Title: All Systems Red
Author: Martha Wells
Format: hardcover
Length: 171 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Publication: 2017
Challenges: Library Love, HRCYED 2.0
Review: Funny sci-fi books aren’t normally my thing, but I’ve been hearing lots of buzz about this books for awhile now and figured I’d give it a try. I liked it. It was a fun ride. I will probably read the next book in the series. And eventually get to the TV show lol.
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Title: The Wife Deserved It
Author: Darby Kane
Format: eBook
Length: 115 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: October 21, 2025
Challenges: COYER, NetGalley/Edelweiss
Synopsis: Darby Kane, author of #1 international bestseller Pretty Little Wife, delivers an unputdownable domestic thriller novella in which a man has laid the foundation for the perfect murder… or so he thinks.
Reid Cavanagh is done with his marriage. He wants out. He wants the kids. He wants his wife to shut up. He wants the legal fees to stop. He wants peace.
His wife has to die.
Reid is a smart guy. He has a plan to make it happen. He’s studied. He’s been in the chatrooms. He’s heard other men’s stories. He’s learned from their mistakes. He’s ready. His alibi is in place. He has the weapon. Nothing, none of this, will trace back to him. He can do the deed and move on.
Unfortunately for Reid, she’s ready for him.
Review: This fast-paced thriller was so freaking good! I loved the different POVs from each character. It’s exactly what the story needed. I am always wanting more from novellas… like if it was just a little bit longer, lol!
I received a complimentary e-copy through Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse.
Title: The Picasso Heist
Author: James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Format: Paperback
Length: 372 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Publication Date: October 13, 2025
Challenges:
Review: I loved the pacing of this book… short chapters, lots of cliffhangers, and little lulls with practically no filler. The world building of the art world, auction houses, fashion, crime bosses, and high society are all vividly depicted in this book. The twists were cleverly done. Not all totally predictable, and the resolution ties many threads together in satisfying ways.
It was a little hard to keep track of all the conspiracies and the competing subplot, but overall didn’t ruin anything for me.
This book is for fans of heist stories, thrillers, and strong leads with emotional as well as tactical stakes. It’s bold, clever, fast‑paced, and satisfying. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary paperback copy. Thank you to Little, Brown for allowing me to read this book. #JamesPattersonStreetTeam
Title: Too Close To Home
Author: Seraphina Nova Glass
Format: eBook
Length: 304
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: April 14, 2026
Review: I enjoyed this book! The short, fast paced chapters made it a book that I could fly through. I even stayed up way past my bedtime because I could not put this book down. At some points in the story you had to stretch your imagination a little bit, but overall a great read from Seraphina Nova Glass.
Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse, the author, HTP Books and Park Row for allowing me to read this ARC through Netgalley.
I was sent a complimentary ebook through Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse.
Title: The Chateau
Author: Avery Bishop
Narrator: Christine Lakin
Format: Audiobook
Length: 7 hours 32 minutes
Rating: 3.5 stars
Publication Date: August 21, 2025
Challenges: Audiobook, COYER
Review: I was really into this story for most of the book, but once the reveal showed itself it started to lose me. By the end I was just wanting the book to be over. I’m fine with an unreliable narrator but the last two hours of this audiobook was a struggle to get through. I gave it a little more than an average rating because I like how the story started off with the police interviewing guests at the resort and you’re trying to figure out what happened and what’s going on.
I did enjoy the narrator, Christine Lakin. She did a great job!
I was sent a complimentary audiobook through Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse.
Title: The Wasp Trap
Author: Mark Edwards
Format: eBook
Length: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 16, 2025
Challenges: COYER, Netgalley/Edelweiss
Synopsis: A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game, as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets…or else.
Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing.
But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game when the old friends find themselves held at gunpoint. They are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one.
It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out psychopaths: The Wasp Trap. This and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight.
Review: I thought the beginning of this story started off slow, but it was really laying down groundwork for later in the plot. The story goes between the present and the summer of 1999, where the group of friends met to work for a start up company for a website to find love on the internet. Of course the twists were twisting, and I did not see the ending coming (I feel like I should of, but I was looking the other way lol). Overall, I would recommend this book to all my friends who enjoy locked room thrillers.
I received a complimentary e-copy. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC through Edelweiss.
Last year I went out of my comfort zone and chose a book with an interesting cover that is not in my usual genre for a Macmillan Audio Influencer pick. I ended up liking the story (I think it needed to be a little longer, to really get in depth with the characters).
Now I chose the second book in the series as last month’s Macmillan Audio pick. I plan to listen to it before the end of the month!
Synopsis for When Among Crows:
When Among Crows is swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear.
We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.
Pain is Dymitr’s calling. His family is one in a long line of hunters who sacrifice their souls to slay monsters. Now he’s tasked with a deadly mission: find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To reach her, Dymitr must ally with the ones he’s sworn to kill.
Pain is Ala’s inheritance. A fear-eating zmora with little left to lose, Ala awaits death from the curse she carries. When Dymitr offers her a cure in exchange for her help, she has no choice but to agree.
Together they must fight against time and the wrath of the Chicago underworld. But Dymitr’s secrets—and his true motives—may be the thing that actually destroys them.
Synopsis for To Clutch A Razor:
A funeral. A heist. A mission born of desperation.
When someone in Dymitr’s family dies, he’s called back home for the Empty Night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay.
The secret Dymitr is keeping from them makes returning home downright dangerous, but if he wants to get his hands on a book of curses that might appease Baba Jaga’s blood lust, he has no choice. And when that same funeral brings ferocious creature-of-legend Niko to town for his own bloody purposes, Dymitr’s charade becomes impossible to maintain.
Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr’s might just be fatal.
I received both of these audiobooks through Macmillan Audio Influencer Program.
Title: The Memory Collectors
Author: Dete Meserve
Format: audiobook
Length: 8 hours 51 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: May 20,2025
Challenges: COYER, Library Love
Review: I can absolutely get behind a sci-fi time traveling story! I love different takes on time traveling and the current time line we are all living in. I enjoyed how you could slowly see how the characters stories intertwined as they were navigating their past.
This audiobook has multiple narrators, which was absolutely stellar! It really helped separate which character was which while listening to the story. All of them did a fabulous job! Every single narrator of this story REALLY made me get into this book. They felt like they were real people and not characters within a book.
This book is written by a Jewish author.
I borrowed this book through Libby.
Title: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer
Author: Ragnar Jónasson
Narrator: Cicely Whitehead, Jane Slavin, Rufus Wright
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 283 pages / 5 hours 54 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 9, 2025
Challenges: Audiobook, COYER, HRCYED 2.0, NetGalley
Review: We get to meet up with Helgi Reykdal again, as he solves the case of a missing crime writer named Elín S. Jónsdóttir. As Helgi interviews the people closest to her (a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge) he realizes that Elín’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than the fiction she wrote. I was totally invested in this story and could not believe the ending!
If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie type books, with a Nordic flair, this one is for you!
I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to Sara Beth at St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC via Netgalley widget, and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC.
Title: Death At The Sanatorium
Author: Ragnar Jónasson
Narrator: Sam Woolf
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 279 pages / 6 hours 42 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, HRCYED 2.0, Mount TBR, NetGalley
Review: Ragnar Jónasson’s love for Agatha Christie shows in all of his work. This book was a rather good representation of that. It was all slowly building up to who the murder was at the very end. I enjoyed getting to know Helgi also. Another Christie-like detective you are rooting for.
I will recommend this to all my friends who enjoy mystery novels.
I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to Sara Beth at St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC via Netgalley widget, and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC.
Challenges: Amazon First Reads Backlog, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Read For The Stars
Review: Victor Methos is becoming one of my favorite authors! His writing style is smooth and all of his stories flow easily, which helps move the story along at such a good pace where absolutely nothing feels forced. His characters are genuine and feel like real people you can relate to and root for throughout the whole series.
I received The Secret Witness as a First Reads choice in 2022. I redeemed a gift card to acquire The Grave Singer and The Deceiving Look earlier this year.
Title: Salem’s Fall
Author: Rektok Ross
Format: eBook
Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Rating: My review is up on Storygraph
Challenges: COYER, Netgalley/Edelweiss
A hotshot young attorney. An enigmatic billionaire accused of murder. To uncover the truth, she’ll have to play his game—and try not to fall in love with the devil.
The Silence of the Lambs meets Labyrinth in this dangerously addictive blend of twisty psychological thriller, legal suspense, and gothic dark romance—perfect for fans of Verity, Haunting Adeline, and The Housemaid.
I received a complimentary e-copy. Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse for allowing me to read this ARC through NetGalley.
Title: Kill Your Darlings
Author: Peter Swanson
Format: Hardcover Book
Length: 272 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Challenges:
Review: This may be the DULLEST book I’ve ever read in my entire life. I forced myself through this entire book!
The concept of the story being told backwards was intriguing and this is why I wanted to read the book. The whole middle of the book was so slow and seemed to not have any meaning to the plot.
I’m normally a Peter Swanson fan, and this one did not hit!
I received a hardcover copy in the mail for free from HarperCollins.
Title: Things We Do In The Dark
Author: Jennifer Hillier
Narrator: Carla Vega
Format: Audiobook
Length: 12 hours 21 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: July 19, 2022
Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Library Love, Virtual Mount
Review: I literally have no words on how great this book was. Dark and tragic! Jennifer Hillier is a great author and I need to read more of her books!
PLEASE CHECK THOSE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING/LISTENING TO THIS BOOK
I borrowed this audiobook from Libby.
Title: My Lovely Wife
Author: Samantha Downing
Narrator: David Pittu
Format: Audiobook
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: March 26, 2019
Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Library Love, Virtual Mount
Review: I like that the book is told from the husband’s point of view. It made the whole ending part of the plot great! The kids were on my nerves, but that’s probably because they were teenagers lol.
Overall, great debut book from Samantha Downing!
I borrowed this audiobook from Libby.
Title: Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Author: Cassandra Khaw
Narrator: Suehyla El-Attar
Format: Audiobook
Length: 2 hours 32 minutes
Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: October 19, 2021
Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Library Love, Virtual Mount
Review: This book definitely gave creepy vibes, but I thought it was entirely too short. Everything in the plot felt rushed.
I borrowed this audiobook from Libby.
Title: We Used To Live Here
Author: Marcus Kliewer
Narrator: Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Corey Brill
Format: Audiobook
Length: 9 hours 52 minutes
Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Library Love, Virtual Mount
Review: I wanted to like this book more, but most of it felt repetitive and could of been shorter. I felt my mind wandering a couple of times. The end was what I thought was going on, so this gets an average rating from me.
I did like both of the narrators.
I borrowed this audiobook from Libby.
Title: Falling For Them
Author: Calista Jayne
Format: eBook
Length: 250 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Publication Date: May 17, 2022
Challenges: COYER, Thrifty Thursday
Review: I am looking for more MFM trope books, so when I find one I scoop it up. I found this one through the free section on Bookbub a few years ago. The backstory on these characters was not doing it for me, and I skimmed most of the book just to see how it all ended. It ended on a cliffhanger, but I will not be continuing the series.
I found this book for free through Bookbub’s free ebook tab.
Title: Abscond
Author: Abraham Verghese
Format: eBook
Length: 39 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Challenges: COYER
Review: This was a short story I got for free from Amazon First Reads. This type of book isn’t my normal genre, but the book takes place in New Jersey and felt the need to read it. I wouldn’t call it heart-warming, but there were life lessons to learn from Ravi. I’d recommend it to my friends who are into this genre.
I chose this book as a First Reads bonus book.
Title: Good Neighbors
Author: Chad Zunker
Narrator: Amara Jasper
Format: Audiobook
Length: 1 hours 4 minutes
Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: June 2, 2025
Challenges: Audiobook, Virtual Mount
Review: I have read Chad Zunker before and enjoyed his books. This one felt like it needed to be just a little bit longer for the twist to really hit. Felt like you could see it coming a mile away and that’s no fun.
I borrowed this audiobook from Prime Reading.
