Review: What Stil Burns - Elle Grawl - August 2023 There's something oddly comforting about scrolling through your Kindle library when you can't decide what to read next. That's exactly how I stumbled upon What Still Burns by Elle Grawl, and I'm glad I did—though with some reservations. Having previously enjoyed Grawl's One of Those Faces , I was eager to see what she'd deliver next. This psychological thriller gave me strong vibes of Roz Watkins' The Red House , with its small-town secrets and buried family trauma. The premise immediately hooked me: Alexis (Lexi) lost her entire family in a devastating fire as a child and was raised by her aunt. When her aunt dies, Lexi discovers she's inherited the family home—the very place where her nightmares began. Returning to her small hometown to prepare the house for sale, Lexi finds herself confronting suppressed memories and questioning everything she thought she knew about that tragic night. Was the fire ...

Review: 10 Hours to Go - Keely Parrack - February 2024 One of my favorite publishers is Sourcebooks Fire as I enjoy their YA thriller stories. In 10 Hours to Go, we meet Lily who has been off visiting for the day a potential college, and instead of catching a flight or the bus back home. She has been given a ride home from her old best friends Natasha and Elke - four years ago the girls had a big fallout as Lily snitched and the result meant that Elke got expelled her family moved away and then Natasha lost her friendships. Everything spiraled out of control and now this ride home is going to be filled with four years of built-up resentments and for Natasha, she has planned to give Lily a taste of her own medicine. The thing though is life never goes to plan as what should have been a 10-hour ride home ends up a crazy two-day ride as they are directed to off-roads as a nasty fire is spreading through their journey.  In a way, I did enjoy this book as it was a good thriller, but on ...

Review: After We Were Stolen - Brooke Beyfuss - July 2022 A trope that I have always enjoyed is the story of cults and then missing children returned to their parents. In After We Were Stolen, we meet a cult known as Cloverlite. It is made up of a big family - Mum, Dad and their 12 children. Avery is one of the oldest at 17 years and the youngest Benjamin is 2-3 years old. This family has been taught that the outside world is dangerous and that there is a big event coming and have been raised to be survivalists. Avery disrespected the family and was sent to live outside in a tent, now after the newest baby died. She has been brought back inside as the family has a job for her, she is to become the new mother and procreate with an outsider to create the next generation of "The Family". Avery has always been closest to her brother Caleb and when there is a fire on the grounds, most of the family are killed. Caleb and Avery manage to escape and they eventually find their way t...

Review: Playing With Fire - April Henry - January 2021 This book starts with a guy burning a car in the middle of a forest and how one spark can change the course of many lives. Playing with Fire by April Henry was inspired by a real incident called the Eagle Creek Fire which happened in the Columbia River Gorge in 2017 when a 15-year-old boy lit a firework during a burn ban. In our forest are Natalia and her co-worker Wyatt on their first date as he suggested hiking. They are the first ones to notice the fire and smell it. For Natalia, this is a huge deal as for the past six years she has made it her goal to avoid the fire of any kind and little children as a tragic accident occurred and landed her in the hospital with burns. Along the way they met several groups of hikers and together they are trapped in the forest and now have to work together to survive and find a way out of the fire, the group contains all ages and issues from diabetes to dementia to panic attacks. However, as th...