Review: The Other Family - Wendy Corsi Staub - January 2022 Kia ora, bookworms! Pour yourself a strong cuppa,  maybe a proper flat white if you're feeling fancy  because oh my goodness, do I have a read for you today. I finished Wendy Corsi Staub's The Other Family in one sitting, curled up on the couch with my cat on my lap and the wind rattling the windows outside, and honestly? That might be the most perfectly atmospheric reading experience I've had all year. Right, let me set the scene for you. Nora and her family are packing up their lives and heading to New York,  new city, fresh start, all that exciting energy of beginning again somewhere unfamiliar. They find a house. They move in. And then, as you do when you're settling into a new place and getting a bit nosy with the neighbours, they discover that their lovely new home was the site of a horrific family slaughter years ago. Naturally, they're gutted. Why weren't they told? Who keeps something like...

Review: The Slaying Game -Book #6 The Jolvix Episodes - Faith Gardner - September 2023 Each one of this series "The Jolvix Episodes" can be read as a standalone, The Slaying Game by Faith Gardner caught my attention on Kindle Unlimited with the cover and the fact that I had previously read one by this author and enjoyed it. The Slaying Game was also enjoyed as we took a walk into the world of Virtual Reality and how it really can turn into a killing machine. Someone is killing but making it look like suicide with VR goggles and a 3D-printed gun. These people seemed to be connected to Leela and were the ones who had wronged her at one time in the past. Who is killing them and why? Who is sacrificing everything for Leela? This was a good thriller read in terms of the murder weapon, but I have to admit I did find the motive, and when the person was revealed as the guy behind orchestrating the kills, a little lacking, and then the ending felt a bit rushed and wrapped up pretty ...

      Review: Anna O - Matthew Blake - January 2024 Thanks to HarperCollins NZ for the ARC. Anna O had captured my attention and I was looking forward to reading it as I had read a few similar titles including A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan and Stay Awake by Megan Goldin. Both books tackled events that caused trauma and the person to either fall into a deep sleep or trouble if they do fall asleep. In Anna O, four years ago Anna was out with her family and friends when a tragedy occurred - two of her friends were murdered and the main suspect was Anna. Shortly after the incident, Anna fell asleep and years later she is still asleep and hasn't awoken. It's like it is stuck in a coma. The police have enlisted the help of the Abbey Sleep Clinic where Dr. Benedict Price works and his mentor Dr. Bloom to try and wake Anna and make her fit for trial. Ben tries various techniques in the present and then in the past timeline, the book from Anna's POV talks about what led up ...