The Liar's Girl - Catherine Ryan Howard

Paperback, 304 pages

Published Jan 3 2019 by Corvus

Thriller

Than you Atlantic Books for this copy!

My Thoughts

Ohhhhh secrets! I did not know what to believe to be honest.

The books takes place in the present and flashes of Alison 10 years ago. How she has a toxic relationship with her bestie (but can not see it), how she falls in love for the first time with the greatest guy ever, Will!

And the present, how she fled to Holland and built a new life and now she has to go back. There are new girls found in the canal. Copycat? Was Will innocent? Was he part of something? I did not know what to believe. I mean he confessed 10 years ago! But then new things come into light. He was young, the questions were directed in a certain way. But why not claim he was innocent and shout it out? Oh the questions.

Alison starts to wonder too and together with a detective they try to get to the bottom of things and see to that no more girls are murdered. It gets intense there at the end and of course I had to put it down just as I was about to bite down my nails. Chilling!

It is not that long, and it does pack a nice punch at the end. You do not know what to think of Will. I sure went through all the stages.

Conclusion:

Suspense, and secrets. What more does one want

Synopsis

Will Hurley was an attractive, charming, and impressive student at Dublin's elite St. John's College-and Ireland's most prolific serial killer. Having stalked his four young victims, he drowned them in the muddy waters of the Grand Canal. Sentenced to life imprisonment when he was just nineteen, Will is locked away in the city's Central Psychiatric Hospital.

Freshman Alison Smith moved to the Big Smoke to enrol in St. John's and soon fell hard for Will Hurley. Her world bloomed ... and then imploded when Liz, her best friend, became the latest victim of the Canal Killer-and the Canal Killer turned out to be the boy who'd been sleeping in her bed. Alison fled to the Netherlands and, in ten years, has never once looked back.

When a young woman's body is found in the Grand Canal, Garda detectives visit Will to see if he can assist them in solving what looks like a copycat killing. Instead, Will tells them he has something new to confess-but there's only one person he's prepared to confess it to. The last thing Alison wants is to be pulled back into the past she's worked so hard to leave behind. Reluctantly, she returns to the city she hasn't set foot in for more than a decade to face the man who murdered the woman she was supposed to become.

Only to discover that, until now, Will has left out the worst part of all ... 

Audio: Lies and other acts of love

Audio CD, 10 h

Published December 18th 2018 by Tantor Audio (first published April 5th 2016)

Southern Fiction

Thank you Tantor

My Thoughts

I did find it strange that everyone else calls it feelgood, sweet and all those fuzzy feelings. I found it rather depressing at times with all the cheating and heartache. And at the same time it was so sweet and filled with Church, and I was all, how are these perfect Christians?

To the book then, it had two POVS. I felt Lovey had the bigger part and Annabelle was in the shadow at times. I also felt that Lovey's big secret never truly was dealt with and I got angry at her in the end for not telling the truth. I also hated how she and her husband had to wait forever to get married, and that they loved each other so much! And still (view spoiler: the author made the husband cheat cos I do not know, his wife was so preggo that he could not keep it in his pants. wtf?! He waited YEARS for her but could not keep it in his pants while she was pregnant. It ruined their lovestory)

Annabelle was, sigh, well I did like her, but the more I so of her the more this felt like she was living in the 50s. She was 22, about to get married, ditched him and married someone else. She was said to always keep another man in the wings so she could move on the next day. Because her entire life was built around men and she could not live if a man did not take care of her. I felt sorry for her then, without a man she was nothing. She also wanted to please her man at every time. (view spoiler: and then the new man cheats on her and it takes her 5 weeks to confront him cos she does not want to leave cos omg then she would be alone. so she finds her ex and is all I want to come back and he is all yes!)

No other grandkids came to visit Lovey. It was always aunts and Annabelle. Where were they all? The aunts had such a big part and I have no idea about other kids or siblings.

Also, well, too much Church talk. How he guides the way and blah blah. Omg you are all cheaters and liars. I just can not do overly religious books. Do not even get me started on Priest Charming.

PS. There are no tiny lies, there are BIG lies. Lies that hurt.

Narrator Janet Metzger

She saved this book. I liked her Lovey voice, and her Ann. She really brought the charm

Synopsis

After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies. 

Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health.

But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves . . . 

Audio. The Way you Make me Feel - Maurene Goo

Written by: Maurene Goo

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 2018-12-18

Language: English

Publisher: Tantor Audio

YA Fiction Romance

Thank you Tantor for this copy

My Thoughts

I wish we had foodtrucks, we have like 1, but I want it like it is here! Mmmm food!

As for the book, well Clara was not my fav person when I started. She does not take anything seriously. Ok so Rose goes too far, but then again she worked hard and Clara just makes fun of it all. Clara does not respect her dad's job, at all! And sure, she is a teenager, but still, respect! But then this is about a journey she takes. She will grow up, and out of it.

Clara, and her enemy Rose, have to work at her dad's foodtruck all summer. I had not read the blurb so I was thinking these two would fall in love, but then this hot guy named Hamlet shows up and steals Clara away, lol. I must say, it could have worked well for enemies to fall in love. But instead they will become great friends and that is awesome, because Clara needs that. She needs a new crowd, and to see things in another way.

Her dad is great. Her mum not so. Her taste in friends,well I mean they are good, but they spur her crazy side. That crazy side made it hard to like her at times, and impacted on how I felt about the book.

Her journey of growing up and seeing things in a new light. Her mum, her dad, her friends, and maybe creating those connections she need.

And foodtalk! Do not forget foodtalk.

Interesting book, even if I wished that Clara had not been quite to bratty at first

Narration by Emily Woo Zeller

She did a good job with the different voiced and I felt she got Clara well. That rebel side and that whatever attitude. 

Synopsis

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. 

But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad's business. What if taking this summer seriously means Clara has to leave her old self behind? 

With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you'd never thought to look.

Age of Swords - Micheal J Sullivan

Paperback, 465 pages

Published January 30th 2018 by Del Rey Books (first published July 25th 2017)

Series: The Legends of the First Empire #2

Fantasy 

Own

My Thoughts:

I fear 2018 did not end with a bang

I had a hard time reading this one, I never truly got into it. And I do feel that it borders on almost only ok. In the sense that it did not make me want to read more, in that aspect it is an ok rating, but, I just can not bring myself to it. The story and writing is still good. Just not good enough.

I do not root for anyone. If they all died I would not care. That is not good.

Damn, fine, FINE! It is a 2, sigh. I have to do it. If I do not want to read more than it clearly can not be a 3.

It felt like a filler.

Synopsis

Raithe, the God Killer, may have started the rebellion by killing a Fhrey, but long-standing enmities dividing the Rhunes make it all but impossible to unite against the common foe. And even if the clans can join forces, how will they defeat an enemy whose magical prowess renders them indistinguishable from gods?

The answer lies across the sea in a faraway land populated by a reclusive and dour race who feel nothing but disdain for both Fhrey and mankind. With time running out, Persephone leads the gifted young seer Suri, the Fhrey sorceress Arion, and a small band of misfits in a desperate search for aid--a quest that will take them into the darkest depths of Elan. There, an ancient adversary waits, as fearsome as it is deadly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR