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The Night Shift

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay is a fast-paced, adventurous murder mystery. There are a lot of characters in this novel. So many that I almost felt I like I needed to take notes to keep track of everyone!

With many interesting characters, and several plot twists to keep readers guessing, The Night Shift is highly entertaining. The novel follows multiple people, each on their own journey to discover the killer.

Who will be the one to solve the crime? Is there only one killer or does this new murder mean a new killer is in town? As our characters try to answer this question, we learn about who they are, and how they came to be involved. Each of our main characters is invested in finding the murderer, each for their own, very different, reasons.

At first, I wasn’t sure I would enjoy this novel. In the first chapter, something about the writing style bothered me. I also generally don’t like books with so many characters, it’s so much work to keep them all straight in my head. However, I was soon hooked and needed to solve the murder myself. Any issues with the writing style and numerous characters were quickly forgotten, and I finished the book within a few days and as many sittings.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an advance copy. All opinions in this review are my own.

When the Stars Go Dark

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

When the Stars Go Dark is an upcoming novel by Paula McLain. This novel, a mystery-thriller, turns in a new direction for McLain and deviates from her previous historical fiction works, The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun.

Ann is running from her life and returns to her past in Mendocino. Upon arrival, she immediately gets entangled in the search to find a teenage girl. As much as she tries not to get involved, Anna feels drawn to the case, and not only because she’s spent the last several years as a detective in San Francisco, specializing in missing persons.

Set in 1993, the novel carefully interweaves Anna’s history with current events—the search for the missing girl—while hinting at what’s happened in Ann’s more recent past. Books that shift between now and past events can be tedious, and I often find I prefer only one part’s storyline. That is not the case here, with the past elements deftly woven in at just the right moments.

Anyone alive in California in 1993 probably remembers the search for missing Polly Klaas. Polly is not the focus of this novel, but her story is intertwined and is, in part, an inspiration for this novel.

This was a quick read for me, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The pacing is excellent and engaging. It reminded me of a true-crime thriller, and while Polly’s kidnapping and murder are not central to our story, I believe the details included are fact-based.

I loved the writing style of this book; the opening paragraphs seemed like poetry more than pose. The pacing is excellent and engaging.

While it does not go into graphic details, child/sexual abuse and murder are central themes of this novel, so you might want to skip if those are hot topics for you. Otherwise, I highly recommend it if you enjoy mystery-thrillers.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Instant Karma

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

I picked this up because I absolutely adore Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series. And guess what? It did not disappoint! While it’s not the greatest book in the universe, I really enjoyed it. That’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it?

It’s cute and endearing if a tad predictable. Great beach read or a good listen for a road trip. Yes, our main character Prudence is self-centered and judgemental, but she wants to be better. In fact, she does try to be better and even learns some life lessons over the course of the plot.

Now, it’s fairly obvious in some places what will happen. The novel follows a fairly standard rom-com narrative with introducing the couple, them finalizing realized what we’ve known all along (they like each other!), some sort of fight/split, and a reunion at the end. Don’t let that spoil it for you!

The things I loved:

  • Prudence learning that her judgemental attitude is not serving her as well as she thought, and her judgments are often wrong and hurtful.
  • The sea rescue!
  • Quint – until I didn’t.
  • The narrator – I listened to the audio version and felt she did a great job.

Things I didn’t love:

  • The obvious way Prudence was doing things wrong, but that was part of her journey, I suppose necessary for the book to happen.
  • The instant karma device – I’m not sure it was necessary, but I guess it worked ok? Also, it would be something kind of cool to have personally, but Prudence just didn’t get it for almost the entire book.

Overall, as mentioned at the start, this is a great beach read, or for any day when you don’t want to read something serious or heavy.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley.com for a free advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Black Wings Beating

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

This YA fantasy book by Alex London pairs falconry and mysticism for a fun, but ultimately unsatisfying adventure. Kylee and her brother Brysen are desperately trying to pay off their dead father’s debts to the Tamirs, the family that lords over the Six Villages. Brysen gets into some trouble, and Kylee is forced to help him get out of it.

With a forgotten language, opposing religious factions, and a strong female lead character—Kylee—this novel started with a lot of promise. It gets bogged down by the spelling of each character’s name; We have Kylee, Brysen, Nyall, Nyck, Vyvian, Yzzat, Dymian…. is there a law in the Six Villages that names must contain the letter Y? While this might be a minor or non-issue for some people, I found it to be very distracting.

Quite a bit of the plot is predictable. There are two big plot twists; one you can see coming from miles away and the other is sort of a let down given the obviousness of the other. I felt it dragged on for a long time, and then it had a bit of a cliff-hanger ending, where to find out how it ultimately ends, you need to read the next book. All in all, I don’t think I liked it enough to read the next book, so it gets 2.5 stars from me.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.