March Reading Wrap-Up

So, there is still another day of March but I am not going to finish my current book in that time so I thought I would do my wrap-up today.

I feel like it hasn’t been the best month for reading. Some of the books were pretty good, but none were amazing. I feel like most of the books have dragged a lot and I haven’t enjoyed reading as much this month. I still managed six books but that’s not as much as previous months.

I have been very good about writing reviews this month however, and have already reviewed all of the books!

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Book Review- Redemption Road

Title- Redemption Road
Author- John Hart
Published-  2016
Genre- Crime, mystery
Length- 433 pages
Rating- 3/5
Synopsis (Amazon)- Elizabeth Black is a hero. She is a cop who single-handedly rescued a young girl from a locked cellar and shot two brutal kidnappers dead. But she’s also a cop with a history, a woman with a secret. And she’s not the only one.

Adrian Wall is finally free after thirteen years of torture and abuse. In the very first room he walks into, a boy with a gun is waiting to avenge the death of his mother. But that is the least of Adrian’s problems.
He was safer in prison.
And deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen. It is not the first to be found.

This is a town on the brink.

This is Redemption Road.

Brimming with tension, secrets, and betrayal, brilliantly evoking an America of small towns and remote landscapes, of the abandoned, the derelict and the desperate, this is a novel so chillingly suspenseful and a story so full of twists and turns that you simply cannot stop reading. It marks a new high point in the writing of this bestselling master of the literary thriller.

Review- I received an ARC of this book from the publisher so thank you to them.

This book is a little difficult for me to review as the genre  is one that I have realised I am not that keen on. That however, has no bearing on how good or bad the book actually is.

Book Review- Penance

Title- Penance
Author- Kanae Minato
Published- April 6th 2017
Genre- Crime, mystery, thriller
Length- 240 pages
Rating- 3.5/5
Synopsis (Amazon)- When a group of young girls are approached by a stranger, they cannot know that the encounter will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Hours later, Emily is dead. The surviving girls alone can identify the killer. But not one of them remembers his face…

Driven mad by grief, the victim’s mother demands the girls find the murderer or else atone for their crimes. If they do neither, she will have her revenge. She will make them pay…

Review- I received an ARC of this from the publisher so thank you to them.

The story is told by five people, the four young girls who were with Emily the day she died, who are now adults, and Emily’s mother. The way the accounts of these five people are written is very unnatural and feels forced. Each one of them is talking to someone in one way or another, in writing, in a speech etc. Much of what they say in these accounts people  just wouldn’t say in some of the situations they are in, it would be better if the accounts were told in some other format.

February Reading Wrap-Up

So, February has been another good reading month for me. The last week was a little slower than the rest of the month but I am still pretty pleased with myself. I have finished 9 books so far this month but should finish my current one this evening.

I have read a good mix of genres this month, YA, thrillers, crime, contemporary and non-fiction!

I have also read a variety of formats this month. Until about six months ago I read almost exclusively on my Kindle but this month I have read ebooks, hardcovers and paperbacks. I have managed to persuade my fiancé to take me on two trips to the bookstore in the last few months and am building up a nice stack of books on my desk as a result!

Book Review- The Forgetting Time

Title- The Forgetting Time
Author- Sharon Guskin
Published- 2016
Genre- Contemporary, mystery
Length- 368 pages
Rating- 4/5

Synopsis (Goodreads)-  Noah is four and wants to go home. The only trouble is he’s already there.

Janie’s son is her world, and it breaks her heart that he has nightmares.
That he’s terrified of water.
That he sometimes pushes her away and screams that he wants his real mother.
That it’s getting worse and worse and no one seems to be able to help.

In desperation, she turns to someone who might have an answer – but it may not be one she’s ready to hear. It may also mean losing the one thing she loves more than anything.
Noah.

A novel that spans life, death and everything in between, The Forgetting Time tells an unforgettable story – about Noah, about love, and, above all, about the things we hold onto when we have nothing else.

Review- Overall I really enjoyed this book. I stayed up really late to read it which shows, at least to me, how good it is.

The characters are well developed and likeable, the writing is good, the story is amazing.

Book Review – Kiss Me First

Title- Kiss Me First
Author- Lottie Moggach
Published- July 2013
Genre- Mystery
Length- 336 pages
Rating- 4/5

Synopsis (Goodreads)- This is the story of a solitary young woman drawn into an online world run by a charismatic web guru who entices her into impersonating a glamorous but desperate woman.

When Leila discovers the website Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the website’s founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, and is flattered when he invites her to be part of “Project Tess.”

Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they email, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman–because soon, Leila will have to become her.

Review- I received this book as my February book from by subscription service, The Willoughby Book Club. Like most of the books I have received from them, I hadn’t heard of it before.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it had a few little issues, but nothing to stop me recommending it.

Other than the very beginning, the first 150-ish pages of this were fantastic. I couldn’t put it down, and stayed up really late to read it. The middle is a little slow, not a lot happens, it just goes on and on about one topic. A bit of that was fine but it did drag and made Leila,