inclement weather

Review: The Bitter End by Alexa Donne

~ megs14malloy

The Bitter EndThe Bitter End by Alexa Donne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoy the way Alexa Donne writes a YA Mystery-Thriller. Her novel, Pretty Dead Queens, is one of my favorites of all-time. It was like she wrote it for me.

When I was first learning about this release, everything about it was working in its favor; the cover, the title and this incredible synopsis opener:

When a winter storm traps eight teens in a remote ski cabin, they find themselves stranded with a killer…

Happy to report, this gave me exactly what I was looking for!

The Bitter End is such a fun Teen Scream Thriller. We follow a group of high school students, who go on a school trip, and end up stranded in a posh Colorado ski chalet.

As bodies start dropping one-by-one, and a blizzard has cut them off from outside contact, the remaining teens need to figure out who the killer is before it’s too late.

This is a classic set-up and I loved it developed in Donne’s capable hands. The characters are so messy and full of drama; it got intense. I was getting all the tea and drinking it up. These kids were bitter and a bit twisted.

Alexa Donne has really found her lane with this type of juicy, drama-filled Teen Thrill-Ride and I hope she keeps them coming. I will be first in line to get my hands on any future releases, that’s for sure.

I highly recommend this if you love YA Mystery-Thrillers, particularly if you enjoy inclement weather stories, or whodunits. The execution of this is great. It’s claustrophic and a bit frantic. I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to the publisher, Random House Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to see what Donne comes up with next!

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Review: The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz

~ megs14malloy

The Last Ferry Out: A NovelThe Last Ferry Out: A Novel by Andrea Bartz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Abby has been unmoored by the unexpected death of her fiance, Eszter, who was on a solo trip to a remote island when she died of an apparent allergic reaction.

Having suffered from severe allergies her entire life, Eszter was always careful. Abby doesn’t understand how it could’ve happened and is unable to move past her many questions.

As the days pass, Abby decides she is going to need to go there, to Isla Colel, to the place where Eszter died. Perhaps there, she’ll finally be able to find some closure.

Upon arrival though, the island isn’t quite what she expected. Once a bustling tourist destination, a hurricane decimated the island a few years back, and only a few hearty locals and expats remain.

With ferry service sporadic, at best, it’s about as remote a location as you can get, but Abby slowly begins to understand the pull it has on people.

She ends up locating a small group of expats who she believes hung out with Eszter in her last days; recognizing them from a photo Eszter had shared with her. Abby introduces herself and becomes friendly with them, gently pushing for information when she can.

When one of the men, who seemed to have something he really wanted to tell Abby, ends up disappearing before he can, Abby grows suspicious. Is this some sort of cover-up? Is there more to Eszter’s death than what’s she been told?

We follow Abby as her quest for the truth reveals lies and dangers around every turn. Will she find out what happened to Eszter, or will she become another victim of the island?

This is a compelling Travel Thriller. I was drawn in from the start. I loved the small island setting, and our MC, Abby.

Abby is an easy protagonist to get behind. By the time she reaches the island, she’s practically bubbling over with questions, so when she ends up meeting the expats, she’s quite forthright about her reason for being there.

I appreciated how open she was about everything. It made me actually care about her getting the answers. I also liked how smart and determined she was.

I was surprised when we ended up getting short stints of other perspectives in addition to Abby’s. They were fun though and ended up adding a lot to the overall puzzle.

The biggest was Eszter’s, who we get to follow during her time on the island. Eszter was harder to figure out than Abby. She wasn’t as straight forward with her feelings and intentions, and I felt like I had as many questions as Abby regarding Eszter.

The small group of expats were also very mysterious. There was something almost cultish about the vibes they were giving off. They seemed so obsessed with the island, but did seem happy enough to bring Abby along to explore it.

As stranger things started happening, I was so ready for Abby to pack her bags and go. It does feel dangerous. You don’t know why, but you know something is off.

Then inclement weather sweeps in, as it does, and Abby is unable to leave the island, even if she wanted to. I liked how the author increased the intensity towards the end by using the weather issue to work against our protagonist.

It did have a slight lull for me around the mid-way point, where I was getting a little bored, but she definitely bounced back, and the concluding portion was absolutely gripping; featuring twist-after-demented-twist.

Overall, I had a fun time reading this. I thought Bartz did a fabulous job with the setting, the use of the inclement weather, and with the cast of untrustworthy characters.

I definitely recommend this to Readers looking for a strong Travel Thriller to add to their Summer TBR. This one should definitely keep you guessing.

Thank you to the publisher, Ballantine Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Of course, I’m looking forward to more from Andrea Bartz!!

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Review: Death on the Island by Eliza Reid

~ megs14malloy

Death on the IslandDeath on the Island by Eliza Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Death on the Island, we follow an eclectic group of characters who come together in a tiny island community off the coast of Iceland for a diplomatic event.

We have the mayor of the town, an Ambassador from Canada and his wife, a local high-profile chef, an artist with ties to the island, and others. They all come together for a special dinner to open up their talks and hopefully create good spirits amongst the group.

It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion, and it does seem to start out that way. That is until one of the guests ends up dead of unknown causes, but what everyone quickly assumes to be poison consumption.

Making matters worse, a brutal storm is bearing down on them. It’s clear no one is going to be leaving the island. All the better to catch a killer, but in the meantime, doesn’t that mean they’re trapped with one?

I had a blast reading Death on the Island. I went into it with zero expectations. I hadn’t heard of this author, or any buzz for the book, but the title screamed, READ ME!!!

I’m so glad I made the time for it. I was completely engaged from the start. It actually turns out this is the author’s debut novel, and I’m so excited for more.

I appreciated how quickly Reid gets us into the action. I was drawn into the story so fast. I liked that we were following political figures, such as ambassadors and mayors. I haven’t read one like that in a while, so it was a nice change of pace.

I enjoyed how the author formatted the story as well. You get the reveal of the death, and then you go back in time and track through the events leading up to that death. It was done in a countdown-style that I feel added a level of tension to it that might not have been there otherwise.

Learning about this cast of characters, as well as their relationships to one another and potential motivations for why someone would take out anyone at this dinner party, was very entertaining. There was certainly plenty of drama to oh-and-ah over.

With this being said, I’ll admit there’s a lot of moving parts and it was a little hard to track in the beginning. For a minute, I started to feel overwhelmed, but I tried to just relax into it, not worry too much about the details, and to just let Reid do her thing.

Ultimately, Reid pulled it off. This had me so invested, I had no longstanding issues tracking the various characters, or their interpersonal dramas.

Overall, I loved the atmospheric-island setting, which was done so well in my humble island-dweller opinion. I also really enjoyed the use of an inclement weather element to help build out that tense atmosphere, as well as the interesting cast of characters.

It was so gripping trying to solve this murder mystery, my head was all over the place. I did Buddy Read it with a friend, and definitely recommend that. It was so fun trying to guess the killer together, and their reasons behind it.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me a copy to read and review.

I loved how this kept me guessing, and I’m looking forward to more from Eliza Reid!!!

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Review: Murder, She Wrote: Snowy with a Chance of Murder (Murder, She Wrote #60) by Jessica Fletcher and Barbara Early

~ megs14malloy

Murder, She Wrote: Snowy with a Chance of MurderMurder, She Wrote: Snowy with a Chance of Murder by Jessica Fletcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Snowy with a Chance of Murder is the 60th-installment of the beloved Murder, She Wrote Cozy Mystery series. This series is essentially the Godmother of all other Cozies.

As some of you I’m sure are aware, this is my favorite Cozy Mystery series. I never shut up about it. I’ve read, I believe 47 of them now, but my count could be off. I’ve stopped really keep track after 40.

This book is the 1st to be penned by Barbara Early, author of the Vintage Toyshop Mystery series, amongst other things.

In this installment, Jessica, preparing to depart on a luxurious Winter cruise ends up slipping on the ice on the morning of her departure and severely injuring herself, making travel impossible.

Now housebound, forced to use a wheelchair, Jessica finds herself staring out her windows like never before.

As luck would have it, she has plenty to look at by way of a curious new neighbor, a man named Rymer. He has, for unknown reasons, ended up, in the non-tourist season, renting the house directly across the street from Jessica.

As it turns out, Rymer is an artist whose medium happens to be snow and his sculptures are of the scandalous variety. If you happened to watch Hot Frosty on Netflix this Winter, you’ll be pretty close to imagining what I mean.

With the town a titter over all this risque art on display, it’s no surprise that under the cover of darkness, someone starts destroying Rymer’s sculptures.

For his part, Rymer never seems too concerned. He just starts over, builds something new. It’s Cabot Cove, mid-Winter, there’s certainly plenty of snow to go around.

The morning after the most recent blizzard, however, it’s more than a sculpture that’s found out in the snowy landscape. It’s Rymer’s half-buried body.

Incidentally, there are two other mysteries occurring at the same time as Rymer’s death. Are these other mysteries related to Rymer, and if so how?

You better believe Jessica is going to do her best to help local law enforcement figure it out. With the help of friends, and a healthy dose of determination, she does just that.

3.5-stars, you ask, for my favorite Cozy series? It is rounded up, but still I feel we need to lay it out on the table. Here’s the thing. This is the 1st-effort from this author in this long-running series, and while I did enjoy the main overall mystery, I was left with questions.

Also, I felt like Jessica’s character wasn’t quite right. It didn’t feel like her in some ways. It was subtle things, but still things that took me out of the story as I thought to myself, Jessica would never say that, or think that.

One thing I want when I pick up this series is consistency. These are go-to comfort reads for me that I’ve been picking up for over 2-decades. If Jessica suddenly starts not feeling like Jessica, you better believe I’m gonna notice.

Nevertheless, this was still overall a pretty solid read, and of course, I will continue picking up the books in this series.

I enjoy the Cabot Cove-based mysteries, because when you become a frequent Reader, you learn all the townsfolk and it really feels like spending time with old friends. I do think this author succeeded in bringing about the basic vibes of this quaint seaside town.

There was a lot happening here though, some of it felt a little unnecessary. For example, Jessica had a live-in nurse, helping her while she was injured, and they would have little writing workshops together and it included excerpts from this girl’s random Fantasy story.

It just felt to me like the author needed to fill pages and that was one way to do it. There was ultimately a point to it, but it still felt silly and forced.

With this being said, you aren’t going to love every book you read in a series, and I still felt all my love and nostalgia of being back with Jessica in Cabot Cove.

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. There’s another book releasing this Summer, set in Boston, and I’m so excited for that one!

If you love Cozy Mysteries, and haven’t checked this series out yet, you really should. They can be read in any order and once you start, you probably are not going to want to stop!

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Review: You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

~ megs14malloy

You Are Fatally InvitedYou Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

**1.5-stars rounded up**

You Are Fatally Invited features a classic-Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, set-up. Usually, an easy win for me.

Additionally, it’s set on a island off the coast of Maine. As an island resident myself, and having grown-up on the coast of Maine, both of these things should also have been wins.

What else? Oh, yes. The story also features a full cast of characters who are writers. Also a thing that I love, following author characters, getting insights on their processes.

However, even with all of these incredible items being ticked off my personal checklist, this didn’t work for me. It makes me sad, but I have to be honest about my experience.

From the very start, the writing style had me off-kilter. It just didn’t mesh with me. There was one character whose perspective was 2nd-person, and that’s not typically something I enjoy.

Every time I got to that character’s perspective it would jar me out of the story. Some people may assume that it’s the fact that this whole cast is unlikable, but I assure you, that’s not it. I love a cast of unlikable characters.

There were many times when I contemplated DNFing, but I felt like the least I could do was make it all the way through to the end. I owed it that, and it could have come around for me. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

It’s pretty rare for me to actively-dislike a book the whole way through. I can almost always find some aspects to point out that I can compliment.

Unfortunately, I actively-disliked this throughout. I switched to the audiobook at around 35% to see if that would help. For a minute, I thought it would. Sadly, that notion disappeared as quickly as a free pizza in a workplace lunchroom.

I had been so excited for it too, based upon the points listed above, but it just wasn’t the right story for me. We hated each other. I’m sure this book hated my eye-rolling, huffing-and-puffing ass very much by the end as well. I’m glad we can now go our separate ways.

To me, it felt like the author was more in love with their own words than the plot, or the characters, of this story. I’m not saying this is true, it’s just what reading this story made me feel. It’s the taste I walked away with.

With this being said, I want to be CLEAR, this is just my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with this book. If you look at the current reviews, I am in the minority opinion on this one.

I would urge absolutely every Reader who is captivated by the synopsis, to go ahead and give this book a shot. It’s certainly worth a read and you can come to your own conclusion on it.

Also, I have pointed out in many of my other reviews, I never write an author off after one try. Even though this exact story wasn’t quite to my liking, I would totally be down to picking up this author’s next work.

Thank you, Bantam, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it very much and I know that this novel is going to find a wide audience who loves it!

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Review: One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day

~ megs14malloy

One Big Happy FamilyOne Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

One Big Happy Family is an entertaining Summer Thriller set in a small town, Jonesport, on the rocky coast of Maine. I adore that setting, so was sold on this one by that fact alone.

This novel is an inheritance story of sorts, with murder to boot. We’re transported to The Precipice, a family-owned hotel, in Jonesport. The elder, George Bishop, has recently passed and his daughters, Iris, Vicki and Faith, are arriving for a weekend to hear his Will and claim what is now theirs.

The three sisters bring with them a whole host of dangerous secrets, heavy baggage and more. Tensions are running high. It’s not exactly a lovey-dovey family reunion.

Also in the mix, are a few employees of The Precipice, including 19-year old chambermaid, Charley, who desperately needs to hold on to her job.

This is the kind of book so full of drama that once you start, it’s hard to stop. I found it to be incredibly fun with the toxic family relationships that I love to watch play out.

I was gnoshing my popcorn the whole way through!

The setting was fantastic, made better by the fact that a hurricane stranded the characters at The Precipice. I love inclement weather stories and I feel like Day absolutely nailed that vibe here.

I actually listened to this audio while I was on vacation in Maine, so that’s a bit fortuitous. In a way, that made it extra fun, but in another way, I actually think I may have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t had vacation brain at the time.

I did find the narration by Saskia Maarleveld to be a perfect fit for the story. She def succeeded in bringing it to life. I highly recommend that format should it be available to you.

Overall, I was really impressed with this. I found it to be gripping, entertaining, fast-paced and dramatic. The setting and set-up were both fantastic.

My only small gripe would be that I sometimes found it hard to distinguish between the sisters. With this being said, that could be 100% attributable to the aforementioned vacation brain. It’s hard to tell. Either way, I am looking forward to more from this author.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.

I think a lot of Readers are going to love this one!

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Review: The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh

~ megs14malloy

The Night of the StormThe Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Night of the Storm is a debut novel from Nishita Parekh. Honestly, I’ve been a little scared to pick it up, because of the mixed reviews. However, I’m very happy to report that I’m part of Team Really Enjoyed It.

Sure, I see flaws, but at the same time, it worked for me. I found it entertaining. I loved the set-up that left me feeling claustrophobic and unnerved. I love complicated family relationships, and this checked that box extremely well.

In this story, we’re following Jia Shah, an Indian American woman who has recently separated from her husband and moved herself, as well as their 12-year old son, Ishaan, from the family home in Chicago to Houston, Texas.

This is a big deal in her traditional Indian family, and she’s definitely received blow-back stemming from her choices. In spite of other’s disapproval however, Jia did what she knew to be right for her son and herself. She wasn’t willing to live the rest of her life in an unhappy marriage.

It hasn’t been easy though, especially for Ishaan, who she worries about constantly. In fact, Ishaan has newly been suspended from school after being in a fight.

With all this going on, the last thing Jia needs to worry about is a mandatory evacuation order from their apartment building, but with Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the city, that’s exactly what they get.

Luckily, Jia’s sister, Seema, who lives in an fancy house not far away in Sugar Land, has invited them to stay with her and her family to ride out the impending storm.

Jia and Ishaan make it to the house just in time, where they join Seema, her husband, their daughter, Seema’s mother-in-law, as well as her husband’s brother and his wife. It’s a lot of people, but it’s also a big house. They’ll be okay.

Unfortunately, you put that many people together in a house, with severe weather blazing outside and no means of escape, you’re bound to see the tensions rise. Just as things start heating up inside the house, someone ends up dead…

Was it an accident, or is there a murderer amongst them?

For me, and this is completely my unprofessional opinion, I feel like this is more a case of people going into this expecting one thing and then getting another and feeling disappointed, than this being just a 3.21-star book.

I’ve been there many times myself. I get it. When you’re expecting an intense Thriller and you don’t get the thrills, or even necessarily the intensity, your disappointed, and potentially leave an average, or lower, rating because of it.

I really enjoyed this, but I went into it without any real expectations. I feel like this is an engaging Domestic/Family Drama, with an underlying Mystery subplot.

The gem in this for me was getting to know Jia and following along with her tumultuous journey. The storm and being trapped in the house were great bonuses, as I love those elements in any story, but yeah, the real hero of this is Jia.

She’s a woman who has made a very difficult choice and who has had fallout from that. She lost her home and her friends. She’s had to uproot her life.

She’s second-guessing her choices, while getting judged by everyone around her. She’s trying to do what is best for her son, and her own mental health, all while navigating the not always kind outside world. I think everyone can relate to this in one way or another.

When we meet Jia, with the storm moving in, she’s almost at wits end. Being trapped in the house, with these particular people, pushes her even further to the edge.

I like complicated families and this story definitely delivers in that area. I loved the set-up of the storm creating a forced proximity situation and I do feel like Parekh did a great job of revealing all the underlining things going on.

The murder mystery was interesting as well. There were quite a few people acting suspicious, so I did like being with Jia as she tried to figure it out. The more it progressed, the more unsettling it became, leading up to the wild conclusion.

For a debut, I think this was very well done. I think Parekh should be proud of their work and I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next. Do I think this book deserves a higher-rating? Absolutely.

Thank you to the publisher, Dutton, for providing me with a copy to read and review. We love supporting new authors in this house, and I can’t wait for more from this one!

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