons that I know can handle it. 

As always, 

She's The Worst by Lauren Spieller

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I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. 

So after reading this book, I can absolutely say that all of the people in it are the worst. The parents, who fought constantly and put their own happiness before their childrens'? The worst. The fact that they would rather see their kids forgo college to keep THEIR dream store afloat? The worst. The sister that wanted her older sister to stay close to home so that she didn't have to work in the store? The worst. The older sister who wanted to escape for her own good, not caring that she was leaving everyone else to clean up the mess? The worst. With that being said though, I didn't hate the book. 

This was a fairly quick read. It annoyed me most of the way through because the characters were just so unreasonable, but likable at the same time. I rooted for them, but also wanted to slap them. The bond between the sisters was cute, and I loved the relationship that developed in the end of the book. I really wish we would have found out a bit more about the parents and whether or not their relationship actually got better, but I liked the fact that the book focused mostly on one day. This is a good book for anyone looking to read a sister bonding story. 

Our New Normal by Colleen Faulkner

Cover Image From GoodReads

I was given an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are mine. 

Not going to lie, I picked this book up originally because I liked the aesthetics of the cover, and I'm a sucker for a teen pregnancy story. 20 percent in to the book I wanted to throw it. I HATED the way the main character's family treated her like she was crazy or like she was wrong for suggesting her daughter give her baby up for adoption. Everyone around her essentially gas lit her and made her feel awful, when she was RIGHT ALL ALONG. Her husband was made to be this perfect man, but frankly I thought he was a jerk who undermined her at every turn, and the best part of the book was when she left him. And the daughter? Don't even get me started. I was frustrated the whole time because the whole family was just horrible.

The grandfather was probably my favorite character, even though it was hard for me to read, having lost my own grandfather to dementia less than two months ago. It thoroughly bothered me that they all just assumed there was nothing wrong with him, and that he was "quirky" rather than him being a real adult with a terrifying and devastating disease. 

I finished this book because I felt like I had to. It was not my cup of tea, and I personally wouldn't recommend it, even though I know our library has purchased a copy or two. 

Hold on to Me by Jules BennettCove

Cover Image from GoodReads

I was given an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

This book, Hold on to Me is the third book in a series. Luckily for me it wasn't too hard to follow along with even though I had not read the other two. Jade and Cash are two people who seem wholly unsuited for each other. As a matter of fact, they annoy one another. But he does her a favor by attending a wedding with her, and one things leads to another... they hook up. Suddenly their "no strings" relationship is turning into something more. 

I'm not always a fan of the "will they/won't they" story line because I think if it isn't done right it's a bit played out, but I really enjoyed this story. The chemistry between the characters was believable, even though they jumped rather swiftly into it--they'd been acquaintances for a while after all. This was a fast, cute read, with a few steamy scenes in it, but nothing I'd be afraid to see my grandma reading. 

All in all, I would definitely be interested in reading the first two books in the series, and any other series' Jules Bennett has written. This book was published in August of 2019, so if you're in the mood for a feel good spicy romance, check it out!