The unique writing style had such great promise, and the audiobook actors were phenomenal. But the story itself fell flat. I’m definitely open to stories that end with lingering mystery, but I feel like absolutely nothing was explained at the end. It feels like the author took way too much liberty with the “let the reader come to their own conclusions” concept and just didn’t bother to come up with a full idea.

This was a mystery. A missing British woman Monica Felder fails to show up in France for a cooking class. Chief of Police, Bruno discovers she was accompanied by an Irish man and now both are found dead. She has been stabbed, and it looks like he has hung himself. This seemed very interesting. However, there were so many characters, some British, some French and some American that I had a difficult time keeping them straight. In addition since it took place in France, there were quite a few French phrases, which was frustrating since I don't speak the language.

Three women: Val, Alex, and June meet at Hamilton Dog Park in Maryland, outside Washington, D.C. Two of them are not who they seem. This very well-written often funny novel satirizes the dog people and their pets. Very colorful characters. Highlights themes of friendship and secrets withheld from friends. Also emotionally abusive marriages. The ending is very cinematic.

While this story was very sad, I found the book to be incredibly boring. Yes, the death of a child is really devastating for parents but this was not enough to keep my interest. I really didn't care about or like any of the characters. There was so much research done by the author but no eventual conclusion. It did however, provide insight into corrupt elements of London and the reasons why some clearly despicable characters were allowed to conduct business in this city. I'm not sure, but maybe this was the point of the story? In any event, I don't recommend this story.

Crooked Kingdom is a thrilling and a very well-written fantasy novel that kept me engaged from beginning to end. Leigh Bardugo does an excellent job developing the characters. The story is full of clever twists, suspense, and emotional moments. If you are into heist based stories, it would be a great read and I'm sure you would love it! Overall, it is an exciting and satisfying read that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy, adventure, and character-driven stories.

Good story with lots of twists. In fact, this may have been too convoluted. As usual I did not guess who did the bad. I loved the scenic descriptions and the house, Spyglass.

The story is set on Nantucket Island. Darcy lives there and leads an active, complicated life by getting involved with her neighbors, one of which is her ex-husband. There is a lot of drama and secrets. Enjoy!

Teenaged Lola goes missing one night after meeting with her boyfriend Drew. Drew becomes the prime suspect in the case. Meanwhile a tip line call leads Drew, his cousin Max and friend Autumn to a small town in Oregon to investigate the lead. Finally a search is put together by police and the teens are believed to have substantial evidence to find Lola. Can Drew find Lola before something bad happens to her? Is there a serial killer that has gone unnoticed in Oregon for years? Read and find out.

Colette Marceau is a young teen living in World War II era France at the start of the novel THE STOLEN LIFE OF COLETTE MARCEAU by Kristen Harmel. She lives with her mother, father and younger sister and is managing to live as well as can be expected in troubling times. One terrible night everything changes. The story follows Colette through the next eight decades of her life with many flashbacks and an equal number of secrets hidden and revealed. With a large cast of characters in both the United States and France, both upstanding and criminal, the plot is somewhat unbelievable, but readable non the less. The background and atmosphere were truly interesting.

This book was really well written, but the story bothered me as a whole. I think I have a different reaction to it since I’ve worked with influencers for a living and already see past the facade they put up. The one issue I had was the main character being the narrator. She was impossible to root for, even if that was the point (to not root for her). She dances between this devout and proper Christian Woman and a paranoid hypocritical sociopath. Even the biggest reveal further pushes her own hypocrisy and sickness. I’d have liked to have seen her just be faking it, and show how that part of it works. Maybe that is how I would write it