My Reading Diary (with spoilers)

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison My rating: 4 of 5 stars Good Girls Lie was a fun, fast paced thriller. It is set in an exclusive all-girls private school in the hills of Virginia. I love that setting. I am a sucker for a good private school complete with things like "honor code" and "secret societies." (Yes, I loved Gossip Girl!) So once I got started on this book, I snuggled right in and immersed myself in the setting. Why 4 stars instead of 5? Probably because I figured out the twist pretty early in. But this was Mean Girls and Gossip Girl all rolled into one with some murder and mystery added just for fun. That's all I am really going to say on this one to avoid any spoilers. It's a fun read, well worth the time! View all my reviews

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore My rating: 3 of 5 stars As you scan reviews for this, I realize my 3 star review is sort of out of place. I couldn't decide where to rate this one. I think maybe it is a 3.5... but since Goodreads still doesn't let us do partial stars, I decided to round down on this one. Why? Because honestly I can't see myself recommending this one to anyone to read. I did the audio on it, and it was an okay book to pass the time on walks with my dog. But I couldn't really get into the jumping around timeline. First of all, it's never explained and that just bugs me. Her mom didn't have it, no one else in her life seems to "suffer" from this, and I just want to know why. It's an interesting premise, living your life out of order. But the fact that just about every year Oona can't seem to get things together enough to leave her next year self in a better spot is just annoying. One time... I get it. But every tim...

The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have to tell you that I don't often voluntarily pick up historical fiction novels that aren't book club reads. It's just not a genre that I am often drawn to. I had the opportunity to meet this author at an event where she spoke about this book and the premise just drew me in. I haven't read much about the Kennedy's generally. The closest thing I can think of is 11.22.63 by Stephen King (which was SO good). But I do enjoy Hollywood themed books where you get a glimpse into the life of the wealthy and famous so I guess that is what caught my attention. At a little over 500 pages, I really expected to be reading this over the course of a week. Instead, I found myself flying through the story and almost reading the entire thing in one day! It was very well written and well-paced. The main character Alicia is likeable. She is a modern girl in a not-so-modern time. You get introduced to all the K...

Killing the Rougarou by Shawn M. Beasley My rating: 4 of 5 stars When I saw the title of this book, I was immediately intrigued. I grew up in Southern Louisiana (a good Cajun girl at heart!) and I know the stories of the Rougarou. When I saw the author was also from South Louisiana, I knew I had to read this one. It's a big book - at almost 500 pages it is a little intimating (and literally HEAVY) to pick up. You don't typically expect a thriller to be this long. Comparatively, my review is going to be shorter. I think there was a LOT of detail into the characters. The flow of the story was really unique. You would jump forward to an event then jump WAY back and get all the details on the characters involved in that event and how they came to be, how they met, etc etc before finally coming back around to the event and then what happens after. The cover of the book calls this a "romantic thriller" - and there was definitely a decent amount of romance. And by ...

The Holdout by Graham Moore My rating: 5 of 5 stars Thinking about what I would write as a review for this book, I went back to look at some other reviews. This was one of those books that I immediately knew I wanted to read as soon as a I saw the premise of the book and I didn't read a lot of reviews before hand because I was afraid of tripping over any spoilers. After I finished reading it, I have to say I was surprised to see it was under 4 stars on Goodreads, so I went back to read some of the reviews and I guess I can see what some people perceive as flaws. I am a former practicing attorney, went to law school, watched all the legal thrillers growing up, have read every Grisham novel and most other mainstream (and some not-so-mainstream) legal thrillers over the span of my life beginning in my early teens. I love these sort of books. I love the procedural stuff. I love the nitty-gritty lawyer battle stuff. So it is no surprise that I loved this one. Does it get a lit...

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper My rating: 4 of 5 stars When you are in the middle of a quarantine and the news everyday is talking about illness and death, it seems like a great time to pick up a book called "How Not to Die Alone" right? In all seriousness, the book summary compared it to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I thought if this was going to be a funny/quirky book like that, it was just what I needed for a change of pace. The main character, Andrew, has the interesting job of working with the Death Administration in the U.K. where he is tasked with going to the home of recently deceased individuals who died alone and with know immediately known next of kin to try to uncover any clues that might either reveal finances to fund a burial and/or identify a next of kin who may be able to assist with the burial and also disposing of any remaining estate. I have no idea if this is a real job. I did stop for a second before writing this review to google...

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had the pleasure of meeting Attica Locke recently at an author event and grabbed a copy of Bluebird, Bluebird while I was there. I really loved the writing style and the flow of the story. I could completely see this becoming a movie. It was a story filled with racial tension and mystery, showing the battle between police forces. I enjoyed the Texas Ranger story line, the Rangers are a unique entity and this made me realize I would like to read more stories that include them as a character line. The one flaw I saw with this story was that there were so many characters thrown at you so early in. I contemplated stopping to put a sticky note inside the book cover to keep them straight. But as the story moved along, the primary characters came to the forefront and you could let the others go the side. I liked the way the author moved in and out of timelines fluidly, allowing characters to reminisce for a moment about some...