NetGalley ARC | The Worst Medieval Monarchs

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

The book covers the usual suspects when we are talking about the worst of England's kings: Stephen, John, Edward II, Richard II, and Richard III. I personally think a case could be made for Richard I, but for a much different reason - he simply did not GAF about England and literally would have sold the country if it would have helped him raise money for Crusade. He maybe spent a total of six months there the entire time he was king. BUT, the kings discussed here are viewed as the worst for different reasons - mainly because their reigns were constantly marred by conflict both within and beyond the borders.

It's the king or queen's job to protect their citizens and all failed quite spectacularly in that regard. Civil wars or wars with other countries decimated the population and land. Not to mention the fact that John was a freaking psychopath and Richard III had his nephews killed so he could take the throne.

For all their massive failures, each paid a heavy price:

1. Stephen's stolen crown passed to Henry Plantagenet when he died, thus ushering in the start of the Plantagenet Dynasty. Don't even get me started on how Stephen never should have been king in the first place, usurping the throne that rightfully belonged to his cousin Matilda that she should have received when her father Henry I died. The 18 years-long civil war was directly his fault.

2. Edward II never really stood a chance and is honestly the one I genuinely feel bad for. He was never cut out to be king and would have been quite happy on an estate somewhere doing his commoner things like ditch-digging and roof-thatching. He was most comfortable with those considered lower class and that would have been just fine had he not been the king. Whether he died of natural causes in captivity, or was murdered by order of his queen, Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, we will likely never know. I wish he could have just abdicated and lived a quiet life that he was really meant for.

3. John was THE WORST. Like, just all-around a terrible person, never mind a terrible king. He was a lazy, cruel, spoiled baby and never should have inherited the crown. Richard I had to go and get himself killed though, so here we are. He wasn't particularly skilled in any aspect of kingship so he will always belong to the worst of the worst lists. Plus, Geoffrey's son Arthur should have gotten the crown before John. But John had him killed, maybe even did it himself, so again, here we are. Imagine being the youngest of five boys (William, Henry the Young King, Richard I and Geoffrey came before him), getting a shot at the crown that never should have come your way, and completely messing everything up so badly that England will NEVER have another king named John EVER.

4. Richard II is a bit of a conundrum because he could have been a great king, but we will never know for sure because of a number of factors. He came to the throne young, so had several councils rule for him during his regency. This was led by his uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. The Peasants' Revolt pretty much solidified Richard's place as a 'worst' considering how brutal the suppression of the revolt was. Then there was his delayed revenge on the Appellants, and his disinheriting of John of Gaunt's son (and Richard's cousin) Henry Bolingbroke. That Richard thought he could do this with no repercussions was insane, and it cost him his throne and life.

5. Then we have Richard III, who I completely despise. We have a theme though, as he is yet another usurper, and typically those have not fared too well (Stephen, always looking at you. Henry VII, you got very lucky). Richard had his nephews murdered, and he knew people were talking about it. All he would have had to do was trot them out at court, let everyone see they were alive and well, and he might have then had a successful reign. But he couldn't do that, so he lost his crown and his life as well, the last king of England to die in battle.

Overall I would say this is a good assessment of the men and their times. The author explores how they were viewed against standards of their own time period compared to the following centuries up to today. He also discusses how the kings have been portrayed in fictional works, from Shakespeare to the screen, and how that impacts their reputations up to today. I don't think any of them can or should be redeemed, except maybe Edward II.

The author suggests that Richard III does not belong on this list but I disagree completely. Richard murdered his nephews to seize the crown. Had he just locked them up, that would be a different story because evidence suggests he actually could have had a decent reign. Murdering the boys, however, ensured that he would always remain the villain in the story. Given the time period however, Richard knew he had to get rid of them, otherwise there was potential for revolt and for Edward V supporters to place him back on his rightful throne. Like with John having his nephew murdered, they absolutely belong on this list for those acts alone.

Something I think would have been important is discussing how each king was raised - like John, not all were raised to be king in the first place but they managed to grab the throne anyway. Background of their life before becoming king would be good to cover as well - particularly for those who do not have a lot of background information on these men already. This was not an issue for me for the most part, but could impact other readers' experiences.

Overall it was a decent read and well-researched.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Tell Them You Lied

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

Anna and Willow met at art school in 1996. They became friends quickly; Willow was her muse and Anna was sure that this would be a life-long friendship. Everyone was obsessed with Willow, so effortlessly cool and mysterious - and moody.

Fast forward to 2001 and Anna is tired. The realities of the art world weigh heavily on her and in the five years since they first met, Willow has shown time and again who she has always been. She is her own muse and cares little for others - even her supposed best friend.

So, one perfect day in September - with a sky so beautiful and blue that people will argue over it's color even decades later - Anna and her boyfriend plan to stage a little drama to send Willow back to her best friend. A fake mugging is the obvious way to do this, no?

If you hadn't guessed by the sky description, the day of their planned mugging turns out to be one of the worst days in the history of the United States. It is against the backdrop of 9/11 that the plan unfolds - or does it? Willow never returns home and Anna begins to panic. Hours, then days, crawl by and still no word from Willow. Is Anna the mastermind she thought she was by taking control back, or has Willow retained that power all along?

I liked the alternating timelines. We see the friendship develop during their art school days, and their 'current' lives in 2001 NYC.

I love a good toxic friendship story. The enigmatic girl who controls everyone around her, while being arrogant and manipulative and self-serving, can't exactly be blamed for the fact that people trip over themselves to be her friend. It's clear from the start that Willow is exactly this type of person, so it's hard to feel sorry for people who refuse to see her for who she is.

But everyone else is toxic in their own ways; they're self-centered and arrogant as well, though they all show it in different ways. They can't see that they cause as much damage as Willow.

Some reviews I saw said that 9/11 didn't need to be involved because it had nothing to do with the story, but...it's a pretty big part in terms of how it triggers Anna's panic. She has this elaborate plan to fake this mugging of Willow, basically to shake some sense into her I guess, and then once everything starts happening in Manhatten Anna is worried that something worse has happened to Willow as a result. I get how our minds can play tricks on us and always think of the worst possible scenario, and we shouldn't do that. But in this case, a really terrible unexpected scenario came true that day and Anna's fears seem justified. 9/11 occurring is the catalyst to make Anna freak out.

This one definitely kept me guessing because I had no idea what Willow was going to do. We know Anna's motivations because we are in her head. Willow is the big unknown here - though given her past behavior, we can ake educated guesses.

That being said, Anna drove me absolutely bonkers at times. It's like sometimes she had no concept of reality when she was so focused on Willow, when the world was falling apart around her. She continued to stay in Willow's orbit even after it was clear Willow was not nice to her, or even really a friend. Hence why I wasn't so worried about her disappearing. It was just another mean wake to wreck Anna and keep her around. But that didn't stop me from wanting to know what was really going on.

I didn't guess the ending entirely, though I got some things right. There were some decent twists that tripped me up, so that's always a bonus. I think the two timelines worked well and I would read this author again.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | That Kind of Girl

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

Roxie is an amateur sleuth who has a knack for finding lost things, no questions asked. Her rich classmates at their expensive private school pay her a lot of money when they need something retrieved. So when Kirsten Montgomery-Wiggins, a big bully queen bee who is good at making others' lives miserable, asks Roxie for help even though they are absolutely not friendly in any way, she accepts. All Roxie has to do is track down a supposedly stolen phone that ws taken by a blond girl who no on knows. Easy enough until Kirsten is murdered and Roxie is the one who discovers her body, making her the prime suspect.

Our second narrator is Inez, who lives on the outskirts of town in a trailer park. She's a little older than Roxie, working as a part-time maid and part-time sex worker. She keeps fiding blood everywhere - crusted in her earrings, on her shoes, clothes, etc., and doesn't know how she will get rid of it all. All Inez truly wants is to try to scrape together enough money to provide a better life for herself, but one night goes horribly wrong and now she could be heading to prison for murder if she's caught.

This is definitely not a typical YA read. It's got a much darker, grittier feel to it, while still being teens and young adults dealing with their situations the best way they can, given the fact that their brains are not fully developed yet. I feel like that led to a bit of an identity crisis for the book and what it wanted to be. There are a lot of important topics addressed, but sometimes not in a way that aided the plot or moved things along.

Both narrators had unique voices and backstories. The age gap helped, as Inez was at a different place in her life than Roxie, despite both being drawn into the same murder investigation. I really liked seeing the investigation from both points of view, because it was decidedly unclear who was truly involved in what and I suspected different characters at various points. I empathized a lot with Inez and would have liked to have had more from her, and less from Roxie.

There are a lot of secrets and trauma here, and power imbalances make for some fury from me on behalf of these young women. It's a much deeper book than I was expecting and I liked it.

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 | 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.

Publicist/Marketing Gift via NetGalley | The Heiress

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I absolutely LOVED Reckless Girls. The Villa was great. The Wife Upstairs was okay, but not quite on par with the other two for me. The same goes for The Heiress; it is just not Hawkins' strongest book, to me. There were some interesting twists but I figured out who Jules was pretty quickly, having read Hawkins' other novels, and many in this genre in general.

To sum it up in one sentence: unlikeable rich people doing unlikeable rich people shit.

Meaning - lots of secrets and lies and backstabbing to get their hands on the family fortune.

Ruby McTavish Woodward Miller Kenmore was the richest woman in North Carolina when she died. Her life was practically out of a movie - kidnapped as a young girl, a widow many times over (to the point the townspeople started calling her Mrs. Killmore), a beautiful family estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and ruling over the tiny, nearby town of Tavistock. With her death, the property and fortune went to her adopted son, Camden, leaving the rest of the family with nothing except the agreement that they can live in the sprawling home.

Cam, however, wants nothing to do with the money or any of his remaining family and we quickly find out why. He's made a life for himself over halfway across the country in Colorado, is married to a woman named Jules, and spends his days as an English teacher.

Unfortunately for Cam, his uncle's death leads to him being summoned back home to Ashby House, the elegant, breathtaking home where he was raised. Jules is enthralled immediately and is determined to make sure Cam claims every last cent of his fortune.

The story is told in three perspectives: Cam, Jules, and Ruby (via letters she wrote before she passed). There is also some mixed media, which I am always on the fence about. Here the author chose to tell parts of the story through magazine and newspaper articles related to the family and I would say it worked for the most part.

Given the set-up, I was hoping for something at least a little gothic-y, only because the family home is so central to the story and Cam being called back to Ashby was the starting point of the story. I love when the atmosphere makes the house almost a character in itself, but that did not happen here. I also don't think it was the author's intention anyway, as it's not gothic-y at all. That's just my personal preference.

As the truth is slowly revealed through Ruby's letters, there seem to be more questions than answers. More questions arise about Ruby's childhood, and the kidnapping that made her so famous. Then, there are the ever-present four dead husbands - surely all four could not have ben accidents or natural causes? Then there is the question of Camden himself. Why did Ruby choose to adopt him, after all was said and done? Ruby's relatives certainly see him as an obstacle. They want that fortune and some would do anything to get it.

As far as this type of mystery/thriller goes, it's not bad. It's just the weakest of all Hawkins' work, I feel like. The story was suspenseful even when I had things sort of worked out, because it's always fun to see how wrong or right you are. I just did not feel nearly as wrapped up in this one as I did Reckless Girls or The Villa.

Even so, I read it in a few hours, because I do like this author's work and will continue to read future her books.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Who Haunts You

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

Bex is a neurodivergent senior in high school, trying her best to navigate her world and graduate. When her classmates start dying, Bex is certain the deaths are all connected. As she investigates, she finds that each victim believed they were being haunted by long-dead relatives - ones that their families swear never existed. When Bex is visisted by her own possible ghost, she knows she must solve the mystery or she will be next to die.

Seeing Bex navigate this experience as someone on the autism spectrum was really interesting. I have worked with many students with autism and appreciate a realistic portrayal. I also appreciated the fact that the author acknowledges there is truly a spectrum, and varying degrees of autism. Accurate portrayals are so important - all kids need to see themselves reflected in what they read and watch, so I am glad that Bex was a fully fleshed-out, developed character.

The story is not long, coming it at under 200 pages. For the most part it was fairly fast-paced as Bex works quickly to understand what is happening.

My main issue, and thus the reason for only three stars, is entirely because of the ending. It felt really rushed and thrown-together. Switching from a paranormal thriller to a psychological thriller was incredibly jarring. I didn't hate it, I just wasn't expecting it. Had the book been a little longer, a better ending could have been possible.

I would still recommend it, however, for all the positives related to the presentation of someone with autism.

NetGalley ARC | Let Him In

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

That cover though!

Alfie's wife has recently died, leaving him to raise their twin daughters on his own. When their imaginary friend makes his first appearance, Alfie writes it off as a combination of their grief, a nightmare and their imaginations. A search of their room turns up no shadowy figure, and that's that.

Things quickly take a turn for the unexpected though, when the girls begin whispering to their new friend all the time; they can see and hear him when no one else can. They set a place for him at the dinner table and announce that he's going to take them away.

Alfie turns to Julia, his wife's sister, for help. She is a psychiatrist and begins working with the girls, to better understand what is going on. Even then, Alfie begins experiencing things as well - startling visions and the feeling of being watched.

All of this combined with the dark history of their home sets the stage for a fantastic story, but it just does not quite meet my expectations.

There are a couple reasons for this, the main one being the ending. I can't tell if I missed something, or that was the author's intention. I felt like this was a solid four up until that. I even looked at others' reviews (something I do not normally do until I am done with my own) and found I was not the only one who still had questions. Yet others said it wrapped up enough for them. So, this may just be individual to each reader.

The author created a delicisouly creepy atmosphere, revolving around the not-so-imaginary friend and the house itself. I would've loved to know more about the history of the house and see how that played into what was happeing.

Overall, it's not the creepiest story I've ever read. However, if an ambiguous ending doesn't bother you, then I would still recommend it.

NetGalley ARC | The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World's Most Famous Dynasty

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I'm not quite sure why I did not click with this book as much as I thought I would. I love reading about family dynasties, especially rich ones with secrets and strong women.

There is no question that Natalie Livingstone has done her research. She has traced the movements of generations, from Europe to the US and back. To and from ghettos, castles, concentration camps, and Palestine. Three hundred years' worth of women who were kept out of the family business, so had to forge their own paths ot leave their marks on the world. We meet a wide varity of women, who all took distinct paths - some played the part perfectly of wealthy society hostesses, others advocated for societal changes. Some fit the mold expected of them, and some took that mold and smashed it.

There are several branches of the Rothschild family and for as many women as there are to discuss, this meant a lot of information about the men in the family had to be thrown in too. I feel like this was especially true in the earlier generations, considering how little original source information there must have been. Yet she did well with what information she had, and fleshed the women of those earliest generations out as well as she could.

Livingstone also stated at various times that with the documents she had, mainly diaries and letters, that pages were missing, had been burned, or entire passages blotted out. What secrets those missing papers held, we'll never know. Naturally more information becomes available as time marches forward, and there's much great information about the later generations of women.

Even so, the men of Rothschild still played a large role in the text at times, and it was frustrating but I suppose inevitable.

One of the biggest challenge of the text though, was keeping everyone straight. I had a digital copy, so the family tree wasn't very helpful. This wouldn't be an issue for a physical copy, but there were times I gave up reading for a couple days because I was annoyed with keeping track of everyone named Mayer and Charlotte.

In the end, I am glad I read the book. This is a family I knew next to nothing about, and getting a glimpse at least was interesting.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | After You Vanished

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I should have known.

The blurb compared this to a meeting of Sadie and We Were Liars, two of my most favorite YA books ever. Sadie STILL guts me, years later. I can't think about that book without wanting to cry. Liars was such an emotional punch also.

Still, I should have known.

This book is...fine. It's not the greatest YA mystery/thriller I've ever read, mainly because there isn't really a mystery.

Teddy and Izzy are twins. Teddy loves Bottomrock Lake, the place she's worked a lifeguard every summer for years. One late night last summer Izzy and Toby were at the lake together and had a race of sorts - Izzy would swim across the lake, Toby would run around it, and they would see who was fastest.

Toby won by default - Izzy never came out of the lake.

Izzy drowning is something Teddy can't take seriously. Izzy was a strong, accomplished swimmer and Olympic hopeful. Drowning makes no sense. There's also the issue of her missing passport. But what could Izzy have possibly wanted to disappear from? On the verge of adulthood, so many possibilities before her, disappearing makes as much sense as drowning.

This summer Toby comes to work at the lake as well. Teddy is suspicious of him, the last person to see her sister alive for sure. Teddy practically drives herself crazy trying to figure out what secrets he may know about her sister, things Teddy never knew.

Sounds fantastic, no? It could have been. But the Sadie/Liars comparisons did it no favors. My expectations were probably too high. There's just something so horrible and gritty and beautiful and traumatic about Sadie that I will never be able to put into words. Those same feelings are not here at all, because the only thing the stories really have in common is a missing/dead sister. Everything Sadie goes through to find answers, Teddy's journey does not compare to that at all. That doesn't mean there isn't grief, but it's something totally different and I can't explain it.

A lot of reviewers have commented on the pace of the novel and their frustration with it. That didn't bother me at all, it was kind of a slow burn and for me it works. I think it worked to the author's advantage, because that's how grief works. Some days nothing happens, and some days everything happens.

The novel is told from Teddy's point of view, as she talks to Izzy, trying to work out what really happened that night. Overall I think this does a good job in showing Teddy's growth throughout the book, as she learns more and more about Izzy - apparently twins do have secrets from each other, something Teddy never considered.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy the genre. But please ignore the Sadie/Liars comparison to fully enjoy it for its own worth.

Author Gift | FISHBOWL 45: The Unpresidented Parody

 

I received a free digital copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I have to laugh about 2016-2020 because if I didn't laugh, all I would do is cry. And don't even get me started on the fight we still have coming here in the next three months.

So, books like this are necessary because the last thing we need is to be depressed and unable to get out of bed. There's no time for that, if we want to stop Project 2025.

That's what makes satire and parodies necessary and this is a fun little gem of a book that certainly does its job.

The main character, Donald, is the president of Fishbowl Motors. He spends his days trying to sell pre-owned luxury cars because they're made here in America and he wants nothing more than loads of money and to make America great again.

Unfortunately, he's not so great at his job and his VP of the company, Mike, let's him know just how close they are to bankruptcy. This doesn't faze him in the slightest because he has a plan, the best plan, to get them back on track. He's always on the hunt for the next big win as he races around NYC trying to make it all happen.

But of course it won't, because he's an idiot and has no idea what he's doing. Sound familiar?

This was definitely a fun way to spend a couple hours, though it was also anxiety-inducing because every word the main character said, I could hear in my head in HIS voice and it just made me so angry because he treated the presidency exactly like one of his many failed businesses and here we are. So, it was also a little stressful. And when he is speaking certain phrases in the book that we've heard trump utter in real life, it definitely adds a big dose of reality. It looks just as silly in text as it sounded when he said it.

The book is written by a father and son team and at no point did the book feel choppy or disjointed. Sometimes that can happen with more than one author, but was not the case here.

There is a lot of clever dialogue that will have you chuckling. He's just so obnoxious and ridiculous and over the top, and then you remember that he is exactly the same in real life, so it doesn't seem so over the top after all. No one really needs to do anything to make him look like a moron, he does that for himself just fine every time he opens his mouth. The authors do a fantastic job using his dialogue and inner thoughts throughout to showcase this.

I liked seeing Donnie get what he had coming to him, and hopefully we see the same thing happen in November. Definitely recommended for those who are exhausted from this fight, who know it's going to get worse before it gets better, but need a breather to laugh at the absurdity of it all before jumping back into the fight.

NetGalley ARC | Henry VIII's Children: Legitimate and Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Tudor King

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I struggled a bit figuring out to even rate this one. There was definitely some author-bias and she was very pro-Cromwell and all of that came through clearly. Even so, this was a good read.

I think the children of Henry and his many wives are often overlooked, so I always appreciate books that focus on them specifically. Of all, Mary's childhood and teenage years show the most tumult. In the prime of their marriage, Henry was fully committed to the future Mary could have. He worked out deals regarding potential marriages, and the pageantry surrounding her birth indicated that all would be well and more children would come.

They would, of course, but no others would survive born of Catherine and Henry. Others too, with mistresses or wives, but the celebrations since Mary would not be duplicated until Edward came along and Jane had the good fortune to pass before Henry grew tired of her.

The main focus here are the four children officially recognized as Henry's heirs - Mary I, Henry Fitzroy, Elizabeth I and Edward VI. I appreciated Fitzroy's inclusion, and the depth with which the author discussed his life, as she did the lives of his siblings. I feel like so often, Fitzroy is kind of shuffled aside because he was not legitimate, and sometimes people do not realize how close he came to the throne. It's likely that Henry would have changed the rules of succession to see Fitzroy succeed him. But he died young at 17, though older than the others who died young as well - even Edward VI, who only made it to 15. Imagine a whole different Tudor world, potentially without ever seeing the other three take the throne. 

I honestly can not imagine growing up with the constant threat that your life could change on a whim, given Henry's paranoia and cruelty. Mary experienced the trauma most accutely, having been ripped from her mother's arms and never allowed to see each other again, even as Catherine was dying. It does not excuse the executions that took place under Mary's reign, but it certainly explains why she turned out the way she did, trying so hard to grasp onto a world that no longer existed.

The author discusses at length the childhoods of Henry's children. She details the make-up of their households, their teachers and nurses, the locations they lived or traveled to, and amounts of money spent for upkeep. These amounts are especially staggering in some cases when looked at in today's numbers.

Henry knew firsthand the dangers of not having enough sons. He was the spare, not considered for kingship, yet upon Arthur's death Henry's life changed immediately and drastically. Given how much time he suddenly spent with his own father, it is easy to see how he became paranoid over the succession. Henry would have also known of the Pretenders and others' claims to the crown of England. He knew he must have sons to continue the family line, yet over and over stillbirths and miscarriages stole heir after heir.

Despite the main focus being on the four acknowledged children, the author also explores the possible children that Henry never claimed. I have read many books about the Tudors over the years and there are so many varying opinions, yet just enough evidence to tell us exactly...nothing concrete.

It's likely that at least one of Mary Boleyn's children was fathered by Henry, but no record exists to tell us for sure. As for many of the others, I have a hard time believing that Henry really had that many illigitimate children. During the course of his marriage to Catherine, he had an affair with Bessie Blount, Fitzroy's mother. Then likely Mary, and the last few years of his first marriage were spent obsessed with Mary's sister Anne.

Henry was so obsessed, in fact, it is quite possible he would do nothing to risk finally being able to marry her and had no other affairs in that time. That is a rather large chunk of time, but Henry was always childlike in pursuit of something he really wanted when told he could not have it.

It is also curious that, if Henry did have other children with women who were unmarried at the time, why he did not acknowledge and raise them as he did Fitzroy. It's understandable why he did not do this with Mary's second child (if the boy was actually his), because Mary was married at the time and the children, Catherine and Henry, were raised belonging to her husband William. But Fitzroy's mother gave birth to their son, and a few years later was married off. This is also the affair that lasted the longest, something like seven or eight years.

Considering all of this, it is hard to see when Henry would have had time for numerous other affairs and children. I'm not saying there could not be others, I just think the varying claims by different authors make it all seem unlikely because no one can even agree on a number or what constitutes actual evidence. I've seen some authors suggest Henry fathered as many children as four or five others besides those most likely to be his (again, Mary's children). There's simply not enough evidence for this.

All things considered, I still found this a worthwhile read. The attention to detail of their childhoods was fantastic. I also appreciated seeing their stories overlap and how the siblings might have bonded, or not, as they grew under the watchful eye of their larger-than-life father. Mary knew him best, and suffered the most for it. Elizabeth and Edward were close as could be, given living arrangements. I wonder what they all thought of Fitzroy - Mary as having known of him, and the younger two being told of him later, perhaps? Elizabeth was only three when Fitzroy died, and Edward was born after.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | I Know Who You Are

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

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I asbolutely loved I'll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. Her dedication to solving the case was admirable and I wish she could have lived to see the results. For four decades the identity of the Golden State Killer was a mystery but thanks to so many who worked hours on leads and clues, he was finally unmasked as Joseph DeAngelo. He was responsible for dozens of rapes, murders, and robberies and terrorized the cities in which he lived.

I was interested to read this one, then, because the whole investigation fascinates me. Many people had crucial roles in finally figuring out that DeAngelo was responsible for so much trauma and terror.

The author is billed as an amateur but that is a bit misleading. She may have started out by researching her own family history, but that evolved into her becoming one of the top investigators of genetic geneology in the country.

While the title indicates one case, we are actually shown several that the author has worked on over the years. Some have happy endings for families but many do not. GSK is also not her only cold case, and I feel that her work is so important to help bring closure to families.

On the other hand though, we have to consider the expectation of privacy through these geneology sites where so many have submitted samples to. The work the author does is absolutely not covered in the terms of agreement on these sites, which leads to complex arguments about the pros and cons of using them as an investigative tool. It is not nearly as simple as the author makes it out to be and we have to tread very carefully here.

We see the process the author uses for each case as she discusses at length all that goes into it. First there is the need for a usable DNA sample. With that, she also has to search for all kinds of documents such as birth/death/marriage records, obituaries, and more. She works with teams of law enforcement agencies and attorneys to provide as much information as possible.

Given all of this, I should have loved this book. But I didn't and it took me ages to read, hence only three stars. The jumping around in time was frustrating and I think the cases would have been better served by keeping one case per chapter. I get that the GSK case was something bigger than some of the others she worked on, but the writing just felt so chaotic with the jumping around. She weaves around from topic to topic, back and forth in time, and gives plenty of unrelated anecdotes and things from her personal life. These things were distractions and unnecessary.

I also think the issue of privacy needed to be explored more thoroughly. At times it felt like the author was quite dismissive of this expectation if it was for the greater good of crimes being solved. But what about those who have nothing to do with the crimes that don't wish to be found? Her focus is solely solving these cases, which is important work, but for those not wanting to be involved, it is unfair to force them to be.

Overall this would be of interest for those who are captivated by the technology and seeing how it is used in a variety of cases. If you are looking only for more info on the Golden State Killer case and his crimes, you will be underwhelmed.

NetGalley ARC | The Criminal Classes: Who Does Society Fear and Why?

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

This one is hard for me to review and I am not sure why. I liked the chapters dealing with earlier periods much better than more modern times. That will surprise no one, because history is my favorite thing and I chose this one for that aspect as much as the psychological/sociological/social aspects. Even so, it took me a bit longe to read than it should have, because I struggled to keep going through the more modern periods.

The authors begin with those Victorians who pretended to hate the sensationalism but really loved all the sordid details so much. The book then moves through the decades up to the modern drug trade and the violence that comes with it. The authors explore reactions to these crimes, laws enacted to deter them - yet how effective are they, really? They also examine the role of media in crime, the part I found most interesting. The media does an excellent job telling us who we should be afraid of, even if they are completely wrong. The authors also discuss various groups who have been labeled as those 'criminal classes' and it will suprise no one that those targeted are typially young and/or ethnic/racial minorities, because this world sucks.

One strength the book has its use of historical artefacts. I am always partial to books that use the material and show it off in some way. The authors chose well, especially with court records/testimonies, newspaper coverage of the times, etc. Another strength is that it took opportunities to compare real live criminals with their fictional counterparts. I was familiar with some, but not all.

The purpose though, is not simply to list some crimes committed in the last 150-ish years and their punishments. The authors look specifically at who these so-called 'criminal classes' are and why we fear them so much. They also look at how said punishment as evolved, and whether or not these consequences are all that effective in stopping crime.

Recommended.