Tag Archives: Murder

Review and Blog Tour: A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,
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A Forgery of Roses
Jessica S. Olson
Inkyard Press
Published March 29, 2022

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About A Forgery of Roses

Myra Whitlock has a gift. One many would kill for.

She’s an artist whose portraits alter people’s real-life bodies, a talent she must hide from those who would kidnap, blackmail, and worse in order to control it. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone.

But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor’s dead son. Desperate, Myra ventures to his legendary stone mansion.

Once she arrives, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. Someone dangerous lurks within these glittering halls. Someone harboring a disturbing obsession with portrait magic.

Myra cannot do the painting until she knows what really happened, so she turns to the governor’s older son, a captivating redheaded poet. Together, they delve into the family’s most shadowed affairs, racing to uncover the truth before the secret Myra spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim.

From SING ME FORGOTTEN author Jessica S. Olson comes a gothic fantasy murder mystery perfect for fans of Kerri Maniscalco and Erin A. Craig.

My Review

Last year I read and loved DOWN COMES THE NIGHT, which also has a creepy, murder mystery in a mansion feel to it. I hoped to find a similar vibe in A FORGERY OF ROSES, and it definitely hit a lot of those notes for me, so I really enjoyed that.

I’m also a huge fan of sister books, so the fact that Myra’s driving goal is to save her sister was also something that drew me to this book. I liked that Lucy is portrayed with a chronic illness. I think she’s also sort of this angelic character– she’s super smart, incredibly supportive of her sister and rarely complains about her own discomfort. I think she would have read as a more real character if she’d at least been grouchy sometimes, or if there was something the sisters consistently argued about or disagreed on.

I liked the way Myra and August’s relationship developed. There were some really fun moments between them, like when they’re exploring a place they shouldn’t be and nearly get caught, so of course they have to cram themselves into a tiny closet together. Ha.

The only thing that I struggled with was that there are a couple moments where characters seemed to suddenly become different than they’d been all the way up to that point in the story. Those caught me by surprise (which is good) but also left me thinking, wait, where did this come from?

Despite that, I enjoyed seeing Myra figure out how to trust others and keep fighting for her family. I think readers who like slow burn romance and fast-paced mysteries in a fantasy world will enjoy this story.

Content Notes for A Forgery of Roses

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Myra’s sister is chronically ill. August has anxiety.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Characters believe a great painter they call the Artist painted the world, and his Lady was so moved by it that he made the world real for her. Her tears upon first seeing the painting became a roses with special powers.

Violent Content
Someone attacks Myra. She also finds portraits that seem to indicate people were tortured.

Drug Content
Myra attends a party where guests drink champagne.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of A FORGERY OF ROSES in exchange for my honest review.

About the Author

Instagram | Twitter | Website

Jessica S. Olson claims New Hampshire as her home but has somehow found herself in Texas, where she spends most of her time singing praises to the inventor of the air conditioner. When she’s not hiding from the heat, she’s corralling her four wild—but adorable—children, dreaming up stories about kissing and murder and magic, and eating peanut butter by the spoonful straight from the jar. She earned a bachelor’s in English with minors in editing and French, which essentially means she spent all of her university time reading and eating French pastries. She is the author of SING ME FORGOTTEN (2021) and A FORGERY OF ROSES (2022).

Review: The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

The Summer We Forgot
Caroline George
Thomas Nelson Publishing
Published March 8, 2022

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About The Summer We Forgot

Some memories are better left forgotten.

Darby and Morgan haven’t spoken for two years, and their friend group has splintered. But when the body of their former science teacher is found in the marsh where they attended camp that summer, they realize they have more questions than answers . . . and even fewer memories.

No one remembers—or no one is talking.

The group of reunited friends begins to suspect that a murderer is stalking the coastal highway 30A, and they must try to recover their memories as quickly as possible . . . before the history they can’t remember repeats itself.

Everyone has a secret.

As tensions rise and time runs out, Darby and Morgan begin to wonder if they can believe one another… or if they can even trust themselves.

Caroline George once again transports readers with lush, evocative prose, leading them to ask the question: what happens when we can’t even trust ourselves?

My Review

Going in, this book reminded me of something in the realm of R. L. Stine books. I liked the small beach town and all the descriptions of how things smelled and felt. That made me feel really present in the story.

The simmering romance between Darby and Morgan was also really well done. I liked that it drove the story forward, though a couple times I was like omg, figure this out already, guys! Haha. Looking back I feel like it was pretty well done, though.

I think one of my pet peeves with mystery/suspense books is when adults do all the heavy lifting and kids solve the mystery in conversations with them. There were a couple of moments in the book where I would have liked to see Darby and Morgan play a more active role in collecting clues and piecing things together. They did make some major moves, though, so all the solving didn’t happen in dialogue.

I also thought the cast of friends was kind of big. There were a couple characters that I kept getting confused, and I wonder if it would have been better to combine two of them?

On the whole, though, I felt like the dynamics between the members of the group felt pretty realistic. I enjoyed reading the banter between them and the goofy things they did together.

All in all, I think this book was enjoyable. I think fans of ONE OF US IS LYING by Karen McManus will enjoy the murder mystery and friend dynamics of the book.

Content Notes for The Summer We Forgot

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A teacher’s body is found in a march and police begin a murder investigation. Someone appears to be following Darby and her friends. Darby has a traumatic memory of her brother holding her underwater when she was ten years old. A masked person attacks two boys, beating them up. Another person throws a girl into the trunk of a car. Someone jumps from a moving vehicle, injuring themselves.

Drug Content
Teens consume alcohol at a party in several scenes. Reference to smoking pot.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE SUMMER WE FORGOT in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Daughter by Kate McLaughlin

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Daughter
Kate McLaughlin
Wednesday Books
Published March 8, 2022

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About Daughter

Scarlet’s life is pretty average. Overly protective mom. Great friends. Cute boy she’s interested in. And a father she’s never known – until she does.

When the FBI show up at Scarlet’s door, she is shocked to learn her father is infamous serial killer Jeffrey Robert Lake. And now, he’s dying and will only give the names and locations of his remaining victims to the one person, the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Scarlet’s mother has tried to protect her from Lake’s horrifying legacy, but there’s no way they can escape the media firestorm that erupts when they come out of hiding. Or the people who blame Scarlet for her father’s choices. When trying to do the right thing puts her life in danger, Scarlet is faced with a choice – go back into hiding or make the world see her as more than a monster’s daughter.

Kate McLaughlin’s DAUGHTER is a novel about trying right deadly choices that were never yours to begin with.

My Review

The thing that appealed to me about this book is its core conflict: a girl discovers her dad is a serial killer, and she may be the only person who can get the names of some of his victims and therefore bring peace and closure to their families.

One of the things I liked is that the story explores what members of the public felt about Scarlet and her mom, and how difficult that was for them. People speculated whether her mom knew or was involved in Scarlet’s dad’s crimes. They judged her and sometimes treated her as an object of fascination for her closeness to a famous killer.

I also thought the character of Scarlet’s dad was complex and seemed on point with the little bit that I’ve seen or know about killers like Ted Bundy or Aileen Wuornos.

There are a couple things I deeply struggled with in reading this book, though.

Does the book deliver on its promise to honor murder victims?

First, while I really admire that the author approached the story wanting to bring attention to the girls not strictly as victims but as people in their own right. Scarlet herself goes on a journey of trying to figure out how to draw attention to the girls themselves rather than glorifying or focusing on their deaths. It reminded me of some of the things Courtney Summers said about writing her book SADIE.

I’m not sure that I think this book succeeds in that goal, though. There are news clippings that only mention the girls in terms of how they encountered the man who murdered them. Lots of scenes reference a movie made about the killer’s life and trial. There are lots of conversations that center around what he did and why he did it. What he got out of it. How he saw the women he victimized.

I liked the idea of the news clippings being included, but I think it would have supported the author’s goal more if they focused on the girls themselves or maybe were pieces written by their families or maybe things from the girls themselves? I don’t know. It seemed more like the moral of the story was that the girls deserve to be treated differently, but the story itself didn’t really model that because so much of the story is devoted to learning about what Scarlet’s dad did and why.

Why I Reviewed the Book

If you’re familiar with my blog, you might already be surprised to see that I reviewed this book at all. I think I was expecting something more along the lines of SADIE by Courtney Summers or THE ROW by J. R. Johansson. This book really pushed my limits as far as explicit violence and sexual trauma go. I almost never quit a book, but I came very close to quitting this one.

On the whole, I think this book really wasn’t for me. If you like stories that go up close to really dark topics, like serial killers and assault, then you may really enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Scarlet’s best friend is Korean American. A couple minor characters are lesbians.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. A couple of scenes explicitly depicting sex between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – Trigger/Content warning for sexual violence.
Multiple mentions of assault, rape, murder, and necrophilia. Some details of those events.

Drug Content
Multiple scenes show Scarlet and her friends smoking pot and drinking alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of DAUGHTER in exchange for my honest review.

Review: This Is Why We Lie by Gabriella Lepore

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This Is Why We Lie
Gabriella Lepore
Inkyard Press
Published September 21, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About This Is Why We Lie

Everyone in Gardiners Bay has a secret.

When Jenna Dallas and Adam Cole find Colleen O’Dell’s body floating off the shore of their coastal town, the community of Gardiners Bay is shaken. But even more shocking is the fact that her drowning was no accident.

Once Jenna’s best friend becomes a key suspect, Jenna starts to look for answers on her own. As she uncovers scandals inside Preston Prep School leading back to Rookwood reform school, she knows she needs Adam on her side.

As a student at Rookwood, Adam is used to getting judgmental looks, but now his friends are being investigated by the police. Adam will do whatever he can to keep them safe, even if that means trusting Jenna.

As lies unravel, the truth starts to blur. Only one thing is certain: somebody must take the fall.

My Review

This one had me on the edge of my seat.

I liked the complexity of the characters. There wasn’t really anyone who was all good or all bad. Everyone had layers and made choices for reasons that, even if I didn’t agree with them, I understood what they were thinking or what motivated them to do those things. Adam especially had a lot of conflicting feelings and guilt, and it was obvious that he wanted to be a good person but struggled to believe his past hadn’t already decided what kind of person he was.

There were a few frustrating moments where Jenna would do things that seemed naïve, but I think that fit her character. She wanted to believe the best in everyone, from her best friend whose explosive argument with the girl later found murdered put her in the center of the police investigation to her absent mom. So even though I was ready to shout at the book because I didn’t want her to do something, her choices made sense, and her optimism and compassion often led to things in the story being revealed. I liked that it had more of an impact than just potentially placing her in danger.

I think fans of ONE OF US IS LYING by Karen McManus or PRETTY LITTLE LIARS by Sara Shepard will love THIS IS WHY WE LIE.

Content Notes for This Is Why We Lie

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
One minor character is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to sex. Kissing between boy and girl. Two boys are caught coming out of the woods together after obviously having some kind of romantic contact.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – Trigger warnings for drug overdose, domestic violence, and murder.
Situations of peril. A girl’s body is found with bruises on her neck showing she was strangled. A boy dies by drowning after being drugged with Rohypnol. A girl is hit on the back of the head.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol in several scenes. One character sells drugs to other teens.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of THIS IS WHY WE LIE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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Lord of the Flies
William Golding
Penguin Books
Published December 16, 2003 (Originally Published 1954)

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About Lord of the Flies

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued.

Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, LORD OF THE FLIES is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

My Review

LORD OF THE FLIES is one of those iconic books that gets referenced all the time in our culture, but I’d never read it before. My daughter had to read it for school last year, and she had some anxiety about the content. I decided to read it first so she’d be ready for anything that might be difficult for her.

I read the book last fall as things were heating up before the presidential election here in the US. At that time, I actually wrote an initial review. But because I kept pushing back the date for posting the review, I have updated the review and added some more stuff that I’ve thought about on reflection.

Before I started reading LORD OF THE FLIES, I felt really weird reading all these big name authors talking about how pivotal this book has been for their writing. I think it’s Suzanne Collins who says that she reads LORD OF THE FLIES every year. That seemed really weird to me for a book with such a dark reputation. Every year? I mean, no offense meant. When a book resonates with you like that, I get wanting to read it every year. For a long time I had a book that I read every year, too. I guess I just found myself surprised about people feeling that way about a book that’s often referenced to describe uncontrolled violence or mayhem.

Anyway. So I went into the book with both some dread (expecting violence, which can be hard for me to read), and some, I don’t know, fascination, I guess?

The thing that still stands out to me most about the book is how easily some boys began to think of others as not human, as animals to be hunted. There’s a moment, after one boy has been killed where two boys talk around what happened. One boy comes right out and says that it was murder. The other boy recoils and tries to defend what happened as something else. He tries to explain it away as something not evil and wrong. It doesn’t work, and for a moment they’re both confronted with the horrible truth.

Watching the vigilantism and the violent language increasingly used by elected officials and repeated online while reading LORD OF THE FLIES was really creepy, y’all. Like, it seriously marked me. I would read a scene and feel like, this is awfully close to the way people are talking to each other or about each other right now. Or I’d get to a scene and think, well, surely our leaders won’t sink this low. And then. Stuff happened.

I couldn’t stop– and still can’t stop– thinking about the way the story explores the power of fear. The collapse of reason that happens when people are afraid and respond with that fear and anger. The steady shift toward things that once seemed unimaginable. I knew what was coming because I’d heard enough about the book that I basically knew what to expect. And yet, the violence of it and the dehumanization of it still shocked and shook me.

Reading this book, I can see not only from the story why it endures, but also from the writing. Like, I felt genuinely pulled into the tale. Even when I wasn’t reading, I thought about it. I wanted to know what would happen. Even though I already pretty much knew what was coming, I couldn’t look away from what was happening. It gripped me and paralyzed me with horror. (Much the way I felt weeks later watching the coverage of the January 6 insurrection.)

Honestly, I won’t say I enjoyed it– not like, celebrated reading it. But it really moved me. I think I would read it again. I think I NEED to read it again.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
All the boys are British private school students.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The boys fear a mysterious evil they call the Beast. They leave food sacrifices for it, hoping that this will keep the Beast away from them.

Violent Content
At least one racist comment equating Indians with savages. Multiple violent descriptions of hunting and killing pigs. Boys beat another boy to death. A boy falls to his death after being hit with a rock.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

How We Fall Apart
Katie Zhao
Bloomsbury
Published August 3, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About How We Fall Apart

Students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.

Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends–Krystal, Akil, and Alexander–are the prime suspects, thanks to “The Proctor,” someone anonymously incriminating them via the school’s social media app.

They all used to be Jamie’s closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow The Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy’s full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.

My Review

One of the things I feel like this book captured really well or conveyed really well is the high-pressure experience of being a student at an elite school. Nancy not only feels the pressure of her school program and being a scholarship student surrounded by rich kids from privileged families, but also feels intense pressure from her parents to do well and make all their sacrifices worth it.

At first I found it difficult to connect with Nancy because she’s bitter and aloof. As I started to see more and more of her life, I felt like it made a lot of sense that she acted the way she did. Her relationship with Jamie was complicated and pretty toxic, but it made sense that they stayed kind of bound up in each other. So that was another thing that I ultimately felt was strong about the story.

Some of the scene changes felt abrupt to me. It sometimes felt like the writing was a little rushed, so I read the beginnings of scenes sometimes more than once trying to figure out if I’d missed something. Or maybe there was a flashback or timeline change that happened quickly. Sometimes I struggled to follow those, but maybe that was just me.

I think all in all there are some really strong things about the story– and I really enjoyed the experience of reading a suspense story with an Asian cast. Hopefully HOW WE FALL APART does really well and paves the way for other books like this!

I think readers who enjoy suspense stories will like this one, especially early high school readers, like freshman and sophomores.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are Asian. Two female characters are in a romantic relationship.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. Kissing between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of bullying. References to a girl found murdered. Description of a confrontation that leads to a head injury. A fire causes injuries.

Drug Content
A girl offers her friends a drink of juice and puts vodka in it without telling them. They realize what she’s done and drink the juice anyway.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of HOW WE FALL APART in exchange for my honest review.