Influence by Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK in exchange for an honest review.

I was a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars back in the day so I was very excited to receive an ARC of this book. Being a fan of books centered around social media, I was keen to see a PLL-style take on it. I think sadly I have outgrown this kind of writing but that doesn't mean it's a bad book.

Let's start with the positives-unlike some of Shepard's other work, this didn't feel derivative of PLL. The characters had distinct problems (one is struggling with sexuality but it hits different beats to Emily's story) and their roles as influencers took the story in a very different direction which was nice. I liked that we only experienced Scarlet through her live vlogs as it broke up chapters nicely and gave her a more unique edge. I couldn't really tell where the story was going to go, and it's a little bit more chill than PLL as well. You're not stressed by these characters being majorly screwed over at every turn.

Now for the negatives. Putting aside the fact that it reads a bit juvenile (very understandable as that is the age group it's aimed at), I found the characters converged a fair bit. They started off quite distinct but as the book went on, I kept getting a little confused as to who was who and what drama they were involved in. This leads me to the next point which is that the climax was very messy. Things were paced well and then all at once, everything started happening and that's when the characters became less distinct and the story sort of fell apart. In particular, I didn't even remember some of the characters involved in the ending which is a bad sign. I suspect this might have been written as a series and then rushed a bit when it was released as a single book (though it still has series potential).

Overall, Influence is a fun read and it has more positives than negatives. If you're part of its target age group, there is a lot to like here and I do enjoy Shepard's writing. Older audiences won't find much to keep them gripped beyond nostalgia, but I can see this taking off in the same way PLL did.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Island by C.L. Taylor

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ Young Adult in exchange for an honest review.

Fun fact: I love books about people trapped somewhere, especially if they're thrillers. I was definitely intrigued by The Island which tells the story of an island holiday gone wrong when six teenagers have their tour guide die and their escape boat sabotaged. Stuck on the island, they seem to be haunted by their worst fears as bad things happen to them one by one.

This book definitely started strong and it has a lot of good qualities that most YA thrillers lack. The characters felt distinct and developed enough for the story they were in, and I was genuinely intrigued by the scenario being set up. It was extremely well-paced and I raced through to find out what was happening and who was behind everything.

I think my main issue is that there were a fair few elements lacking, and I think some of those were down to this being a YA book and some weren't. I didn't find the actual ending to be at all satisfying. It was a cool concept but poorly executed in my opinion. I also felt the stakes weren't quite high enough. It is YA but I read a lot of YA thrillers/horror and most of them have stuff a little more intense than this. I'm not sure if it was the events themselves or just how they were written which I found a bit tame, but it would have been nice to have felt more tension as a reader.

Overall, this is a solid YA thriller with a cool premise and a good execution. It's not perfect but there's a lot to like here and C.L. Taylor is clearly very talented. I definitely recommend it as someone looking for a light low-effort read with strong characters.

Overall Rating:

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Serpent's Tail / Profile Books in exchange for an honest review.

I was really intrigued by all the buzz surrounding this book. The Appeal is a novel told in epistolary form, a thriller presented as a series of emails and other evidence that you must examine as a detective. The plot itself follows the story of a group of people who are putting on a play together when the daughter of one of the families falls ill with cancer. Wanting to try an expensive experimental treatment, the family aim to raise money from the community. Within this context, there are a lot of rivalries and other events which culminate in the murder of one of the characters.

For most of this book, I was utterly hooked. The email style works well (although the downside of an ARC was there were a lot of format issues, which makes it hard for me to talk about the full experience of it) though it does take some getting used to. I really liked that there was a character we never heard from directly and who we could only build a picture of based on what others said to and about her. There were several undercurrents of tension and things which could go wrong, which helped keep me invested and made me very keen to read on.

However, sadly I think this book fell apart at the ending. After about 75% of the way through, you have gotten almost all of the evidence and so the book switches to text messages between the detectives investigating the case. This worked fine at first but quickly became dull to me. I wish the book had made this section much shorter and just revealed the solution because it wasn't fun for me at all to read 5 separate theories, followed by more speculation, followed by more theorizing. It just dragged a lot and it sucked all the joy out of the eventual reveal for me because the tension and momentum had been lost. I also think there were just a few too many characters to keep track of. Three or four of them could have been cut without much being lost, and it would have made for a tighter story.

Having said that, I still immensely enjoyed this book and I think it's a great way to format a thriller. The plot itself is good and, my issues with presentation aside, the ending is satisfying and works well for the story. I love murder mysteries and trying to piece together clues, so I will always appreciate any book which actually attempts to give you decent clues and encourages you to work things out. If the ending format had been different, this could have easily been a 5 star read for me.

Overall Rating:

.5

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

There is a bit of a trend towards social media thrillers and it's a trend I am all for. Something about these books draws me in and, for the moment at least, I find them generally new and interesting. Sadly People Like Her was a bit of a mixed bag.

The plot is focused around three characters: our influencer Emmy, her husband Dan and a mysterious third presence who is both stalking Emmy and hates her for some past transgression. This is a decent enough set up but somewhere, the plot just loses its momentum. It felt like it took me a long time to get through this book even though I was reading it relatively quickly. There just wasn't much happening for the thriller aspect, and I found Emmy and Dan's day-to-day problems not compelling enough to carry the story.

I will say, I did like how Emmy being an influencer was explored in this story. I felt she was both extremely mercenary and also still sympathetic to an extent, and it made for an interesting dissection of the darker side of being an influencer. She was an interesting character if not always a likeable one, and while there wasn't enough to carry the whole plot, I do think she was a good character to center a story around. It would have been nice to see how she dealt with more direct pressure if she had encountered her stalker or the idea of them earlier on.

Overall, People Like Her is a decent thriller but one that just falls a bit short for me. Ultimately the elements didn't quite come together and therefore the climax felt unearned and disjointed from the rest of the story. However, there was still a lot to like here and it does have some interesting points to make. If you like social media thrillers, it's worth giving a go.

Overall Rating:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, I was a little afraid to read this book. Fantasy isn't hugely my genre but I have loved Schwab's writing in the past and the hype for this book was real. Thankfully I was utterly enchanted by The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. This is a romance with a fantasy set up, with the premise being our main character Addie is immortal due to a deal she made with some kind of devil/demon figure long ago. Now she will never age nor die, but she can also never be remembered or leave a lasting mark on the world. Much of the book focuses on her past life and the unique relationship she has with the devil/demon figure, but in the modern day she meets a man who is able to remember her and quickly falls in love.

As I already hinted at, this was much more of a romance than I expected which I am glad of as I'm not the biggest fan of historical fiction. Having said that, I really enjoyed the passages set in the past and Addie was a compelling character so it was good to have so much focus on her. If you enjoy dreamy, slow-paced character explorations then this is definitely the book for you. It did take me a long time to read as it is slow-paced and quite long, but it never felt like a slog or a chore to get through. For a genre of book I don't normally reach for, I was very enchanted.

Overall, I have to join the legions of people singing this book's praise. It is beautifully written, full of heart and manages to be quite unique despite the topic of immortality being nothing new. I fell completely in love with Addie and her story, and I know this is a book which will stay with me for a long time.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Books (UK) in exchange for an honest review.

The Thursday Murder Club is essentially about a group of elderly people who get together to try and solve unsolved crimes, but get tangled up in a more recent case when someone is murdered in their community. It's really hard for me to sum up how I feel about this book, mainly because I find its strengths and weaknesses to largely be the same. For this reason, I'm going to deviate from my normal review format and make a list of talking points:

1. Characters-I really liked the characters of this book and I think its one of the features that is a definite strength. At first a lot of them blended together but as the story went on, I really grew attached and began to appreciate them. They are definitely the heart of the story and they're the main reason I would read more in this series.

2. Writing-Overall, I think I did like the writing of this book. I have several features I will talk about in more detail but the writing style itself was enjoyable and reasonably engaging. The plot was less so and I didn't really care for the mystery which was a bit of a shame. I just can't get very invested in criminal organisations and financial scandals, and I wish the mystery had had more of a personal element as the characters were the best part of the book and it would have been a much stronger drive in my opinion.

3. Punchlines-Speaking of writing, this book had a very weird feature whereby a 'punchline' would occur in the middle of a paragraph. For example, at one point the young female detective is on a date she isn't enjoying. You get a long list of reasons why the man is awful, and then a sentence begins with (paraphrased) 'she got out of his bed and got dressed', implying she slept with him anyway. I assume this was done for humour but it doesn't occur at the end of a scene or paragraph, but is instead just dropped in the middle. This happens a lot and sometimes it seems like it might be trying to be character development, but these punchlines were rarely brought up again and they just fell a bit flat for me. They could have been good ways to end scenes but in the middle of them, they just felt distracting.

4. Names-This is the thing that annoyed me the most about the whole book. Every single character will constantly end a sentence with the name of the person they are speaking to. For example:

A: Did you see the body B?

B: Yes I did A

A: Awful isn't it B?

Etc. My partner suggested this was to replicate how older people talk but I swear the younger characters did it too and I just found it incredibly annoying. I eventually got used to it but it was very distracting at first.

5. Ending-Highlight for spoilers. So at the end of the book, we have three bodies. These three bodies have all been murdered by different people. Two other people also pretend to have killed one of the bodies and confess to it. The problem is that all of these reveals follow each other (in different scenes but presented narratively after each other) which makes for an exhausting experience. I have already said I struggled to care about the mystery but I genuinely switched off by the third confession and had lost all interest in what actually happened. This section I do feel could have worked and was let down by bad writing/plotting/execution.

Overall, this review might appear quite negative but I do actually have fond memories of this book. I would definitely read more of these characters and I think it has real promise as a series, I just wish some little niggles could be ironed out. With a strong mystery plot though, this book would 100% be one of my favourites. It's a shame this one fell a bit flat but I am cautiously optimistic for more.

Overall Rating:

.5

Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret by this point that I like my romance setups as ridiculous and as needlessly convoluted as possible. I adored the idea of someone going on 12 dates over the festive period having been matched up with people on an app, and on that front this book didn't really disappoint. I also quite liked the protagonist and thought she was both relatable and likeable. It was refreshing to see her having quite open and relaxed romantic attitudes towards dating several people (well, for a romance book anyway) and I like that she didn't get punished by the narrative for these views.

Sadly, that's most of the praise I can give this book. From the start, it is painfully obvious what direction this book is going to go. Even with the attempts at misdirection, I knew almost instantly who the protagonist would end up with and I was right. This takes away a lot of the fun and potential suspense from the dates and the story as a result. There is a lot of good Christmas imagery and events which happen here, but the dates themselves take a backseat to the other things going on in the main character's life and that was a shame.

My other main criticism was the writing. It did settle down but initially every character is described in semi-flowery detail and it really bothered me. Love interests should absolutely be described in an attractive or interesting way, but it was extended to every person she met pretty much, at least in the initial quarter or so. It did decrease which helped but it almost made me put the book down which is not a good sign.

Overall, there isn't anything major wrong with this book but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I'd hoped to. The predictable plot and subsequent lack of tension just made me switch off whilst reading it. Romance books don't need suspense to keep me interested but then I want time devoted to the actual romance, rather than a last-minute obvious hookup. If you want a light Christmas read then this won't do any harm but there are also better ones out there.

Overall Rating:

.5

Make the Yuletide Gay by Ivy L. James

 

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this was 100% the fluffy queer festive story I was hoping for! Make the Yuletide Gay is the story of Grace Taylor and her boss Nicola who end up spending Christmas together when a literary conference is scheduled over the holiday season. The hitch? Both Grace and Nicola have secret crushes on each other. Things get more heated when they are forced to share a room (an oldie but a goodie) and you can pretty much guess where things go from here.

I really loved this book. It's very short and hits a lot of typical romance beats, but this is by no means a bad thing. I liked both Grace and Nicola and found them interesting and developed enough for the length of the story. The Christmas backdrop was great and led to a lot of cute conversations and lovely Christmas imagery.

There are some triggers warnings for abuse at the start of the book and this is related to Nicola's past, but it is discussed in minor detail and isn't too intense for the kind of feel-good read this is. Do be aware that it is brought up though. There are also graphic sex scenes, and a slight power imbalance/age difference (boss/assistant, 8 years) although both main characters are in their 30s and are consenting adults. It didn't bother me at all but it's worth mentioning in case you're not into that.

Overall, I wanted a cute holiday romance about lesbians and that is exactly what I got. There is real heart here though and it was the perfect queer read to get me in the mood for Christmas. If you want a nice cheerful romance then I definitely recommend giving this a try.

Overall Rating:

In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher NineStar Press, LLC in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely on the cosier side of cosy mystery. In the Winter Woods is the story of Declan, a mystery writer who gets caught up in a real murder investigation when he goes to a wintery cabin in an attempt to write a new book. Soon he also starts to fall for the local commissioner but must clear his own name before they can date.

This book was a very easy and quick read, with some nice winter scenes and some good characters. I think its main flaw is that it commits to neither the mystery aspect nor the romance aspect. I would not mind at all if one ended up being neglected for the other, but unfortunately in this case neither is really developed and the book suffers for it. I never really had a sense of fear or tension, nor did I swoon over the characters getting to know each other. It's a shame because this has such potential and I loved the idea of it. But it was hard for me to see why the characters were actually falling for each other at all beyond initial attraction.

Having said that, if you're looking for some easy-going and queer to read over the holidays, this isn't a bad option. I would love to see more books like this and I did enjoy reading it, even if it might not stay in my mind for very long.

Overall Rating:

Christmas Evil by Mark L'Estrange

 

Pretty disappointed with this on the whole. It wasn't awful but there were three key things which stopped me enjoying it as much as I could:

1. Too many exclamation marks! Writers should use these very rarely and it felt like every story had at least five. They were unnecessary and became very annoying to me

2. The stories followed a pattern of 'x goes somewhere, encounters weird people, weird people or x end up being a secret monster'. This wasn't every story but it was a huge chunk of them and it became very repetitive

3. Finally, one of the stories had a weird scene where some lesbians pretend to be straight to make a guy buy them expensive champagne, then mock him and make out in front of him. This added nothing to the story and just alienated me as a reader because it was presented as such a typical thing to happen and like, people don't do that?? The sexual content wasn't huge in this horror collection and certainly not compared to some others I've read, but sometimes it cropped up in weird ways (like a young boy looking up the skirt of a young girl, again for no reason) and it was always distracting when it did. I have nothing against sexual content but it has to add something and not just be a confusing aside

Overall, there are far worse horror collections out there but I still feel this needed a good editor to clean it up.

Overall Rating:

Little Bones by N V Peacock

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Little Bones is a thriller with a lot of elements. At its core, it's the story of Cherry, a woman who is the daughter of a famous serial killer, Mr. Bones. When a child in her local area goes missing, a new podcast accuses her of being involved. Next her own son vanishes and she must deal with trying to find out what's happened to him whilst also being accused of murdering him herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. Ordinarily I don't like missing children books, and I wouldn't actually have requested this ARC if I'd known the main character's child also went missing (this happens very early on but is absent from the blurb). Having said that, this completely won me over by the end. Cherry was a fantastically complex protagonist and I loved it when the book focused on her childhood with her serial killer father and how it had affected her as an adult. These moments were infrequent but fantastic when they happened.

The main strength of this thriller is it manages to be interesting, which sounds like a low bar but honestly it does it so well. There are plenty of characters and what's more, they have a role in the narrative beyond 'potential suspect'. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller but it has a solid story and you feel like Cherry is a real person acting mostly reasonable (she still makes the odd thriller protagonist mistake but I can forgive her for that). I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I found the eventual ending satisfying. It does go on a bit after the ending but that might have been due to me being more used to written thrillers which I can read faster than listening.

Speaking of the audiobook, I was pretty pleased with the narrator. I liked the different voices and it made it really easy to follow what was going on, even whilst doing other tasks. I have two minor gripes: firstly, the voice for Mr. Bones was a little annoying just because it was so gruff and the use of 'mon cherie' was so repetitive. I also found it very annoying to listen to the phrase 'Little Bones' so many times, though this is a fault of the author and not the narrator. I couldn't help thinking it would make a fantastic drinking game.

Overall, this is a solid and entertaining thriller and definitely worth the listen/read if you're a fan of the genre. Just be aware that it is a missing child story primarily as I feel this aspect is hidden somewhat (at least, the fact the main character also loses her child is hidden) and the blurb does suggest more of a focus on the unreliable narrator angle which isn't a big part of it. But I thoroughly enjoyed Little Bones and would strongly suggest checking it out.

Overall Rating:

Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good themed horror book. The sound of a Christmas horror set in an 80s office was too good to resist. Alas, Secret Santa feels very mismarketed to me. This isn't really a horror book, at least not in the way it's implied to be. Secret Santa tells the story of Lussi, a woman who gets a job at a publishing office after the boss dies. Soon after, she receives a cursed object in the company's secret santa exchange. The blurb says that 'Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie,' but that simply doesn't happen. One coworker dies quite gruesomely but it's not really a slew of slasher kills. Instead we get a weird cult plot and a lot of scenes of Lussi going around, trying to get clues.

I will say, I did really like Lussi as a protagonist. She was smart, interesting and I cared about her life. She was probably my favourite part of the book and I wish she'd been put in a more interesting plot. I also liked the elements of the publishing world and I thought these created potential for a good story. Sadly the book also moves away from the office atmosphere a fair bit, and I never really felt like her coworkers mattered much in the grand scheme of things.

If this book had been marketed as a crime noir or something similar, I think it would have better luck reaching an audience who might appreciate it. As it is, I lost interest as soon as I realised this wasn't going to be the kind of book I thought I was going to get based off the cover and blurb. I don't tend to judge books based off my expectations but in this case, it does feel like I was deliberately misled. I will say the author has huge potential though and if you like how this book does sound from my description, then definitely check it out. Just make sure you know what kind of book you will be reading.

Overall Rating:

Silent Night by Nell Pattison

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins Audio UK in exchange for an honest review.

Had I realised this was a police procedural type book, I probably wouldn't have requested it. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by Silent Night. Paige is a deaf interpreter hired by the police to help out when a student and teacher go missing at a school for the deaf. When the teacher is found dead, the hunt for the student intensifies but with both students and staff keeping secrets, this is definitely not a clear cut case.

There was a lot going on in this book in a good way and having the main character being an interpreter did add a nice spin on the usual detective story. I liked the main character on the whole and I thought her past and life added to the plot greatly which isn't always the case with these thrillers. In particular, her relationships with her sister and her ex were some of my favourite parts of the book, and they really drove the emotional core of the story.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I would definitely recommend it this way. The main narrator was great and easy to listen to. There was an additional deaf narrator brought in to narrate some chapters from a student's point of view, something which is fantastic in concept but I feel isn't executed well. Those chapters are simply not very clear and I really struggled to make out what was happening in them. I don't think this is the fault of the narrator but more to do with the way it was recorded/produced as it mostly seems to be a volume issue, at least for me. It's a shame because it really added to the tone of the book and I think it's a fantastic decision representation-wise.

Overall, Silent Night is an engaging police procedural thriller with a unique and interesting setting. There is a lot of meat to the plot but it never feels confusing, and the strong relationship with the characters keeps you invested throughout. I would definitely recommend giving it a try and if you like police procedurals, I'm sure you will love this more than I do.

Overall Rating:

.5