May Wrap-Up 2019

Better late than never right? Lol. I thought I was never going to get to this post. But here we are. I’m super excited to say that I read EIGHT books in the month of May. That’s a first in a very long time. For today’s post, I’ll be talking about books I read, books I acquired, and things I watched. All book titles will link you to Goodreads.

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What I Read

 

1. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James ★★★★★
   A mystery thriller novel set in a boarding school in Vermont. This book is written within two different perspectives/timelines, 1950 and 2014. One of my favorite reads with a small paranormal element. I have a mini review here.
2. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides ★★★★★
   A mystery thriller novel about a woman who lives a normal life and one day out of the blue she kills her husband and goes mute. Never to speak again. Till a psychotherapist is convinved that he can change that circumstance around and unravel the truth. Mini review here.
3. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren ★★★
   A contemporary romance about second chances and finding forgiveness. Another book with two timelines from the time the main characters are teenagers to present day adulthood. Mini review here.
4. No Exit by Taylor Adams ★★★
   A mystery thriller novel about a young woman who is on her way to see her dying mother but she gets caught up in a blizzard and has to go to a rest stop till weather conditions permit her to drive. However, in the rest stop, she sees a little girl locked in an animal crate and now the stakes are high. Mini review here.
5. Sadie by Courtney Summers ★★★★★
   A YA mystery novel about a girl named Sadie who takes matters into her own hands to avenge her sisters death. However, a radio personality hears about the story at a gas station and decides to follow Sadie’s journey because she’s missing. Told through Sadie’s POV and podcast, best to listen through audiobook. Mini review here.
6. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton ★★★★★
   A contemporary historical fiction romance novel based in 1958 and present day about a grandmother and a granddaughter. When the grandmother dies, the granddaughter is to lay her grandmothers ashes in Cuba. However, the trip will reveal a lot of deep secrets about the exiled Perez family. Mini review of my favorite read here.
7. Drowned in Milk Tea by Anne Chivon ★★★★★
   My best friend sent me an ARC of her chapbook filled with beautiful poems about the good and bad of love, dealing with loss, and the memories. I will have a review up on release day, June 21st.
8. The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient #2) by Helen Hoang ★★.5
   A contemporary romance about an Autistic man whose mom decides to take his love life into her own hands and flies to Vietnam to find him a bride. Finding someone, she moves in and things take off. Mini review here.

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Books Acquired

I got my second Book of The Month box filled with three books this time around. And I am happy to state that all three books were read! I feel like I’ve been doing really well with buying books and reading them as soon as I get them. It helps with not losing interest and then it sitting on my shelf for god knows how long.

If you’re ever interested in Book of The Month check out my referral link. I do not get any compensation. But the referral link gets you a free book credit and a free book for myself too. Also! Just an FYI, they only ship to USA.

 

 

 

 

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What I Watched

• FIRST OF ALL, THAT GAME OF THRONES FINALE WAS TRASH. UTTER TRASH. THAT IS IT.
• I finally finished season two of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and honestly, I found it kind of boring. However, I understand there was a lot of buildup for season 3 and will keep watching. I think season 3 will be very good. I did like the little plot twists and new characters.
• And finally, I watched a childhood movie, Aladdin, with my brother and mami!!!! OMG we loved it so much and thought it was a great adaptation.

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And that is all for today! This May Wrap-Up was better late than never. Hope your June is going well.

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Ink and Bone Non-Spoiler Review

Title: Ink and Bone (#5)
Series: The Hollows
Author: Lisa Unger
Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal
Publisher: Gallery Books
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Pub. Date: June 7, 2016

Synopsis:
In this explosive psychological thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger, a young woman’s mysterious gift forces her into the middle of a dangerous investigation of a little girl’s disappearance.

For as long as she can remember, twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery has been able to see into the future. She dreams about events before they occur and sees beyond the physical world, unconsciously using her power to make supernatural things happen.

But Finley can’t control these powers—and there’s only one person who can help. So Finley moves to The Hollows, a small town in upstate New York where her grandmother lives, a renowned seer who can finally teach Finley how to use her gift.

A gift that is proving to be both a blessing and a curse, as Finley lands in the middle of a dangerous investigation involving a young girl who has been missing for ten months and the police have all but given up hope.

With time running out there’s only so much Finley can do as The Hollows begins to reveal its true colors. As she digs deeper into the town and its endless layers, nothing is what it seems. But one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what.

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Main character, Finley Montgomery, can see into the future since a child and needs help. However, the only person who can help Finley lives across the country. So Finley packs her stuff and moves in with her grandmother, Eloise Montgomery, to The Hollows, NY. Finley’s grandmother is a seer and she can teach Finley about her gift. Not only is Eloise a seer, she sometimes helps Detective Jones Cooper with his private investigations. This time though, when a young girl goes missing and things start unraveling, The Hollows demands help from Finley. Jones and Finley team up. Following different perspectives from Finley and the parents of the missing girl, things slowly come together and the truth will reveal what happens next.

This is my first Lisa Unger book and honestly I’m kind of mad that I didn’t read the other books in this series before. Simply because I felt like there were things mentioned that I didn’t understand. For example, the story of PI Jones Cooper, we meet a character who makes a reference to Eloise helping him before and I just didn’t get it, etc. etc. Maybe if I would’ve read those books, then my enjoyment of this book wouldn’t have felt so empty.

Lisa Unger’s writing style is simple, easy to read. She wrote this Thriller in the way I love to read Thrillers: with different perspectives till it all comes together in the end. We have Finley’s and Merrie’s (the missing girl’s mom) perspectives. In some chapters with Merrie we even jump back to before the investigation and learn how everything came to be with her daughter missing.

The reason why I gave this book a 4 star is because of the pacing. I thought it dragged out more than it should. At some point I said “I don’t care about their past anymore, can we just get into the investigation already?” I was already past the 70% mark and when we did get into the important parts, the author still added parts of the characters background that I thought weren’t necessary during the climax.

I loved the paranormal elements of this book. It felt natural and not something extra. I loved how the author weaved all of that in together perfectly.

I usually add a character section to my non-spoiler reviews. However, I’ll put it simply: I liked them all. I really enjoyed Finley’s character arc. Her independence, her strength but still loving and caring. I loved the grandmother, Eloise, she definitely had all those grandmotherly vibes and always gave out words of wisdom. Merrie and Wolf (husband) were the typical dysfunctional couple and I liked how Lisa Unger wrote them out.

Overall, I did like this book and plan on reading more books from this author. I liked the dark tone of this book and the author really knows how to set the vibe. I was always transported to this world when I opened the book and was kept interested the whole time regardless of the problem I had with it. I would recommend this book for sure!

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So far I feel like I’m doing good with tackling my “books I would like to read this year” TBR. I know I’m super late to the Lisa Unger bandwagon, any other books you would recommend by her? What are your favorite mystery/thrillers?

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My First Book of the Month Subscription Box!

Hey everyone! Hope you’re doing well and if not, then I send you loads of love and peace! Today’s post is all about my first ever subscription box to Book of the Month. I know I’m probably super late to the game here but I AM SO EXCITED!! Since I don’t read YA pretty much anymore and I want to get into more Adult books, I thought this would be the perfect way to get into it. And shout out to my Twin, Lilly over at Lair of Books, for pushing me to do this! I feel like this was a really good decision and I also get to treat myself every month one way or the other with a book. Plus, if I don’t like the books they are offering for the month, I can skip it! Love the variety of this box and the books they have to offer. Wow this sounds sponsored af lol!

 

There were different books to chose from and they all sound great. However I decided to choose a debut mystery thriller novel, Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. The synopsis can be found below! This box came with a book mark and a welcome booklet. The book comes wrapped so no worries about it getting destroyed!

 

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Synopsis:

A literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her eight-year-old autistic son

My husband asked me to lie. Not a big lie. He probably didn’t even consider it a lie, and neither did I, at first . . .

In the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.

Who or what caused the explosion? Was it the mother of one of the patients, who claimed to be sick that day but was smoking down by the creek? Or was it Young and Pak themselves, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night—trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges—as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and sacrifice.

Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek is a thoroughly contemporary take on the courtroom drama, drawing on the author’s own life as a Korean immigrant, former trial lawyer, and mother of a real-life “submarine” patient. An addictive debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng, Miracle Creek is both a twisty page-turner and a deeply moving story about the way inconsequential lies and secrets can add up—with tragic consequences.

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There’s currently a giveaway going on for this book on Goodreads! What subscription boxes are you into? How does this book sound? Let’s chat in the comments!

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