NetGalley ARC | The Secret Investigator of Astor Street

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐

I thought this was a cute cover so I snagged it before realizing it was book two in a series. I thought it would be just a quick, cute cozy, but that's not what this is. And since it was book two, I had to find book one at the library. That also a two-star read for me.

In book one, eighteen-year-old Piper's best friend Lydia disappears. Piper is convinced that the police are looking in the wrong direction, so she begins an investigation of her own. I really struggled with that book, and I not so nicely called Piper an 'absolute moron' in my quick review of it. She was so naive and honestly, a bit of a brat throughout much of the book.

The second issue was that the book did not feel like it was taking place in the 1920s. It felt very forced, like dropping in a bunch of words used in the 20s would create the feel of the decade, but it didn't. It felt awkward and like we had to constantly be told over and over, we're in 1920s Chicago through the vocabulary choices of the characters.

These same issues continued in the second book. It still doesn't feel natural, the decade doesn't feel like the 20s, until Piper is saying trilby or cloche, or telling us she is grabbing a beaded bag to take out with her.

Piper has now graduated from high school and doesn't really know what she is doing with her life. She's slowly recovering from Lydia's death and the solving of that case, when a new case is brought to her attention by a friend. Recently the girl's brother died and it was ruled a suicide. She insists he would not have killed himself, and Piper takes the case.

I feel like this story could take place in any city, in any time period. And that is my biggest complaint, because it does not feel like the 20s. This is one of my favorite eras to read about, fiction or non-fiction, and it makes me so sad this series is not working for me.

I also take a major issue with this book being billed as a good one for fans of Agatha Christie. Absolutely not. That's actually offensive.

I will not be reading any more in the series.

Give it a try if you'd like, but I can't recommend it.

NetGalley ARC | All We Lost Was Everything

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A few months ago River's dad died when their house burned down. Her mom up and dipped months before that. She lives with her aunt and works at a diner with her best friend, Tawny. Then there's cute waiter Logan and her ex-boyfriend Noah who make things more complicated. When new information comes out about the fire that killed her dad, it's all River can think about. For so long it was assumed to be an accident, but now River's not so sure.

So, I don't read YA for romance. I like murder mysteries/thrillers and that's it. River and Logan felt like insta-love, which I always find very weird. Luckily, their relationship was not the entire focus and the mystery and the twists that came with it were enough to keep me going.

In regards to the relationship, this definitely reads more like older YA and I would not let Eleanor have a go at it yet. The characters are beginning-college age-ish so it is upper YA anyway.

I really liked the mystery and had so many questions about River's parents, the fire, and her mom's disappearing act. It was an engaging read, even if the characters sometimes came across as cardbord cutouts of certain tropes. Some things I saw coming, some I didn't, and it was not the worst way to spend a couple hours.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Murder in the Dollhouse

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

Jennifer Dulos dropped her kids off at school one morning, and was never seen again. She came from incredible familial wealth - and Liz Claiborne was her aunt. Jennifer was in the middle of an incredibly nasty divorce from her scumbag of a husband, with whom she shared five children. They'd met back at Brown University and at one time appeared to live a charmed, happy life. After Jennifer's disappearance, her husband and his girlfriend were arrested. He killed himself the day he was suppose to report to court, she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.

Unrelated: my grandma worked for Liz Claiborne when I was a kid and I loved back-to-school shopping there. In third grade I got this cute shorts/shirt set I loved, and one day for gym we went out to the playground. Mrs. Ewan asked us all to sit down on the blacktop and I moved to the back of the group to stand. She asked me to sit down and I deadass looked a grown woman in the eye and said, "Oh I can't sit down, these are Liz Claiborne shorts." She didn't say anything for a moment, then moved on with the lesson.

This isn't really a true crime book because the majority of the text is devoted to Jennifer's life. I appreciate this because I would much prefer books celebrate victims rather than perps.

That being said, there was so much more detail about her life than what we probably even needed, in order to understand who she was and how she ended up married to such an awful person. Jennifer led a very sheltered life due to her father and I think that is part of what set her up to get stuck in a situation like this. It seemed like she felt she was supposed to get married and have kids, and that was the only course after college. But she was also very selective about who she dated, and then as the years passed maybe she panicked a bit, ending up with Fotis who was an absolute narcissist. Well over half the book, maybe even closer to 70% is devoted to her life before her marriage, divorce proceedings, and disappearance.

The author really got to know his subject, and seems to care deeply about what happened to Jennifer. Which is why it was super weird to get a vibe that the author thought had Jennifer not fought Fotis so hard for custody of their children during the divorce proceedings, maybe she would not have been killed. I really hope I am wrong, because that's disgusting, but it was the impression I got. She had every right to fight for her children.

This is such a sad, senseless crime. While Fotis and his girlfriend are 100% responsible for their actions, I place some blame on the court and attorneys who continued to drag out the proceedings, just so everyone could keep making money. All that did was create more room for both parties to get angrier and angrier at one another, really dig their heels in, and ultimately Jennifer lost her life.

I hate that he evaded justice and that his side piece/almost future ex-wife only got fourteen years. She can still do the right thing and tell the children where their mother is so they can give her a proper buriel. But she won't and it is heart-breaking.

Recommended. Mostly. That vibe really bothers me.

NetGalley ARC | Parents Weekend

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐

I freaking LOVED If Something Happens to Me and The Night Shift. Five and four star reads, easy.

I wasn't totally sold on the premise, to be honest. But given my enjoyment of the previous two novels I read, I went for it anyway.

Should have listened to my gut.

Five families are in town to celebrate the end of the first year of college for their children at a small private school in northern California.

The first event of the evening starts with dinner and cocktails for the families, but five students all from the same dorm never show up. My first issue came right away with this - everyone just kidn of shrugs it off as, "Oh, they're just being kids, went off to party, blah blah,"

...like, what?

Your family travels all this way to see you and celebrate with you, and you have a track record that would make it make sense to them that you just didn't show? Okay...

Anyway, the hours fly by and none of the missing students have contacted their parents. Everyone panics, the campus police call in help, they get search parties going and reporters pop up quick.

Armchair sleuths are quick to compile theories and share them widely. Do their disappearances have to do with their parents, or something the students have done themselves?

I could not have cared less.

Not one single character had a unique voice. I didn't care what happened to any of them, because we didn't get to know the kids. They were just kind of there, but not, since they'd been kidnapped and were absent for much of the book.

The single biggest problem with this book, that then causes all the other problems, is because there were too many characters. You've got five kidnapped kids, which equals five sets of parents, though some were divorced or single parents. Way too many points of view.

TOO MANY CHARACTERS. TOO MANY TOO MANY TOO MANY.

With that many people milling around, you don't get to know any of them. I don't typically demand to know characters of thrillers and mysteries inside-out, but I would like to know enough about them to at least care somewhat about their survival, when warrented.

Given the fact that we don't get to know the kids very well, it's was extremely hard for me to remember which kid belong to which parent(s). And honestly, it didn't really make a difference because the story could have easily taken place with fewer kids/parents and still been the same. Excet maybe then I would have been more invested because I would have actually been able to keep straight who was with who.

The pacing was fast, but not the way it was probably intended. Instead of creating the tension and making readers feel like it was a race against time to save these kids, it was more like the faster we go, the fewer plot holes able to be pondered because you're already on to the next event.

So there's chaos because the kids are missing, chaos because there's too many characters, chaos because nothing is making any kind of sense.

I also found the reference to the brutal murders of the four Idaho students gross and unnecessary. And Calling the missing kids 'The Five' was weird, like trying to link them to the 'Idaho Four'.

Absolutely not recommended.

NetGalley ARC | So Happy Together

I receved a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

So delightfully unhinged and bonkers, I could not put it down.

Jane is trying to make it as a playwrite in New York City and also find the love of her life. Dating apps are not helpful, until she meets Colin. She is at once smitten, completely head over heels. Thus, you can imagine her confusion and hurt when the love of her life breaks off the relationship after six dates.

Determined to win him back, Jane is sure she can accomplish this with time. Until she finds out he is already dating someone new.

Enter Zoe, Jane's competition. Zoe is everything - kind and welcoming, beautiful, a talented artist. Jane knows Zoe will never love Colin the way she does though, so of course, chaos ensues.

It seems like there is a very fine line between love and obsession, so watching Jane creep around on the edges of Colin's life, only to suddenly be thrust dead-center in the middle of it was such a trip. Especially because Zoe is the one who draws Jane deeper and deeper into their lives.

Jane and Zoe become close as Jane plays the part of a college friend of Colin's, which he goes along with as well, though he is clearly uncomfortable with the developing friendship between the two. Colin begins to pull away from Zoe as the book goes on, which only confuses Jane further.

Zoe was confusing to me too, but only because I could not figure out what her end-game was. She was just as much of a trip as Jane, in a wildly different way because I just could not figure her out.

Learning more about Jane's past was the sobering aspect of the book, which kind of made her actions in the present make more sense, and why she was so susceptible to Zoe's charm.

The book is fast-paced and delusional and chaotic and messy. It's not life-changing but it is so much fun.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | The Bachelorette Party

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed The Lost Village, so I am game to read more of this author's work. Unfortunately for me, this one did work quite as well for me, but it was still a decent read.

Every year four friends get together on a remote island off the coast of Sweden. No one knows where they disappear to each year, only that they are off somewhere together. They've been best friends since they were children, and once a year they come back together to be drink and dance and enjoy each other's company before returning to their adult lives full of expectations and responsibilities.

One year, they do not return. It's presumed to be an accident, though their bodies are never found.

Ten years later, Tessa Nilsson is obsessed by the story. That obsession became a popular true crime podcast and this is the one case that Tessa longs to solve. Few clues were ever found to indicate what truly happened, and authorities could only guess. A presumed boating accident involving alcohol was their best idea, though Tessa does not believe that's accurate.

Unfortunately for Tessa, due to a major misstep ending in tragedy, her podcast and reputation are in shambles and gone is her chance to find out what really happened.

UNTIL.

Because of course there is always an UNTIL.

Tessa's best friend Anneliese is to be married soon and her bachelorette party is set to take place at a yoga retreat on a remote island off the coast of Sweden. When Tessa realizes it is the same island - owned now by one of the victim's sisters - she knows this might be her last chance to find out what really happened.

The problem is, Tessa wants the truth, but someone else on the island wants revenge.

With only two others on the island in addition to the handful in the party, there is a small suspect pool to draw from. I worked out pretty quickly who, but given the back and forth between the time lines, I wasn't quite sure why, and what exactly they were intent on getting revenge for.

Dual timelines can be difficult to write but I think it is a strength for the author. Even when I was not totally sure at first how they connected, the clues are there and they come together well. The pacing was also well-done in both timelines. Neither lagged at any point, so I was invested in both.

I was also intrigued by Tessa's own personal mystery, and what could have possibly happened to absolutely make her life explode. That was engaging enough in itself, without overshadowing the events that Tessa needed in order to start rebuilding her life again.

My main issue with the book is that the timelines themselves kept tripping me up. It seems like the dates are a bit off, things don't necessarily seem to line up in the way they are described, so it kept throwing me. I can't tell if it was intentionally off, which could be possible but then other parts don't work. I am honestly not really sure how to describe it without bringing up spoilers, which I will happily do with books I hate, but I didn't hate this one and still want to recommend it.

As a result, this one did not quite grab me the way The Lost Village did, but I still recommend it. It's not groundbreaking in the genre, but readers will still enjoy the mystery. I still ntend to read other work by this author.

Recommended.

But please also read The Lost Village.

Tackling the TBR | Week 26 | Jul 8 - Jul 14, 2025

Here we go!

This is year SIX of Tackling the TBR. When I started this mess  I was well over 5,000 books on the TBR, so to be where I am now is pretty incredible.

I will post on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and last day of the month.

Previous Week's TBR Total: 1,691

On My 'Currently Reading' Shelf
(This does not mean I am reading all of these at once. As soon as I get a book from the library, NetGalley, a publisher/author/marketer, or - for not much longer - Prime, I put in on my 'Currently Reading' shelf. Yes, I know I have a problem. No, I don't want to do anything about it.)

Books Read

Books DNFed: 

Books Added to TBR: 0

Books Removed from TBR: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 1,688

Happy Reading!
Sarah