Review: Caraval - Book #1 Caraval Series - Stephanie Garber - September 2016 I had recently finished the Once Upon a Broken Heart series and the first book mentioned a little bit about Jack's relationship with someone named Donatella.  At the time of reading the first two books, I didn't realize that there was a prequel series with the first book being Caraval. This month on Bookstagram, a group of friends were doing a buddy read and since I had a copy on my bookshelf, I thought I would make it a priority to read this month. I also needed to get the Once Upon a Broken Heart world out of my head. I went in blind to Caraval and have to admit it was a darker book than the Once Upon a Broken Heart series and then reading this book, the female character Scarlett frustrated the hell out of me. She was so whiny and was very much playing the victim-blaming game and she was so self-righteous and wanted to control everything. I just wanted to shake her and scream for her to wake up. I gu...

Review: Thieves Gambit - Book #1 - Kayvion Lewis - September 2023 As this weekend was the long weekend celebrating Matariki - the Maori New Year and also the first day for me to help out with the special election booth at the library, I figured it was going to be quiet and it was with only a couple of inquiries. This made it the perfect reading time as well, so I didn't sit there twiddling my thumbs. I took along with me Thieves Gambit, which was one I had received from HarperCollins NZ and it was so good. I have always enjoyed heist and spy novels and Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis was another one added to my list of enjoyable reads. I now can't wait for Book #2 Heist Royale. Thieves Gambit first introduces us to the mother/daughter team of The Quests who are one of North America's best thieving families.  Ross though wants a normal life, so she starts planning but instead of a clean break on their last job, her mum gets kidnapped. The kidnappers want one billion dollars ...

  Review: One Of Us Is Back - Book #3 Bayview Trilogy Series - Karen M. McManus -July 2023 I have been so excited to read this one as I remember back when Karen M. McManus first released her debut novel One of Us is Lying, since then she has been one of my favourite YA thriller authors. One of Us Is Back is book #3 in the Bayview High series as the group is back for the Summer and about to learn that Jake - the guy who set them up for the murder of Simon and tried to kill the group is being let out of jail after 6 years. At the same time, a new billboard has popped up with the words "Time to Play a New Game". Is someone starting up another murderous game in Bayview? The group is a combination of the characters from the first book and then the other half is from Book #2. I enjoyed this one but was a little disappointed when the villain was revealed as it felt disconnected from the main theme of being related to the Bayview Group itself, but more focused on Jake and his family...

Wicked Games Nancy Brown (Wicked Series, #1) Publication date: February 7th 2023 Genres: Adult, Thriller Wicked: Evil, Naughty . Games: To play or manipulate based on skill, strength or luck . One Woman. Two men. A race against the clock. The Players: Avery Carmichael is a brilliant criminal attorney. She is also the daughter of Jonathan Carmichael, the future governor of New York. She hates games and she doesn’t have time for romance. She is running scared from the only man in her life. She calls him Tic Toc and he wants her dead. Her only objective is to survive. Liam Sanders is tall, dark and deadly handsome. He’s also the twin brother of Luke Sanders and the newest member of Cross Security. He has a job to do. He doesn’t have time for distractions. But just one look at Avery Carmichael and his game plan changes. He wants her and he’ll do whatever it takes make her his. Tic Toc is a man who loves games. He’s also a sociopath who communicates through cryptic notes, ...

Review: The Game - Scott Kershaw - May 2022 One of my favourite genres is thrillers and I loved the whole "game/ revenge" type reads. This book starts with our five players having someone they love kidnapped. They are each thrown into a world known as "The Game" and given coordinates to a place in the UK.  Two of them are from the UK, two are from the US, and one is from France. We have Maggie whose son Jackson has been kidnapped, Sarah whose daughter Hannah, Linda with her daughter Alyssa, Brett whose best friend Craig is among those kidnapped, and lastly Noah's fiancée Sofia. Each person has no idea why their loved ones have been taken. The group ends up in the backwoods of England in a small inn called The Gamekeeper's Inn and is given clues to find their loved ones. The group must work as a team to get across the line otherwise if they don't make their deadlines, their loved ones will be killed. The final clue leads them to Player #6 who holds the...

The Game Maker Kitty Thomas Publication date: July 15th 2020 Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance I was too isolated. I was about to be evicted. I made a final desperate call to the man who ruined my life, but he didn’t come for me. Someone else did. And then there was Seven. When I first woke in the cell, I thought he was my captor, but he is a pawn, like me. Seven is beautiful and kind. I want him so much I can barely breathe. He wants to protect me from our captor, but he can’t. We are both locked inside a game neither of us can ever hope to win, and even though it’s wrong, I’m starting to want both men, not just the good one… the monster as well. Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play — EXCERPT: My head is pounding when I regain consciousness. I can’t bring myself to open my eyes. I’m lying on a hard surface, which seems weird to me. At first I think I’m lying on the ground outside where I passed out, but there are no city no...

Review: Catch Your Death - Kierney Scott - April 2019 After recovering from her tragedy, Special agent Jess Bishop has gone off the tracks a bit and not in the right frame of mind as someone from her past is coming back to haunt her and make her seem like she is crazy. When Jess is asked a favor from her boss and someone she sees as a friend to check on her nephew at his school. Jess agrees, but when she arrives, it will not be the sight that she wants to view as she discovers her friend's son dead. It turns out that this boarding school has had five young boys all committed suicide over the past few months, and the worst thing is the school is keeping it under wraps and not informing the parents. It turns out that the deaths are connected to a social media app game which provides you with dangerous challenges to prove your worth. Can Jess and her team get to the bottom of it, even if it means unraveling years of a secret society and boys group? A...