Book Review | The Typewriter and the Guillotine: An American Journalist, a German Serial Killer, and Paris on the Eve of WWII

Rating | ⭐⭐

I HATE being tricked by a gorgeous cover and a subtitle.

The Typewriter and the Guillotine appears to have some of the things I love reading about most - an intrepid journalist who lives life on her own terms, a serial killer, and World War II.

Janet Flanner arrived in Paris in 1922, a journalist for The New Yorker, who would be covering all the best things about Paris, the beauty, the art, the culture. However, she soon sees the signs of what is to come - the rise of extremism and how the economic problems and public discontent fed into it. Flanner completely changes her role and attempts to capture the attention of her readers as to why the new German chancellor is a danger to the world.

In that same time frame, a serial killer was stalking the streets of Paris, himself a child of two Nazis.

Now, here is the issue - the synopsis claims that Flanner "soon becomes enmeshed in the criminal case of a man who embodied all of the darkness she was being forced to confront".

It also says that Flanner covered his case from start to finish and it was this great symbolism for what had passed and what was to come.

Except...not really.

The connection between the journalist and the serial killer is hardly there at all. She attended some of his trial and that was it. I feel like the title and subtitle were incredibly misleading. I expected there to be some greater connection between the two, that somehow she might have been directly impacted by his crimes or they'd crossed paths before he was captured.

There's also far less information about Eugen Weidmann than I expected. This could have something to do with the Nazis destroying evidence once they'd taken control of Paris, as Weidmann was a German and they didn't want his crimes associated with them...as they committed even more and worse crimes.

I started skimming the content strictly about Flanner after a while, only because I did not personally find her story all that compelling. The author could easily have written a biography solely of Flanner without making Weidmann seem like such an enmeshed part of her life in Paris. The story of her life before, during, and after World War II would be more than enough to engage many readers.

I did not enjoy this one, but would recommend it for those who have an interest in strong female journalists, Paris before and on the eve of WWII, and/or The New Yorker.

NetGalley ARC | Hot Girl Murder Club

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

Well, that was...underwhelming. I wanted to love it, because I am all in favor of terrible things happening to terrible men - especially when we know victims won't get justice because our judicial system is set up to protect mediocre white men. And I have really liked a couple of the other Winstead books I've read, so this is likely a one-off.

Scout Sage has been in the industry for a while, finding moderate success as a singer and actress. Her life was completely altered ten years ago with her sister Georgia's mysterious death at a Hollywood party full of predators. She's done her best to keep her sister's memory alive, surrounding herself with a group of like-minded women.

But then a slew of murders occur in rapid succession, the targets all connected, and evidence points to Scout as the culprit. Scout must do whatever it takes to prove she's not guilty, so she can truly get justice for Georgia, before it's too late.

This book was messy, and not in a good way. There was so much happening, alternating timelines, and what felt like a billion POVs. The characters were pretty distinct for the most part, and multiple POVs don't bother me, but there was almost too much going on, to the point that nothing was done particularly well in the grand scheme of things. It made it hard to connect with any of the characters, with there being so many.

It's also kind of hard to tell at times whether the author is trying to say these women went too far with their revenge, or not far enough. Things spiral big time in the end and everything kind of explodes, literally and figuratively, and I was left feeling very blah about all of it.

Still, I love women supporting women. Seeing the bonds the women have created was very powerful, even though the bonds formed because of trauma and violence committed against them. And I also love seeing survivors make awful men pay for their crimes. Hence, two stars.

NetGalley ARC | Lies Between Us

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

Two families side-by-side in their waterfront mansions, neighbors for years, the children growing up together in a small town on a small island where there's little crime, everyone knows everyone, and doors are never locked.

This summer is different though. Their picture-perfect lives are upended one night when tragedy strikes after one of the many beach parties they've attended. A boy is dead, secrets abound, and no one will come out of this the same.

(Except they all will because no one learned a damn thing through all of this.)

In theory, this should have been everything I love in a quick YA that doesn't require too much time or thought. Rich kids, secrets, murder. All things I love.

Instead, the book was such a disappointment. I usually really like ths author's work but this was just blah. The ending was ESPECIALLY blah. The characters all had very surface-level development and neither matching set of siblings was distinguishable from any other set. Not to mention that the two families, last names Gold and Silver, just happen to live next to each other. The Golds have three girls, the Silvers have three boys. Each has their exact-age counterpart in the other family.

Seriously, come on. Whyyyyyyyyy???

I didn't really care about any of the characters because we never get to know them well enough to decide one way or another. As a result, it was hard to care about what was happening. Time and time again we are told how the sisters are so close, there are no secrets between them, there's nothing that could break their bonds or loyalty to one another.

Except by the end we see that's a big fat lie because ALL OF THEM had major secrets that they hid from each other for the entire book, and the entirety of their teen years so far.

The only parts of the book that really made it worth reading were the flashbacks of the party the night that Billy died. Literally, knowing what happened was the only thing that kept me reading this one because none of the characters were compelling. And none of them learned anything or changed in any meaningful way when all was said and done.

But even arriving at the big reveal and ending, it all fell flat. All this build-up with the party flashbacks, and we don't even know for sure what happened in those last moments of Billy's life.

Overall I was annoyed that I struggled through everything, just for THAT ending. There are plenty of people who will like it though, who will be able to overlook the nonsense of the names and the families being so perfectly suited to each other. I'm just not one of them.

NetGalley ARC | West Heart Kill

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

Rich people who are awful to each other, a storm, and murder? Sounds like something I would LOVE, right? RIGHT!

Instead, I finally finished this slog of a book and only felt annoyed.

The book/author thought they were enitrely more clever than they actually were. It's absurd how many style and literary elements were used because in the end it was just a giant mess and nothing fit quite right. But the only reason I am giving it two stars instead of one is because at least it tried to be something unique.

So, we are at the West Heart Country Club where our main characters, Adam McAnnis is joining an old college friend and his family for some summer weekend festivities at the exclusive club. Everyone just kind of tolerates each other at best, but then the first body is discovered and it's obvious that someone is done tolerating. By the time the weekend is over, two more will die and as a private detective, Adam is going to figure out the mystery that has dropped into his lap so suddenly.

The major issue here is the story-telling styles themselves. Because there are multiple, and the book becomes so disjointed as the reader is thrown from one style to another that you never really get comfotable enough to actually start enjoying the story, getting to know the characters, attempt to figure out who is involved, etc.  The author spends so much time trying to be so clever, that it ends up a big clunky mess. Jumping from 1st to 2nd to 3rd person narration also did not help.

I don't mind the 4th wall being broken, with the narrator speaking directly to the reader. It's an interesting concept. What I DO mind, however, is the assumption of what I, as a mystery reader, am thinking, expecting, etc. It was kind of pompous, explaining HOW mysteries work.

And for all that work, reading through one device after another, constantly getting tossed around, you'd think we coould get a resolution, right?

WRONG.

So, you can see why I was annoyed.

Some readers will enjoy this. I did not.

NetGalley ARC | Crime and Punishment in Tudor England

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

This text presents, as the title indicates, crime and punishment in Tudor England. Though I would consider myself fairly knowledgable in that area, I can never pass up books likes this because I am always hoping to learn more about a period in history that continues to capture my attention.

The Tudor century+18 saw massive social upheaval that impacted every single person in the country - and beyond. From Henry VII to his granddaughter Elizabeth I, the time period is flush with world-changing events. Crime and punishment, however, remained straight up medieval.

We see it all here - treason, suspected treason, no-treason-but-I'm-paranoid, and so much more. There are cases of blackmail, failed insurrections, conmen, kidnappings, and beyond. Plus all the details of the hangings, burning-at-the-stakes, and beheadings.

I simply could not with the author's voice and tone throughout the book. Incredibly flippant at times and attempts at humor that were not actually funny. I have a difficult time with non-fiction books where the author is sarcastic or casual about the topic. In memoirs and autibiographies, that's one thing. But in books like this, where the author should simply present the facts and not add their own snarky commentary? No thanks. She also kept referring to herself as "this author". It was annoying.

The structure of the text was also frustrating. The crimes were listed in alphabetical order, so there was no real structure to speak of. As a result, there is not any real analysis to be found, or themes to explore. The oversimplification of the topic does not allow for it.

There are some interesting stories here but as a whole, I would not recommend.

Netgalley ARC | Broadmoor Inmates

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

I would venture to guess that anyone who has an interest in historical true crime knows the name of Broadmoor. The facility opened in 1863 for the 'criminal lunatics' of society who needed to be confined for the safety of the public, and themselves. Each inmate committed some horrific crime - or attempted one, leading to their incarceration.

Of course we know that treatments of the time were in no way effective - fresh air was often considered a treatment for pretty much anything ailing someone in that time period. But inmates were also expected to work, and were provided leaisure activities to participate in as well. Even so, this was no idyllic place for anyone to be 'cured'. Doctors of the time simply did not have the knowledge or resources to provide actual treatment for the wide range of causes that brought inmates to their door.

While the stories were interesting, and many incredibly tragic, I was a bit disappointed with this book. I was hoping there would be more information about Broadmoor itself and the attempts of treatment at the time. Given the subtitle, it seemed like a logical expectation.

Instead, this was a collection of stories, some with a lot of detail and some without, about how these particular inmates ended up at Broadmoor throughoutt its history, up to the 1950s. When looking at the bibliography, much of it was simply a list of newspapers. I always appreciate when an author uses contemporary sources, but we also have to remember that Victorian-era newspaper accounts of crimes was rather...colorful.

This had the potential to be an interesting look at an infamous asylum, going back to its very beginning. Unfortunately that is not what we got here. And given that this was only about the crimes people committed, and not their later "treatment", the stories got repetitive after a while.

If you've been around a while, you might know that I am absolutely obsessed with the way Victorians were obsessed with crime and punishment, so I was really excited for this one. But with it being indidivual stories about the various murderers and would-be murderers who ended up behind Broadmoor's walls, there was no common thread to tie any of the stories together. I feel like exploration of society's attitudes toward mentall illness at the time, attitudes toward treatment and care, and toward punishment in between the stories could have made this a much more cohesive book.

I would say I still recommend this if you are interested in true crime stories from the era, as long as you do not expect a deeper look underneath the crimes at the root causes, or how they were treated for perceived lunacy.

NetGalley ARC | The Anniversary

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

Rating ⭐⭐

The Anniversary focuses on Quinn and Jules, not friends but friendly, high school students. One night both of their lives change forever. Quinn is arrested for nearly killing someone and Jules survives an attack by a serial rapist/killer known as the May Day Killer who only strikes, as you might guess, on May 1st.

We follow their lives from that night in 1992 and see Quinn released from juvenile detention, while Jules is struggling with the trauma of her attack and the question of why she was spared when so many others were not. There's the additional trauma for Quinn of his mother's unsolved murder, which he is determined to solve.

The story meanders on for the next decade and we meet them again on each May 1st. Quinn and Jules are repeatedly brought together through various circumstances, until answers are finally revealed and killers are unmasked.

Okay, so I really loved the first two books I read by this author. The Night Shift was a very solid four stars for me and If Something Happens to Me was an easy five-star read.

This though? I kind of feel like two stars is generous. Instead of reading his new work (Parents Weekend was an atrocious one-star. I HATED it), maybe I should go back and read previous books becuase his new stuff is just not working for me.

With Parents Weekend, the whole plot and reasoning for anything was just absurd. Way too many characters, super convoluted, a complete mess. This one though, the characters simply were not compelling. I wasn't really drawn to Quinn or Jules, though I found Quinn's search for his mom's killer a much more engaging mystery than the May Day Killer.

I think one reason it was so hard to connect to either character was because we never really get to know them. Since the story is told through a series of May firsts, we miss out on the rest of the year. We get a kind of info-dump of what they were up to, but we only see them in relation to their individual traumas and struggles connected to May 1st - even when other major life events are occurring on any other day. We are only told about them afterward if they don't occur on a May 1st. This results in characters not being particularly fleshed out. And it's really hard to care about characters that you have no investment in.

I don't feel like this novel compares at all to the previous two I mentioned that I absolutely loved. I would definitely recommend either of those and pass on this one.

NetGalley ARC | Something in the Walls

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

Ugh. Yet another gorgeous cover that tricked me. But to be fair, the synopsis got me, too. This is my second book by this author and will likely be my last, as both were only two-star reads for me.

The main character, Mina, has just finished her schooling to become a child psychologist. She's having trouble gaining experience in her field, so she is a bit unmoored as she thinks almost exclusively about her upcoming wedding to Oscar, and the death of her brother many years ago.

Mina attends a grief-share type group to cope with her brother's death and there she meets a journalist named Sam. He shares with Mina the story of Alice, a thirteen year old who claims a witch is haunting her. Alice travels to the remote village where Alice and her family live, hoping to make a difference and help the family. Mina needs the money and the experience; Sam will get the story; Alice will be cured; everyone will be happy.

Instead, Alice's behavior becomes increasingly worse and intense. It doesn't help that the residents of the small village still believe deeply in superstition and witchcraft. They know how to deal with this evil themselves and don't expect Mina to understand what must be done.

Sounds GREAT, right??

I was super into this one, but then we move on from Alice being a witch and never getting any conclusion about that. The twist wasn't even a twist, it was so obvious once the story started to meander away from the set-up towards a completely different story. I still would've liked the book if there had been a real resolution, and just completely ignored the first half of the book.

Once I started this one, I was hooked. I could not put it down, but the complete pivot away from eveything else was jarring and disappointing. It wasn't even ambiguous, which can be phenomenal when done well. There was just...nothing.

I like to think I am intelligent, so I'm not sure if I missed something, but...what was in the walls? How did I miss this piece of information that seems super important, given the title of the book? Yet when I started looking at other reviews, I found I was not the only one confused by this whole book, after loving the beginning.

It's not just that we don't know the answer to that, but the whole thing about Alice being haunted by a witch, or being a witch? That just gets completely dropped. We hear nothing more about it with the reveal of a child molester within the village. It would be easy to point to that and say that's the source of Alice's behavior.

But it's not, and that makes everything all the more confusing than it already is.

Not recommended.

NetGalley ARC | You Are Fatally Invited

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

Tricked by a cover again! I know, it is my own fault, judging and all, but COME ON. The cover is gorgeous.

J.R. Alastor (pseudonym), a renowned author, hires Mila to host a writing retreat. Alastor will be hosting it at his private manor tucked peacefully away on an island off the coast of Maine. Mila is excited for the opportuity - for many reasons. She's a former aspiring writer herself, and she desperately needs to get revenge on one of the attendees.

The guest list is small, just six well-known authors who have all mastered their craft and are writers of thrillers and mysteries. They know the tropes inside and out, can toss out red herrings, create misdirection and mayhem, and are above all else, deceitful.

Alastor and Mila have planned a whole week's worth of events and the plan is to use the cover of the retreat to take her revenge. But before she can, a different guest ends up dead and Mila realizes things are not what she thought, and Alastor may not be who she believed.

Then the storm comes along and they are cut off from the mainland. More die and Mila has to figure out what the game really is before she is next.

Well, this was a big fat disappointment for me. It had all the things I love: small group of unlikeable characters, no contact with the outside world, and murder.

It was hard to even decide how to rate this one. The plot itself I really enjoyed, because this type of thriller is my favorite. Do not, however, for one moment compare it to And Then There Were None. I see that as a alllllll the time and nothing ever even comes a tiny bit close. It's one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time. 

But there were too many POVs and some of the voices were not distrinct enough to carry their own chapters; I had to keep going back to the beginning to see who I was reading. Other characters were basically caricatures of pretentious and self-absorbed authors who had no idea they were about to finally being held accountable for some past behavior because they's JUST SUCH TALENTED WRITERS. As the game progressed wildly off-course, the chapters with various sins as titles were added and those were even worse.

Even so, I was enjoying the mystery itself - until the reveal. It fell flat and was so disappointing because it was something I considered early on after the first two deaths, but then dismissed because I felt like it was too obvious to actually be the thing that this all led up to. What an unsatisfying ending for such great build-up. I am always willing to suspend some belief for a fantastic reveal, but this was too much for me.

So again, I am torn. The plot itself was great and I loved the build-up. But the uncompelling characters and suspension of belief needed for the reveal are the reason for two stars.

I guess I would recommend with caution. Don't say I didn't warn you about the bad bits though.

NetGalley ARC | Blood in the Water: The Untold Story of a Family Tragedy

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

I vaguely recall hearing about this case, and maybe in the hands of a better writer, I would have liked it more? I think at this point Sherman and I are just not vibing. He does not write in a compelling way. This book was such a chore to get through. I could not even finish his Cape Cod Killer book, and A Murder in Hollywood only kept me going because it involved one of my favorite eras in Hollywood history.

Nathan Carman and his mom went out fishing, and a week later he was found in a lifeboat with his mother gone. He spun a story about how the boat sank and she drowned. Yet he was in pretty great shape for being lost at sea for a week in the North Atlantic.

A few years earlier, Nathan's extremely rich grandfather was murdered in his home, which made Nathan's mom extremely rich as a result. It's easy to see the conclusions that the investigators came to.

The family is weird, I don't know how else to say it. Maybe you just become a big weirdo when you have a lot of money, I don't know. The only person who was not weird was Nathan's grandmother, but her death occurred pretty early in the account. The grandpa who was murdered (likely by Nathan) was icky, and the mom who drowned (murdered actually, likely by Nathan)...I'm not sure how to describe. She was super attached to Nathan even though he wanted nothing to do with her and it really reminded me of the Sandy Hook killer and his mom.

As horrible as it sounds, I did not care about anything that was happening in this book. And I don't think it is the story itself, but Sherman's writing. It's just not good.At times it is awkward and just kind of  clunky. There's a lot of filler that ended up just being distracting and not necessary to the story.

This was my first in-depth look at the case, and it was disappointing. If you are already know a lot about it, you can skip the book. If you don't, then I am torn on recommending it. His writing is simply not good, but I am not sure there are other books out there on the subject.

NetGalley ARC | Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

I will take some blame here, but only some. When I read the sub-title, I thought it meant us collectively, as fans of the show.

In reality it meant the two women writing the book, and that's not what I was expecting. Even reading the summary, I still thought it would be more general and the life lessons would be deeper and more meaningful.

I love Buffy. As in, full on OBSESSED, as a teenager. The very first episode I ever saw was "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" and I was a smitten kitten. I never missed an episode, even when it was a rerun, and own the original-awkward-menu-set-up DVDs for the entire show.

I don't want to give too much attention to the man who created the character, because he is awful, but it has to be acknowledged. I was DEVASTATED when reports started coming out about his behavior, but I could not let go of something I loved so much, for so long. When I listened to and read Sarah Michelle Gellar's statements about the show and its legacy, including: "I will always be proud of 'Buffy'...Was it an ideal working situation? Absolutely not. But it's okay to love 'Buffy' for what we created because I think it's pretty spectacular," I realized I didn't have to.

So when I saw this memoir I had to snatch it up, because Buffy IS spectacular. I don't even know how to accurately describe everything Buffy means to me. I thought this book could, and it did, but again for the two authors.

The book is described as, "A memoir reflecting on heartbreak, perseverance, and life lessons learned from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the hosts of the hit podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer". I've never listened to the podcast, fyi.

Their marriage starts with an ultimatum: Kristin must watch the show, which is Jenny's favorite. They started from the beginning, along the way creating the podcast, finding massive success with it, then divorcing while also determined to keep their committment to their listeners/community even when they could no longer remain committed to each other. The book focused a lot on that aspect and how Buffy basically helped them through it.

I expected it to be about how it changed our lives, how we grew as a result of Buffy. It might seem like I am exaggerating, but this show CHANGED LIVES. It was so imperfect and magical and everything. College courses were offered FOR YEARS about the show. I can't even count the number of pop history AND deeply academic books written about Buffy and Angel. I own most of them.

Yet for everything we learned from the show, the strength we gained from these imperfect characters doing their best and also failing a lot of times, that area was surprisingly lacking. These so -called lessons barely scratched the surface.

I did not find their story particularly compelling, either. Despite my deeply intense love for the show, nothing in this book made me want to go listen to the podcast. Fans of Buffering will most likely be the ones to enjoy this, but as someone who is just going in as purely a fan of the show and unfamiliar with it, it's entirely possible they will feel the same way I did when I finished the book. As in...why did I read this?

Had the marketing for this book been more accurate, we wouldn't be here. But saying fans of Buffy will love this one is misleading; this is meant for a specific group of Buffy fans, those who also like/are familiar with the podcast.

I also feel like it also traded a lot on emphasizing the power of Buffy showcasing queer characters. It was kind of marketed on the premise of Buffy's influence in that area specifically of queer empowerment, but ultimately that's not what the book is about.

I would not recommend it to fans like me who love the show so much, but have never heard of Buffering the Vampire Slayer - unless you are interested in starting that. Those who already know of it and like it will probably  enjoy this.

Publisher Gift via NetGalley | Whack Job

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

Rating | ⭐⭐...barely. EDIT: ⭐ only

This is not a history of axe murder. How can you write a book about axe murder and not write about any axe murders as we traditionally think of them - with the exception of Lizzie Borden? Where was the Axeman of New Orleans? Or Villisca? And to top it off, Lizzie doesn't even show up until chapter nine. NINE! Out of something like twelve chapters, hers and the chapter on the murders at Taliesin are the only ones that are actually axe murders.

Instead we also get stories of a possible 'first axe murder' half a million years ago, we look at the axe as it was used in war, and then take a look at Henry VIII and his love of chopping off heads of people who looked at him sideways.

Had I realized the author is the same one who wrote so flippantly with her father about axe murder victims in the book The Man from the Train, I would not have bothered with this one. Her casual approach to some of the deaths was honestly offensive. She's at times dismissive and bordering on straight disrespectful. I assume her aim was cheeky or funny, but she is neither. I hope she stops writing about this topic.

I honestly got more annoyed by this book as I wrote up the review and am knocking it down to one star.

To sum it up, this is a history of the the axe as a tool to build and how it was also used as a tool of death. But it is definitely NOT about axe murders.

Not recommended.

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 | The Clinic

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

Rating | ⭐ (second ⭐ is only for the cover!)

Just LOOK at that cover! Seems super creepy and thriller-y and gothic-y, right? JUST WHAT I LOVE, RIGHT??!!

*sigh*

Meg works at a casino in LA. Her sister Haley is a famous actress. When reports start coming out that Haley has died at the rehab facility to recently went to, there is talk of suicide. Meg doesn't believe this and decides to check herself into the same facility. Unfortunately Meg also is struggling with addiction so she will have to contend with that, while being completely on her own trying to figure out what really happened to her sister.

So the premise is great. The cover is great. I'm expecting a great thriller in one of my favorite settings, because that is what has been implied.

Unfortunately, the book moved so slowly at times that it was hard to even stay interested.

It also required massive suspension of belief in several instances, as well as some things that just did not make sense.

There was also disappointment over it not really being a thriller. I considered DNF-ing a couple times, but I stuck with it because I kept hoping things would get better. Plus...THAT COVER! How could the cover and story not match?

Well, they never came together, unfortunately.

I expected a bit of gothic-y goodness based on the cover and the premise, but given the way this remote rehab facility operated, none of it came together in a way that made sense. Instead we just get this clinical, sterile, celeb-filled environment, characters who all ran together after a while and to be frank, there was a lot of things happening at this clinic that are simply unrealistic and would not happen in an actual rehab center.

First off, the characters. The book altermates between Meg, the sister and Cara, the office manager, but there were times when I would have to go back and look at who was talking. Despite having very different lives, backstories, and personalities/characteristics supposedly, it was hard to tell them apart. Neither had a unique voice and neither were particularly likeable. This isn't always a bad thing, but this time around it just did not work. Rounding out the patients we have Sierra, Jade, Tom, and Dex. I can not tell you anything about them, because they blended together after a while.

The second thing that simply did not work is the facility itself. Sure, it's a private clinic. But it is a place known to celebs, so it is not a secret. There is simply no way the facility could do what they do and get away with keeping their license. Not to mention there doesn't seem to be much staff around to do anything useful. Given my non-fiction interests, it will surprise no one that I know quite a bit about this topic, and believe me when I say there is simply NO. WAY.

Let's start with the biggest glaring issue - Haley's death. She overdosed on heroin.

In a licensed medical rehabilitation facility.

That claims she OD-ed on "medical grade" heroin.

What. The. Fuck.

I'm not sure if the author was trying to imply that Dr. Lutz was doing illegal stuff that authorities and clinic boards and insurance companies didn't know about, or what, but he even talks to the police about it. He legit says that all professional rehab facilities keep federally approved supplies of drugs for use in clinic settings.

Again I ask...what the fuck?

This is simply not true. Heroin is not an available drug to use in rehab clinics, for anything. I don't even know what "medical grade" heroin is supposed to be. Heroin is an illegal substance in the US. The story takes place in the US. Therefore, no licensed and certified clinic operating in the US could ever use heroin as pain management for their patients.

There were lots of other shady/weird things about this clinic. Meg snuck in her phone and some drugs of her own, I don't even remember if she was searched. If so, obviously not very thoroughly. And with Haley supposedly over-dosing on the magic heroin, shouldn't it have been a huge security breach that she was somehow able to access more than whatever magic dose she was supposed to be taking? So why was there not staff constantly monitoring the meds and drugs even as they were locked up? Clearly we are to believe that Haley somehow accessed them, so couldn't any of the other patients also do that?

And speaking of staff...where are they? We know Cara, the office manager. Then Dr. Lutz. The owner, whose name I forget, and some nurses are around there somewhere, carrying on helping with treatments that are sometimes experimental (and therefore unlikely to be approved by insurance, but done anyway), which the patients are not informed of. And on top of that, patients are also not informed about what they are taking, and when. Basically, they're being drugged all the time.

So, in reality this is a one-star read. The only reason I gave it a second star here on my blog is because I love the cover so much and am sad that it has gone to waste.

Not recommended.

NetGalley ARC | That's Not My Name

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

Rating | ⭐⭐

A teenage girl wakes up on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere, her memories of who she is or how she got there are gone. A police officer comes along and picks her up, taking her to the station. A man arrives later, sick with worry, having been looking for his daughter for hours. He claims to be the girl's father, her name is Mary. He has her school ID and birth certificate, Wayne must be her dad, right?

Lola and Drew had a huge fight and she got out of the car, storming off to who knows where. Drew expects that after they both calm down, he and Lola will talk things through. Except now Lola is missing and everyone in town thinks he murdered her.

I love a good mystery and the premise made it seem like this would be a good one.

Psych!

It was not.

I can't for the life of me understand how it is rated so highly, or how it managed to be a Goodreads Choice nominee. The only reason I gave it a second star was because this one did not have a happy ending. Too often that is how YA thrillers end, and that's just not how life works; people don't always get what they want. Otherwise this would have been just one more disappointing predictable waste of time. Instead, it was only a disappointing predictable waste of time until the end.

All of the characters were annoying, except Madisen. And not just high school annoying, but annoying annoying. I don't mind unlikable characters, if they're written well and it furthers the story. But they're not unlikable in any way that makes sense, they just...are. And poorly written, at that. So messy.

There were so many plot holes, the book might as well have been made of swiss cheese.

The biggest one of all, was the 'mystery' of whether or not Lola was Mary. And it's not a spoiler to say she was, in fact, NOT. Lola had been missing for over a month, yet Mary's story takes place in a few days. How was this not taken into consideration? Was the author just counting on readers to not pay attention to the timelines? If so, how insulting. If not, then the author is not so smart.

The second thing that makes no sense is WHY DID WAYNE EVEN GO TO THE POLICE STATION?? He had no way of knowing that Mary had amnesia. All he knew was that she had somehow escaped captivity and he had to find her. But he thought it would be a good idea to look for her at the police station because...why? If she did not have amnesia and had been able to tell the police he had kidnapped her, he'd have been arrested the moment he walked in and Mary started screaming that he was her kidnapper. Makes zero fucking sense.

There are so many more examples that honestly, it's exhausting. If Mary had been in a car accident, where was the car? Why did the police not go back to the scene and investigate? She was so injured she could barely move, so it's not as though the car could have been miles away. And why didn't Drew just come out and say he and Lola had broken up? Doing this would have actually helped prove his innocence.

If you can ignore these, and other, gaping plot holes and inconsistencies, then by all means - go ahead and waste your time. Otherwise, not recommended.

Book Review | Taylor Swift Is Life: A Superfan’s Guide to All Things We Love About Taylor Swift

Rating | ⭐⭐

Continuing with my celebration of Taylor finally owning her life's work, here is one book you can absolutely skip. Giving it two stars was extremely generous.

The first issue is that the author clearly is not even a Taylor Swift fan. That would be fine if the author wrote factual and correct information, but she didn't. If she were, there's no way she would have made such massive, glaring errors throughout the entire book. In looking at her other writing, this is actually from a whole series about several artists - Harry, Gaga, Rhianna, etc. It reads like the author went through other books about Taylor, looked at Swiftie TikTok accounts, rounded up more info on Twitter, and STILL managed to get a lot wrong.

Secondly, Taylor would absolutely HATE the cover. She opened up about her eating disorder in the 1989-days, and the choice for the cover image is a supremely emaciated, elongated version of Taylor? Gross. Like, Taylor is tall, but not that tall. And she's healthy, not stick-thin with no muscle.

Now for the content. It will be easiest to just bullet point all the ways this book got everything SO, SO wrong.

• Author states that Red only references Jake and Conor. No Harry? Are you kidding me? Some of the best songs on the album are about Mr. Harry Styles (The Very First Night, Trecherous, Come Back...Be Here, Run, Begin Again, I Almost Do, Everything Has Changed, and obviously I Knew You Were Trouble).

• Song titles in the wrong sections for whatever she was talking about

• About folkore, the author says the love triange is between Betty, Inez, and James and he cheats on Betty with Inez. NO. Inez is the only who likes to gossip. He cheats with Augusta/Augustine.

• The song is called You're on Your Own, Kid, NOT You're on Your Own Now, Kid.

• Book claimed to include all eras, but did not include The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. TTPD dropped at midnight on April 19th, 2024 and The Anthology dropped two hours later. It's a double album, 31 amazing songs. The book was published way after the albums came out, so why exclude some of the best songs she's ever written?

• There's a section called 'Who's the Muse' and man, did she fuck this up, too. The author says Jake, John, and Calvin can breathe a sigh of relief for not being referenced on TTPD (and Calvin can, but he's the only one. She literally wrote a song about him for Lover called 'I Forgot That You Existed'). Yet anyone who has half a brain can listen to this amazing collection of songs and realize that it is Taylor looking back on her entire career, all of those relationships, friendships, situations, and people. Almost everyone is included here somehow - Jake/John, Harry, Kim and Kanye, Joe, and even Ratty fucking Healy. To reduce this album to a break-up album only about Joe is incredibly insulting.

• The color theme for folklore is gray, not brown.

Quite simply, there are way better books about Taylor Swift and her music. In-depth break-downs of literary references, her work as poetry, etc. This is a cash-grab by an author who probably doesn't know much about ANY of the musicians she writes about.

Not recommended.