ARC

Review: The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols

~ megs14malloy

The Marigold Cottages Murder CollectiveThe Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

With a story as fun and cozy as this cover, The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective gave me everything I was hoping for and then some. I did not expect to love this as much as I did, but I was pulled in and held so tightly.

The audiobook is a fabulous way to go with this one, as the dual narration of Meg Price and Jim Meskimen helped fuse humor and heart even more so into the story.

The comp to The Thursday Murder Club in the publisher’s synopsis is definitely apt, but whereas with those books, the main characters are all mostly elderly, this story features more of a range of ages and backgrounds.

I feel like their differences, firstly, make them easier to remember, but also made the dynamics among them so heart-warming, interesting and funny.

I adore the Thursday Murder Club series, don’t get me wrong, but I actually think it took me less time to learn this cast of characters and to fall in love with them. Sophie, Mrs. B, Ocean, and all the others, are just so darn lovable.

The mystery was also super compelling and I loved watching them all bumbling around trying to figure it out. They all wanted to protect one another, often with calamitous results.

It’s got a real wacky found family vibe, and the Southern California setting was also an enjoyable backdrop. Overall, I think this is such a fun and carefree Cozy Mystery that I’m definitely hoping will turn into a much longer series.

Thank you so much to the publishers, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I had a fabulous time with this!!

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Review: Mayhem at a Halloween Wedding (Halloween Bookshop Mystery #2) by Emmeline Duncan

~ megs14malloy

Mayhem at a Halloween Wedding (Halloween Bookshop Mystery, #2)Mayhem at a Halloween Wedding by Emmeline Duncan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mayhem at a Halloween Wedding is the 2nd-installment in Emmeline Duncan’s Cozy Halloween Bookshop Mystery series.

These books are set in the quaint town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon, where it’s Halloween 365-days a year. Our protagonist is Bailey Briggs, who has taken over her family’s well-loved local bookstore, Lazy Bones Books.

In this 2nd-book, Bailey’s college friend, Raven, has planned a Halloween-themed wedding for herself and her partner, and there’s no better place to pull off her signature spooky style than Elyan Hollow.

Bailey is committed to the hilt, both with being a bridesmaid in Raven’s wedding, and assisting with the prep for Elyan Hollow’s annual Halloween festival. She needs everything to go smoothly if she wants to save her sanity.

Sadly, it does not.

Fellow bridesmaids, Ivy and Harmony, who also happens to be the sister of the bride, are both absolute nightmares. Demanding and rude, these girls are pushing Bailey and her best friend, Colby, to their limits.

When Ivy is found dead mid-bachelorette party, as the women are attending the Halloween parade, Colby is immediately considered a suspect. The two had been witnessed in a few heated arguments prior to the murder.

Bailey knows that there is no way Colby would actually kill someone, but now she needs to prove it.

I had a lot of fun with this latest installment to the Halloween Bookshop Series. I love the small town vibes of this series, and the MC, Bailey, as well as her canine companion, Jack, are really growing on me.

It would be hard to beat a setting of a town where it’s always Halloween. That’s like literally my aesthetic. I read this one so quickly, in under 24-hours, because I was hooked into the wedding party drama.

It was honestly the most judgmental and negativity-fueled wedding weekend I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve been to a lot. Even I was getting stressed. I’m not sure how any of these women survived.

Ivy and Harmony were the pits, but they weren’t the only ones sus as heck. I loved trying to guess who had taken Ivy out, and whether or not it had been related to the wedding. I had no clue how anyone could have pulled it off.

The Halloween costumes everywhere added another layer to the confusion at the time the crime was committed, and I liked that unusual aspect.

Additionally, I do just want to note, IMHO, this 2nd-installment shows a lot of improvement over the 1st-book in writing and the mystery plotting itself. The 1st-book was good for me, but I did have some issues with it.

This one, I really didn’t have any issues. I was completely invested in the mystery and also, am enjoying the trajectory of Bailey’s character arc. I truly hope there’s another book. I’d love to see more of these mysteries.

Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Cozies, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I would recommend this to any Cozy Mystery Reader who loves a small town atmosphere, as well Halloween!!

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Review: She Didn’t Stand a Chance by Stacie Grey

~ megs14malloy

She Didn't Stand a ChanceShe Didn’t Stand a Chance by Stacie Grey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Gertie gets notification that she’s being summoned to her recently-deceased, estranged father’s luxurious desert property for the reading of his Will, she’s not exactly elated.

She hasn’t seen her four half-siblings since she was just a toddler, and has absolutely nothing in common with them. Nevertheless, she’s curious and decides to go, in spite of how awkward it’s bound to get.

Once at the property, her assumptions are confirmed. Her half-siblings treat her like gutter trash blown in off the streets. They stick her in the cluttered and neglected pool house, with no air con, or any other conveniences.

Gertie receives more warmth from the property’s staff than her own family, made worse when it’s revealed she’s set to inherit a large portion of the estate. A larger portion than anyone would have expected; especially Gertie.

Gertie has so many questions, including how did their father die? The more she asks about that, the clearer it becomes that he might not have died of natural causes.

When a member of the household staff is killed a few days later, Gertie’s confident that something nefarious is going on inside this house of glass. Will she be able to get to the bottom of it, or will she fall prey to the killer in their midst?

She Didn’t Stand a Chance pulled me in very quickly. I love an inheritance story, and this one gets to the nitty-gritty of the inheritance pretty early on.

I also really enjoyed Gertie as a main character. She’s plucky, resourceful and was very active in digging into the events surrounding her father’s death. It would have been very easy for her to just go there, sit quietly, take what was hers and move on, but she didn’t.

Though Gertie’s perspective is the only one we get in the present timeline, Grey did include some very fun mixed media aspects that helped to move the plot along. Additionally, we get little snippets of what was going on within the family just prior to their Dad’s death.

The siblings, Maryann, Brian, Liam and Jennifer, were all absolutely terrible. It was fun watching their ridiculously-petty antics. They were working hard to intimidate Gertie, but she’s made of stronger stuff than that.

There were some interesting side characters as well. My favorites being Mrs. Phan, the long-time property manager, and Eddie, the chef. The staff def had strong feelings about the family and I enjoyed getting their thoughts.

I did feel this dragged out a little towards the end, but overall, I found it to be an intriguing mystery. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what had happened to the Dad and I definitely had moments where I was scared for our MC.

I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a tense and dramatic inheritance story. The mystery was engaging and many of the characters were a lot of fun to hate.

I also truly enjoyed the desert setting, which added so much to the general feel of the story.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to more from Stacie Grey!

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Review: Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell

~ megs14malloy

Matchmaking for PsychopathsMatchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alexandra works for a small, woman-owned matchmaking company, and her area of specialty is with clients who fall somewhere along the psychopathy scale.

Her clients aren’t the murdery-type of psychopaths, though, that we might all think of. At least she doesn’t think so. They actually tend to be quite successful individuals, who are just as deserving as love as the next person.

But what happens when the matchmaker is barely holding her own love-life together?

Alexandra thought she had found love for herself, but boy, was she wrong. A fact she discovered on her birthday, when her boyfriend, Noah, and best friend, Molly, revealed that they were now an item, leaving Alex out in the cold.

Alex has suddenly lost the two people she was closest too in the world, but as the old adage goes, there are more fish in the sea, both in the romance sea and the friendship sea.

Alex soon has a potential love interest, as well as a potential new best friend, but instead of stabilizing things for her, circumstances continue to spiral after her ex disappears, and she fears he’s been murdered on her behalf.

Much like Coryell’s previous novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer, this story succeeds in pushing boundaries, and potentially Readers outside their comfort zones.

It’s a fun and edgy blend of Romance, Mystery and Horror, all rolled into one tidy little package. I enjoyed getting to know our MC, Alexandra. She certainly contains multitudes.

As the story unfolds, it’s hard not to try to figure out what is actually going on, but Coryell reveals things in such a way, that I found it close to impossible to guess. Sure, I had various theories throughout, but I was never confident, because there were so many darkly-delicious possibilities.

I found the concept of Alexandra’s job super interesting, and it was fun reading about various situations occurring in her workplace. Additionally, Alex has a fascinating history that definitely added its own level of intrigue to the story.

Overall, this out of the box, genre-blending, Romantic Suspense story, full of murder and mayhem, definitely kept me on my toes. I loved trying to guess what was actually going on. The characters were intriguing, and the plot, just wacky enough to deliver pure entertainment!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to picking up more from Tasha Coryell!!

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Review: The Perfect Divorce (Perfect #2) by Jeneva Rose

~ megs14malloy

The Perfect Divorce (Perfect, #2)The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Perfect Divorce is the sequel to Jeneva Rose’s 2020-release, The Perfect Marriage. I had never read that 1st-book, but ended up getting an audio-ARC of this one, which I couldn’t resist due to one of my all-time favorite narrators, Adam Lazarre-White, being part of the production.

It’s not often you see Duologies, or Trilogies, in the Thriller space, and I wasn’t 100% sure that I would need to read the 1st-book, but I’m so, so, so glad that I did.

I definitely feel like you need the background of The Perfect Marriage in order to be able to truly appreciate this one. Rose did so much character work in that 1st-book that’s imperative to have going into this one.

Also, if you’re wondering if this book is necessary though, perhaps it’s just a cash grab, and can’t hold up to the 1st-book, I would also put those thoughts to rest. Somehow, Rose made this even more twisted than the 1st.

This one is set 11-years after the events of the 1st-book, and MC, Sarah Morgan, has moved on. She’s remarried, she has a daughter and she’s ready to leave the past in the past, exactly where it belongs.

Unfortunately, yet again, Sarah finds herself deep in marital woes after her husband, Bob, is caught out in a one-night stand. Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. She’s not putting up with any funny business anymore.

However, in the midst of this, DNA evidences surfaces that could also bring the horrible events of the past back into the spotlight. When the woman Bob cheated with disappears, it seems like history may be repeating itself, but how?

This audiobook is so great. I definitely recommend that format if you’re going to pick it up. The cast truly was able to bring all of the drama of this story to life.

Rose did a great job refreshing the Reader on what happened in that 1st-book as well, without making it feel repetitive. So even if it’s been a while since you read The Perfect Marriage, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting into this one and feeling like you have all the info.

I was impressed with how wild and dark this one got. I wasn’t sure if the same diabolical nature of the 1st-book could be repeated again, but it definitely was.

Thank you, Blackstone Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review. If you’re looking for a completely OTT-Popcorn Thriller Duology, look no further, the Perfect duology is it!!

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Review: Break Me Down by Anna Downes

~ megs14malloy

Break Me DownBreak Me Down by Anna Downes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up **

Break Me Down is a Macmillan Audio Original from popular Thriller author, Anna Downes. This is told via an exceptional full cast and features mixed media elements that work very well in the audio format.

The story follows a former child star, Georgia Lane, after she moves to L.A., determined to make a career comeback.

Georgia quickly learns, however, that behind the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles life lies a cutthroat entertainment industry not for the faint of heart, and her past success doesn’t promise anything in the now.

She meets a man named Henry, also an aspiring actor, who ends up inviting her to audit a class at the elite acting school he attends. The school’s head teacher soon takes a special interest in Georgia, and offers her a spot at The Studio.

Marianne’s teaching methods are very unconventional, but Georgia sees it as a potential path to unlocking her true potential. The deeper Georgia and Henry go with their involvement in The Studio, the further it pushes them apart.

Are Marianne’s bizarre teaching tactics actually helping her students, or is it actually her own perverse form of psychological warfare against them?

The content of Break Me Down was good, it was solid, though it didn’t contain anything Earth-shattering. Long-term, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to recall of the story.

I do feel like watching Georgia fall deeper and deeper into The Studio was compelling, but yeah, not particularly mysterious, suspenseful, or thrilling. It was more interesting because it was so much of a train-wreck.

I also wasn’t crazy about Georgia and Henry’s relationship, so wasn’t connected with that aspect. It never felt like he had the right intentions to me. He was hard to read.

My enjoyment of the story itself is closer to a 3, or 3.5-star, however, I’m rounding up simply because the audio production was so good. The full cast, the various sound effects, it was really, really well done.

If you’re an audiobook fan, and enjoy things that have sort of a docuseries feel, such as Daisy Jones and the Six, this is absolutely worth the listen. Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for providing me for a copy to read and review!

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Review: Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

~ megs14malloy

Lucky DayLucky Day by Chuck Tingle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Lucky Day follows MC, Vera, a lover of statistics and her fiance, Annie. Vera sees the world in an interesting way, via numbers and stats. As an academic, she’s found a great niche for herself and a peaceful domestic life.

On a day they are supposed to be celebrating the publication of her book, and she’s prepping to come out to her Mom, a world-wide cataclysmic event occurs.

Countless individuals across the globe are killed in truly horrific ways, yet Vera survives. The event comes to be known as the Low Probability Event.

A few years later, though Vera survived, she’s certainly not thriving. She’s negative, bitter, secluded and hardly-functioning. When a government agent shows up at her home to recruit her to help study the event, she’s apathetic about it at best.

However, she does agree and sets out with Agent Layne as they investigate the LPE. Their relationship evolves into a sort of buddy cop movie dynamic as they examine the most chaotic events ever penned.

This was a strange one. It was good. Tingle is a great writer, there’s no denying that. For my personal taste though, it wasn’t quite a hit. It felt like Tingle wrote it as a way to work through an existential crisis. It was compelling in that way, but never succeeded in holding my interest.

I can appreciate the thought and skill that went into the creation of the story, but it continually lost my attention the longer it went on. Certain concepts would capture my attention, but then those would play out and it would be on to the next thing, and my interest would wane again.

I loved the set-up; meeting Vera and quickly getting to the LPEs that started it all. That was wild. It’s one of those, what the hell am I reading moments, which is always fun.

I also could understand Vera’s reaction to the events. She was easily the most apathetic MC I’ve ever read from, but considering the circumstances, it made sense, NGL.

I try to always stay positive, but I’m not sure where my headspace would be had I been through the series of events she’s been through. So, that aspect, the trajectory of her character, was quite believable.

I also enjoyed Agent Layne and the dynamic that develops between the two. I think for me, it was just a little too chaotic and uneven as far as keeping my interest. Overall though, it’s solid and creative. The audiobook narration was great, and I know a ton of Readers are going to love this one.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.

Even though this isn’t a new favorite for me, I truly appreciate Tingle’s creative energy and fluid writing style. I will most definitely be returning for more!!

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Review: The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas

~ megs14malloy

The Possession of Alba DíazThe Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

I will not be cured…but neither will I be caged.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

In 1765, a plague sweeps through Zacatecas, Mexico, forcing our MC, Alba, along with her family, to flee the city and seek refuge at a property owned by her fiance, Carlos’s, family.

The property is an active silver mine and many of Carlos’s family members are there, involved in the day-to-day operations, including a black sheep cousin, Elias, whom Alba finds quite intriguing.

Living there is a bit of shift in lifestyle for Alba, but she’s not hating it. One day on a tour, she actually gets to venture into the mine, and wanders off a little on her own to explore.

Big mistake and let this be a lesson to us all.

Alba has a disturbing first experience in the mine, including auditory hallucinations that shocked and confused her. She became disoriented and feared herself lost. It’s after this initial exploration that events start trending into negative territory for Alba.

She begins hallucinating, sleepwalking and experiencing strange convulsions. She also starts having dark thoughts that are completely out of the norm for her.

Fearing for her sanity and her life, Alba ends up befriending the last person she should, and seeking solace through his company. As the two try to figure out what’s going on with her, they boldly face enemies from all sides.

Heck, yeahhhhh! Isabel Cañas has done it again. The Possession of Alba Diaz is dripping in atmosphere, and full of an unsettling dread. How does Cañas make me love Historical Fiction?

Answer: With the atmosphere, that’s how!

Granted caves, or anything cave adjacent, such as, oh, I don’t know, silver mines, are definitely a real life fear of mine, so Cañas played right into that with this novel.

I have had great success with Cañas’s novels in the past and this one did fall more into my comfort zone, as far as content goes, than the previous two. I love a possession story, and although this is a very slow burn, I feel it paid off.

Cañas definitely has a feel, or a formula, to her work. I’d be able to tell it’s one of her novels, even if I hadn’t seen her name on the cover. Her MCs have similar vibes, but I like it. I always know what I’m getting myself into and it keeps me coming back for more.

In addition to following Alba, we also get Elias’s perspective and I adored him. I’m so glad that it was a dual narrative, because I felt like he brought so much.

His backstory was very interesting, and though he was such a sweet cupcake, he was treated terribly by his family, but that’s a whole other thing. Both he and Alba were out of their element at this place, and I liked that they were able to be there for each other through some crazy stuff.

At the end of the day, this was a very satisfying reading experience. I always appreciate how much time and care it seems Cañas takes with the settings of her stories and building a sense of uneasiness.

I also like the real history she peppers throughout, and how the land/area always feels like such an important part of the story. I would probably put this last out of her three books in overall enjoyment order, but I still really, really liked it. I’m just an Isabel Cañas stan; what can I say?!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to see what this author releases next. We’ve had haunted properties, vampires and possessions, what are we getting next!?

I will be on the edge of my seat until we find out. Whatever it is though, you better believe I will be first in line for a copy.

I cannot wait!

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Review: The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap

~ megs14malloy

The ResurrectionistThe Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Resurrectionist is set in Edinburgh in 1828.

We’re following James Willoughby, who left a somewhat posh lifestyle in Oxford behind in order to pursue the study of surgery in Edinburgh, a city known to be a trendsetter in medical advancements.

The regular University isn’t enough though. He wants to be able to work with human cadavers, for which he’ll need to enroll in a private surgeon’s school, the cost of which is sadly out of his price range.

Nevertheless, James is determined, and ready to strike any sort of a deal he can to become a student. Aneurin MacKinnon, a handsome young dissectionist, offers him the opportunity, but it comes at a cost, and James will have to work for it in ways he never could have imagined.

In short, this wasn’t at all what I expected, but I still ended up really enjoying it. I expected Horror, but got more of a straight-up historical fiction story, heavy with interpersonal drama. Nevertheless, I was sucked in.

Admittedly, Historical Fiction isn’t a genre I gravitate towards, but the rich gothic vibes of this definitely saved it for me. I was impressed.

James was a little naive, but that made him endearing. He was also determined and not afraid to put in the work. I was rooting for him to get everything he wanted, in spite of the world fighting against him in many different ways.

I also loved Aneurin, or Nye, who plays a big part in the story. He added a bit of dark intrigue. There were moments I couldn’t quite figure him out, but enjoyed trying.

Overall, this succeeded in grabbing my attention, and although it’s not something I would necessarily reach for if I had known more about it, I’m glad that I did pick it up.

Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to checking out more from this author!

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Review: Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

~ megs14malloy

Too Old for ThisToo Old for This by Samantha Downing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Lottie Jones has worked hard to gain the quiet life she’s currently living in her retirement, and she’s enjoying it. It wasn’t easy, changing her name, moving to a small town, and putting her past behind her.

All that is threatened to be upended though, the day Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep. Plum is an investigative journalist whose been digging into Lottie’s past, wanting to include her in her podcast; her True Crime podcast.

This just will not do. Even though Plum claims she just wants to clear her name, Lottie knows that’s never going to happen, because the things they say about her are true.

Plum has greatly underestimated whose door she just knocked on…

Too Old for This is like a breath of fresh air in the saturated Thriller market, where it sometimes feels like you’ve read everything before.

Downing did an incredible job of creating Lottie’s character. It’s messed up, you shouldn’t be rooting for her, she’s doing awful things, but somehow, you do. At least, I did, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

We get to follow everything she does after Plum shows up, some of it will make your toes curl, and other things, like bingo nights with her friends, seem so wholesome. I guess it’s true, we all contain multitudes.

This story is a ride, almost guaranteed to surprise you. There are so many twists and turns. Just when you think it can’t get any crazier, it does.

Overall, I had a blast with this. I Buddy Read it with a friend, and we both really enjoyed it, plus it was very fun to discuss. I highly recommend it for Readers who are looking for something unique and who aren’t shy about a little murder.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Downing did not disappoint!!

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