Review: Tragedy Girl - Christine Hurley Deriso - April 2016  There are some books that feel like they would be right at home on a quiet afternoon, curled up on the sofa with a cuppa and a blanket, and Tragedy Girl was one of those reads for me. What makes this one particularly interesting is that it was originally published a decade ago, back in 2016 . Picking it up in 2026, I found myself enjoying this little trip back to a style of YA mystery that feels both familiar and refreshingly uncomplicated. Anne has already been through more heartbreak than anyone her age should have to endure. Her parents have died in a car accident, leaving her trying to find her way through life while carrying that enormous loss with her. Then she meets Blake. He’s good looking, friendly and, perhaps most importantly, he understands grief. His girlfriend, Cara, drowned, although her body was never recovered. It seems almost inevitable that Anne would be drawn to him. After all, they have something in ...

Review: The Second First Chance - Blakely Bennett - March 2016 We all have those months, don't we? The ones where nothing on your shelf seems to call to you, where you find yourself scrolling endlessly through your Kindle at midnight, jabbing hopefully at titles and praying something sticks. That was very much my life lately,  a proper reading slump that had me wondering if the magic had gone out of it entirely. And then a title caught my eye, and something just said yes. That's how I stumbled into The Second First Chance by Blakely Bennett, and I am ever so glad I did. This book pressed on a question I suspect many of us carry quietly in our hearts: what if you could have just a little more time with the person you love? Jayden's husband Callahan is killed in a car accident on their twentieth wedding anniversary, an ordinary crossing of a road that changes everything, forever. It is the kind of loss that hits you right in the chest as a reader, because it is...

Review: The Killing Game - JS Carol - October 2016 Reading slumps are the worst. You know that feeling when every book you pick up feels like a chore, when pages blur together and nothing seems to capture your attention? That's exactly where I found myself a few weeks ago, desperately scrolling through recommendations, hoping something would spark that old familiar excitement. That's when I stumbled across "The Killing Game" by JS Carol, and honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time. The premise immediately grabbed me: JJ Johnson, a Hollywood fixer who specializes in making A-list problems disappear, finds herself in the ultimate crisis when what should have been a routine power lunch turns into a deadly hostage situation. When a gunman storms into an upscale LA diner frequented by celebrities, armed with a bomb rigged to his heartbeat, JJ and the other patrons become pawns in a twisted game where fame becomes a target. The entire narrative around the four-...

Review: Ignite - Book 0.7 Legacy Series - Rebecca Yarros - July 2016 Sometimes you just know what your reading soul needs. After powering through a week of dense literary fiction and pulse-pounding thrillers that left my brain feeling like scrambled eggs, I found myself standing before my bookshelf on a Friday evening, craving something entirely different. My fingers landed on Ignite, a slim novella that had been sitting patiently since a fellow bookstagrammer gifted it to me months ago. Rebecca Yarros wrote this Legacy series entry back in 2016, and while I shamefully admit to still having her wildly popular romantasy novels gathering dust on my shelf (despite buying them on release day like the devoted reader I pretend to be), I've devoured nearly all of her contemporary romances. There's something about Rebecca Yarros's writing that feels like slipping into a warm bath after a long day—comforting, rejuvenating, with just enough edge to keep things interesting. Ignite i...

Review: Two Wingmen and a Baby - Book #3 Wingmen Short Story - Daisy Prescott - October 2016 Listen up, fellow bookworms! When my alarm went off this morning, I found myself in that dreaded reading slump where nothing on my TBR pile was calling my name. You know those days—when you desperately need a literary fix but nothing seems quite right? That's when I reached for Daisy Prescott's delightful short story "Two Wingmen and a Baby," and let me tell you, it was exactly the reading prescription I needed! Hold onto your ovaries, because this story features the irresistible Tom Cat Donnely and his wingman John Day looking after sweet Baby Day. The premise is simple but oh-so-entertaining: two alpha males convinced they can handle babysitting without breaking a sweat.  What these men lack in baby-wrangling skills, they make up for in heart. The story playfully explores that age-old question—can two grown men survive an afternoon with an infant without anything going si...

Spies Like Me Doug Solter (The Gems, #1) Publication date: October 4th 2016 Genres: Thriller, Young Adult They offered Emma revenge… When she discovers her father’s plane crash wasn’t an accident, sixteen-year-old Emma wants to punish those responsible. Even if it means becoming a spy for a mysterious organization known as The Authority. They want Emma to join the Gems…four teenage girls with unique skills…who know how to handle dangerous spy missions around the world…like storming a mountain stronghold to stop terrorists from incinerating the world’s food supply. The Authority thinks Emma is the missing link to make this team work. Emma thinks The Authority is her only chance for revenge. Spies Like Me is the first novel in The Gems Young Adult spy thriller series, although all books in the Gems world can be read as standalone adventures. This is a fast-paced action story with diverse characters, cool spy gadgets, girl-power bonding, deep family secrets, ruthless villain...

Review: Dark Water - Book #3 DCI Erika Foster Series - Robert Bryndza - October 2016 Finishing off the year with Dark Water by Robert Bryndza, some people go out and party for New Year's Eve - for myself, it was curling up in bed with my glass of Sparkling Lindauer Grape Juice and my Kindle as I scrolled through trying to find something to read and 4th time lucky was Dark Water by Robert Bryndza as the first few ones were DNF and boring reads. Dark Water captured me from the very first page, especially since as a thriller fan I love it when we get crimes that were once unsolved cold cases -years later solved. In Dark Water, it starts with the police finding 4 million dollars of Heroin in the lake. That's not all they find though; they have also pulled up a body that looks like it has been in the water for years as it turns out to be a child skeleton and one that has been missing for 26 years. 26 years ago in 1990, 7-year-old Jessica Collins vanished without a trace and there ...

Review: PS You're Mine - Alexa Riley - January 2016 Being in a reading slump always sucks as it's like everything you try is just so blah and nothing is holding your attention. When I start to feel like this, I scroll through my Kindle and grab authors that I know I will enjoy, and more often this scratches the reading itch. Alexa Riley is an author I hadn't read in years, but if you are a fan of instalove romances and sometimes ones that are just great feelgoods - then she is the author for you. In PS You're Mine, we meet high school teacher Katie Lovely whose class is currently partaking in a pen pal programme with the military. After handing out the names, she realizes that there is one left so she takes it upon herself and starts writing letters to Sergeant Major Mark Gunner. As I was reading this, I had the feeling that he looked like the character that plays Young Gibbs on NCIS Origins. As the book goes along, Katie and Mark continue writing letters and she send...