Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (Matthew J. Sullivan)

Midnight At the Bright Ideas Bookstore- Matthew Sullivan

This is another one of those I would have to go searching through my order records to figure out when I got it. (Someone has GOT to turn off sale notifications from Kindle for me. PLEASE??) But it had great reviews and kept popping up on people's TBR lists on GoodReads so I figured, eh, why not give it a try?

I love it! I am a sucker (in case you haven't noticed a trend here) for a great "burning the candle at both ends" style of thriller. Where I am just as invested in what happened 15 years ago as I am in what is happening today. This idea of two timelines coming together to solve the questions they each left unanswered, it takes an expertise at weaving characters and their stories that I don't think you see as frequently in today's book market. And especially not as well done as by Matthew Sullivan in Midnight At the Bright Ideas Bookstore.

Our protaganist starts the book off with what has GOT to go down in retail history as just the worst fucking shift EVER! (And I've worked plenty of retail. Even with the nightmares I lived through, it was nothing compared to how this book starts.) But of course, there's a tiny little mystery tucked away in this opening scene that begins to force her to look back on the demons and unanswered questions of her childhood, leaving me breathless with the need to know what comes next. I tried really hard with this book NOT to figure out what the twist would be when it came (because you KNOW they always come [that's what she said] and I wanted to savor it.) And was pleasatnely surprised. Maybe I would have figured it out if I'd tried hard enough to do it, but it was fun to be shocked along with the main character.

Honestly, I loved this book, it was a fun read with mysterious, yet still dimensional and dynamic characters, and I think that is so hard to pull off these days. Definitely recommend to anyone into the thriller/suspense category.

The Book
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The Writing
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Readability
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The Kind Worth Killing (Peter Swanson)

The Kind Worth Killing- Peter Swanson

This book is a perfect example of why working with fellow book nerds is the best. I would probably never have found this book if an optometrist I work with hadn't told me about it. I was just finishing up another book, and as soon as I started reading the sample I. Was. HOOKED.

We all know them. The people who don't deserve to live. They treat people like garbage, take for granted every good thing that comes to them in life. They are the perfect picture of the opposite of humanity. Those are the kind worth killing. And in the very first chapter we learn about one such person, and meet someone who is willing to help eliminate this human waste of space.

Now, I don't fly, like, super often. However, I think I've done it enough to know that an airport bar is the PERFECT place to take advice from someone on how to kill your "loved" ones.  In fact, I feel like I might start hanging out in one and giving people my unsolicited advice as well. (Wait, do you have to have purchased a ticket to get into the bars? Hmm, I might need a financier to help with this plan. Email me at contact@belleofthebookcase.com if you're interested. Please block your IP address for everyone's sake before you do it. kthxbai.) Anyway, before I got lost on a future-careers tangent, I was going to tell you that this exact scenario is what the book opens upon. At first, it seemed like your pretty typical, "rich guy thinks his trophy wife is cheating on him and wants to get rid of her" trope. But after a few minutes, I started to realize... "wait, who the fuck is this Lily person? And what's her phone number, I think we should hang out."

"I've got 'pageturnitis'. Super contagious."

It didn't take long before I realized that the rich-guy trope was just a cheap pick up line at the bar. The book went in directions I never would have expected, and it definitely kept me on my toes the whole time I read it. Total top contender for the coveted Calling Out of Work trophy. (Obvi I couldn't do that since one of the doctors had suggested the book in the first place.) According to my GoodReads, I spent a little more than twenty four hours reading this book. It was THAT. GOOD.

So, what it comes down to, is that you need to read this book. Start it on a Friday night so you can read it straight through because it will seriously keep dragging you back in.

And the winner is:

The Book
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The Writing
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Readability
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The Perfect Stranger (Megan Miranda)

The Perfect Stranger- Megan Mirand

So, The Perfect Stranger is the second of Megan Miranda's books that I've read. I read All the Missing Girls last year right after it was released, and immediately had a massive amount of respect for Miranda. Her ability to craft a complex story, then drop you right in the middle is extraordinary. (Maybe I'll write you a review of Missing Girls as well, because,  even now I'm swooning inside reliving it.)

But,  back to the present.  This Sunday I decided to see what Megan Miranda had been up to, and then BOOM! Cue The Perfect Stranger on sale in the Kindle store that VERY DAY! KISMET, my friends!

The Perfect Stranger is similar to Missing Girls in that parts of it take place in the present while the back story is revealed slowly throughout the book. But in this one,  we don't start out in medias res per se. The action definitely happens right in front of your eyes, it's just that the underside of the iceberg is revealed over time throughout the novel (and dude, it goes fucking DEEP.)

We meet Leah after she has chosen to move to a remote town in Western Pennsylvania (which is, I can tell you, exactly two miles past the Butt Fuck of nowhere and straight on into a Wes Craven movie.) She had decided to do this, we learn, because she has run into a girl who was more-acquaintance-than-friend after college. This is just at the moment when Leah needs to get out of town.  Fast. And as luck would have it, Emmy ALSO needs to leave town AND she's already thrown a dart to decide where to go. (A Wes Craven movie, apparently.)

That's when things get weird. (Weirder than moving to Butt Fuck Pennsylvania with a virtual stranger that you haven't seen for eight years.)

I'm not giving anything away, because the twists are so well crafted it would do a disservice to Ms. Miranda if I did.

What I will say is this: Read. This. Book.

Drum roll, pleasssssseeeeeeeee........
The Book
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The Writing
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Readability
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The Broken Girls ( Simone St. James)

The Broken Girls- Simone St. James

There are some books that are just impossible to get out of your head. Books that, once you've started them, you cannot stop living in that world, even if you're having to function in this "real" world (this world is not fucking real, FYI.) From the moment I saw the cover on Book of the Month Club, I knew I had to read this book. (Don't tell me not to judge a book by it's cover. This cover is stunning.) I love urbex photography, so a story set at an abandoned school campus was RIGHT up my alley. (Note to self, only urbex during the daylight...)

As per usual from me, this is a story that starts in the middle. Our protagonist is a journalist who never really recovered from the tragic death of her sister in her youth. When in the present day a story comes up centering on the land where her sister's body was found, rekindling her curiosity about the abandoned school- the Idlewild Hall school for girls- as someone buys the land and talk begins about reopening the school.

I don't give spoilers for a story itself, but (and this will be a tiny spoiler) let me tell you. I get kinda annoyed when I devote my time to a suspenseful supernatural situation only to get Scooby-Dooed in the end and find out it was some old guy with a grudge against the kids who play in his lawn. This book didn't do that. That's the only spoiler I'm gonna give.

The writing is fantastic, lots of atmosphere, without getting bogged down with pages and pages about the quality of the decaying wood (like some writers we know.) I don't know, maybe the ending could have been a little more in depth or tied together or something, but I still loved it. When I turned the last page, and closed the cover, I had that little sadness that comes from not wanting the joy to ever end. Total. Book. Hangover. 

Already lent this book to two people and two others bought the e-book. As far as I'm concerned, you should read it. Right. Now.

All-in-all:

The Book
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The Writing
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Readability
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