The deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton/Casey Duncan (#7)

Format: 341 pages, Hardcover

Published: February 15, 2022 by Minotaur Books

Thriller /own

The last Rockton book! Nooo. I kind of feel like reading book 1 in the follow up now, but since I have book 2 I will just jump there.

Someone is spilling secrets, there will be death. But that is what happens when you make a shitty town where you can buy your way in even if you are a serial killer or smth.

And now it is nearing the end of this city, hidden in the wilderness. But before that there is murder, destruction and just a big race against the clock.

Ohh this last one packed a punch. I was on the edge of my seat. I need more.

It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand. Tucked away in the Yukon wilderness, the community survives—and thrives—because the residents' many secrets stay just that—secret.

But what happens when these secrets start to come out? Overnight, no one is safe. It’s not a question of if your secret will come out—but when.

Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, need to find the culprit while protecting those who have been thrust into the spotlight. For a place built on privacy and new beginnings, Rockton isn’t handling these revelations very well. People are turning on one another, and when one of the loudest complainers turns up barely alive, it's clear that their trickster is actually a murderer.

The threat of exposure is reaching its breaking point, and no one knows what’s going to happen next.

Yellowface by RF Kuang

Format: 319 pages, Paperback

Published: May 25, 2023 by William Morrow

Fiction

Library

I enjoyed it, but, oh you know the story, for me it was too hyped up. So for me I did feel somewhat disappointing when it was not amazing. And that is why I should not listen to hype cos then I would not have felt disappointed, I would just have enjoyed a good book.

This one is so hard to review, it is one of those twitter trainwrecks that we all used to watch back in the day. Oh you know you watched it. One could not look away.

Juniper´s friend dies. And she then steals the manuscript for a book that friend was working on...and finishes it. Damn, ok, wtf girl. She becomes a huge success. But there is the voices about how she is white, she writes about Chinese workers. The name she uses that can be mistaken for Chinese, and last how her friend was a well known American-Chinese author.

The trainwreck begins.

Then she makes it worse.

And she is loosing her mind too, seeing her dead friend. About that, I would have loved that aspect to be honest, a horror story. Alas no.

The ending was a bit too open for me. I would just have crawled under a rock, but Juniper is not going down. And we do not know what will happen.

Honestly so much to say about this one, so many aspects of the publishing world. The good, and the bad.

Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls?, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

TMST

 

 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

6/17/2025 How do you choose what to read next?

I used to have a system when I had lots of review books, now I go by whatever. A review book that should be read, a library book that is due, or just a book that seems the most interesting, or a genre I could enjoy.

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6/24/2025 Do you have any travel or staycation plans for the summer?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

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Carole´s Monday: The Last Party

 

Author: AR Torre

Narrator: Amy Bentley, Will Damron, Neil Hellegers, & Ellen Quay

Title: The Last Party

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Format: Audiobook

Published: August 20, 2024

Where I got It: My shelf (Audible)

Summary: 

Perla Wultz lives with her husband, Grant, and their precious daughter, Sophie, in a gated Pasadena community. Affluent, sociable, and accomplished, Perla plays the part of loving wife and mother to perfection. It seems an ideal life, if not for a decades-old crime that has become Perla’s dark and consuming secret obsession.

Twenty-three years ago, Leewood Folcrum confessed to murdering two young girls during a birthday party. Though he’s been condemned to a life sentence, his crime is not forgotten. Not by Perla, nor by an inquisitive doctoral student interviewing Folcrum for his dissertation. He’s getting the killer to open up—about his motives, his confession, and the truth of what really happened on that horrible night.

As the past and the present entwine, the deceptions behind the infamous murder begin to surface. But who’s deceiving who now? And why? And as an ingeniously twisted plan is set in motion, who will be the next to die?

Review:

I've read a couple of books by this author so I was excited this was selected for book club. 

Everything may seem perfect in the Wultz home. A perfect wife, smart husband, and a beautiful daughter. They are affluent, sociable, and accomplished. However, there is a darkness there. There is a decades-old crime that haunts this family in more ways than one. Years ago, Leewood Folcrum confessed to murder but never gave any motive. Now a doctoral student is interviewing him and trying to get the truth about the motive and what really happened that night.

This was intense. I didn't want to stop listening!!!

What can I even say without giving away huge spoilers? Maybe I'll divide and conquer this review:

The Good

- The characters. OMG they were complex. 

- The writing is amazing. The author really knows how to tell a story. 

- This was a wild ride especially near the end. I had no idea what was going to happen at the end there. A web of lies can ruin a lot of lives. 

- Twists and turns galore. But my original idea and belief was proved right! Yayy!

- The narrators were really good. They really brought everything to life. 

The Bad and the Ugly

- One thing and one thing only.....................it ended. I want to follow these characters further. I worry for one of them. 

Conclusion

This was a great read. Be warned there are some triggers in here since the focus of the past crime was the murder of two young girls. Nothing horribly graphic is discussed, but it can be triggering for some. 

I enjoyed this book a lot. Like I mentioned...I didn't want to stop listening. This author is great. I need to read more by them. I can't wait to discuss this at Book Club. Weeee. 

5 stars. 

- Favorite Character(s): ....Grant? Maybe....I don't know honestly

- Least Favorite Character(s): Perla

 Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #26

- Cloak & Dagger #13