Review: Saving Six - Book #3 Boys of Tommen Series - Chloe Walsh - February 2023 You know those books that sit on your shelf, waiting for the perfect moment? The ones you can't just casually pick up during your lunch break because you know—you know—they're going to demand everything from you? That's the Boys of Tommen series for me. These chunky, angsty beauties require full emotional commitment, and Chloe Walsh's Saving 6 is no exception. This time, we're rewinding to witness Joey and Aoife's love story from their perspectives, and honestly, it's both devastating and beautiful. If you've already met them through Shannon 's eyes in the earlier books, prepare for familiar scenes to hit different , harder, deeper, more personal. There's something special about seeing the same moments through new eyes, understanding motivations you could only guess at before. One of my favourite parts? Watching Johnny and Gibsie spot Joey in that club, com...

Review: The Serial Killer's Support Group - DB Stephens - November 2024 You know how us book nerds scroll through Libby at 2am looking for our next literary obsession? Well, that's exactly how I stumbled upon this gem. The title alone had me hooked – serial killers AND a support group? As someone who devours thrillers faster than Tim Tams at a morning tea, I was immediately intrigued. Initially, I expected something along the lines of Grady Hendrix's The Final Girl Support Group – you know, that perfect blend of horror and dark humor we love. Instead, this read more like Darby Kane's The Last Invitation, with its intricate web of secrets and moral ambiguity. The story opens on New Year's Eve with Jess trapped in an abusive relationship with Lewis. Having watched her mother endure similar trauma, she'd sworn never to become that woman. When a hospital worker offers her an escape route, Jess finds herself in a church support group surrounded by other survivors – s...

Review: Her Final Secret - Book #5 Detective Hollie Turner Series - Paul J. Teague - November 2024 You know that feeling when you're mindlessly scrolling through your Kindle library at 11 PM, trying to avoid the mounting TBR pile staring at you accusingly? Yeah, that was me last week. Sometimes the best discoveries happen when you're procrastinating – and that ferris wheel cover practically grabbed me by the eyeballs and demanded attention. Here's the thing about jumping into a series at Book #5: it's either going to work brilliantly or leave you completely lost. Thankfully, Paul J. Teague knows how to write a standalone that doesn't alienate newcomers while still rewarding longtime readers. I had zero background with Detective Hollie Turner, but within chapters I was completely invested in her story. The dual timeline structure absolutely works here. We bounce between 1999 and the present day, watching nineteen-year-old Hollie experience the trauma that shapes he...

Review: The Guilty One - Book #1 Emma Tapper Series - Anna Karolina and Translated by Lisa Reinhardt - August 2022 While scrolling through my Kindle in search of my next read, I stumbled across a thriller that immediately pulled me in with its chilling premise. From the first page, I was thrust into a nightmare scenario involving twins, a deadly prophecy, and a family riddled with secrets. The story kicks off with twins Nicholas and Jasmine celebrating their thirtieth birthday — a milestone overshadowed by a dark warning from a psychic: one of them won’t live to see the end of the day. As the evening unfolds with a cocktail of drugs, alcohol, and reckless celebration at Jasmine’s house, the tension simmers beneath the surface. But what starts as a night of fun quickly turns into a tragedy. Nicholas wakes up the next morning in a daze, with a blank memory and blood on his hands — literally. His sister lies dead beside him, her throat slashed, and the knife is in his grasp. Panicked a...

Review: Losing the Field - Book #4 The Field Party Series - Abbi Glines - August 2018 As a mood reader, I find it can be really hard sometimes to find a good book. On Saturday, I wanted to read and the first two books were a DNF. For me, Abbi Glines is one of those authors I know I always love and so I picked up Losing the Field – Book #4 The Field Party Series. Growing up Tallulah was always the quiet, shy, fat girl and she idolised Nash Lee who was one of the football stars at their high school and he was Captain of the team. On the last day of Eleventh Grade though everything changed for Tallulah as she overheard Ryker tell a joke about not seeing big girls in swimsuits and Nash laughed. That summer, Tallulah started an excercise regime and went on a diet. When she started back 12th grade , she was skinny and looked fabulous - so many people thought she was a new student. For once, she was getting the attention of the guys except for the one she wanted -the one who started this all...

Review: Binding 13 - Book #1 Boys of Tommen Series - Chloe Walsh -July 2018 During this past week, I had a bus trip up to Auckland and so I decided since I had the bus ride, I would tackle Binding 13 which is a nice chunky read at 801 pages. As I got reading it though, I was surprised at how fast the book flowed and it reminded me of a book that I read over 10 years ago - Reasons to Breathe Series by Rebecca Donovan. The main female character Shannon reminded me of Rebecca Donovan's character Emma as they had similar upbringings and lives and both went through abusive situations. Shannon has been bullied her whole life and now finally has the chance to attend Tommen Academy, a private school. It looks like her life is finally looking up on the school front as she finally has friends and is fitting in with the popular crowd which is the Rugby team stars Johnny, Gibsie, and Pierce. Gibsie is her best friend Claire's bestie and Pierce is the on/off-again boyfriend of her friend L...

Review: Missing Parts - Lucinda Berry - September 2016 Have you ever read a book that has made you feel super angry after you have finished it? For me, it can be very rare for me to feel angry in general life as I try to stay positive and optimistic and live a happy life, but after reading Missing Parts by Lucinda Berry, God it made me feel so much anger and this was one of those reads where the bad guy frickin wins. I had to scream when this book finished and I was F You David, that is how mad and wild it made me feel. The book starts with Celeste and David finally having a miracle baby after trying for years and having an array of miscarriages etc. Celeste though seeing as she is the main earner, goes back to work and David is a stay-at-home dad. In one way, we did see that by doing this their daughter attached more to David rather than Celeste and we could see Celeste trying but she just couldn't connect with her daughter. When her daughter is diagnosed with fatal kidney failur...

Review: Listen for The Lie - Amy Tintera - March 2024 This particular title had been talked about on Bookstagram and shared and it had captured my attention as I do love my crime thrillers and talking about cold cases and unsolved murders. Five years ago Lucy had it all, a handsome husband, a nice house, and her best friend Savvy. That was until the night after a wedding that Savvy was murdered and Lucy was found wandering down the road with amnesia. People assumed that Lucy had killed her best friend and then got away with the murder. The truth was that Lucy doesn't remember anything about that night, but knows for sure she would never have hurt her best friend. Now five years later, a podcaster Ben has swept into town and is aiming to discover the truth about what happened and gain some closure not only for Savannah's family but also to get justice, even if that means taking Lucy down and opening old wounds in town. As the podcast goes along, we see different sides of the t...