Guilty Women by Melanie Blake

 

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

In 2021, I reviewed the first book of this series Ruthless Women and marked it down for transphobia. Well, I am pleased to report that the author does some major course correction in this one. Is it entirely perfect? No, but I have respect for someone who listens to feedback and does their best.

Guilty Women is a continuation of the previous book and is best described as a soap opera come to life which also happens to take place on the set of a soap opera. I enjoyed the fun ridiculousness of the first book and I mostly enjoyed the fun ridiculousness of this one. The melodrama is toned down considerably and this is both a blessing and a curse. The characters definitely feel more real and there is an emotionality to them that didn't fully exist in the first book. On the other hand, it's a little less fun and in fact contains some quite graphic depictions of sexual assault which was a bit jarring tone-wise.

My main issue with this book however is that there is simply too much going on. I feel that many of the storylines/plot threads were not utilised or connected fully. The best example for me was the Katherine/Lee storyline. Katherine's past lover both onscreen and off comes suddenly back, and they rekindle their romance in a very passionate and intense way. This plot takes an interesting turn but then you don't revisit it again until the very end of the book, and even then it's barely explored properly. There is a lot of interesting stuff happening throughout, it's just all a bit messily put together.

The audiobook was a particularly nice way to experience the story, so long as you don't mind listening to graphic sex scenes. It really brought the story to life and amplified that 'soap opera' feeling in a good way.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoyed the first one and you want to see where the story goes. It definitely improves upon the first one in many ways, and I did enjoy seeing where the characters went and the interpersonal dramas going on. I don't know if a third book is intended but if it is, I would hope it manages to strike the balance between the fun of the first one and the heart of the second one

Overall Rating:

.5

The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre

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

I adore thrillers centered around 'bunch of people go to a house somewhere and something creepy happens', but it is an admittedly saturated market. The Cliff House delivers solidly on this premise but it's difficult for me to say it particularly stands out.

The Cliff House is the story of Jen's bachelorette party, a chance for old friends and old enemies to reunite in an isolated house on an island. Among the guests are rockstar Michelle and her ex-bandmate/best friend Helena, Jen's ex husband's sister, her new husband's sister and two other friends. Among all this chaos and classic social awkwardness, disaster strikes when someone is found dead and yet another person goes missing. With the guests threatened from an unclear source, someone must reveal a secret to prevent another death.

To be honest, I actually read this book twice before reviewing it. The first time I didn't think much of it and couldn't remember it very well, whilst the second time I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it a lot more. There are a ton of characters and interactions between those characters, and I think it was a little easier to keep them separate in the audiobook. It was also easier to follow who was who on the second read.

Overall, this book is a reasonably enjoyable thriller. It has a good cast of characters, a lot going on (which is better than a book that drags) and a decent pace. I feel like a lot of the individual elements are nothing unique, but if you like thrillers with this premise then there's no reason not to read this

Overall Rating:

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

 

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

There are some books when you start reading them, you know you are going to fall in love. Daisy Darker was one of them.

The tone of this book is much more gothic than thriller. Daisy has been summoned to her grandmother's house for her 80th birthday. Her grandmother was told she was destined to die at the age of 80, and so she has gathered the entire Darker family for a reading of her will. Her grandmother lives on a remote island which gets cut off by the tide periodically, so once the family arrive they are immediately trapped there. After the will reading goes badly, terror strikes when one of the family members is found dead. And it doesn't end there...

This book has incredible atmosphere. It really reminds of What Remains of Edith Finch, both in tone and plot. I was completely sucked into the sleepy, subtly creepy story being woven. From the offset it is very clear there is something deeply wrong with the family, but there is also this fantastic unwillingness to address the abnormality. There are hints of Agatha Christie with the huge, isolated house and the unhappy family residing inside.

I don't want to say too much about this book, but it does have a certain plot element which I think makes it a bit like Marmite. It's actually the kind of thing I usually hate, but I think it is executed well here and I personally enjoyed it a lot. I think it did knock it down from a 5 star read and I understand why people aren't a fan, but for me personally it wasn't enough to spoil the book.

Overall, I strongly recommend this book if you enjoy creepy, gothic horror/murder mystery vibes. It absolutely delivers on that front and manages to have a unique identity of its own whilst evoking other work in a welcome way. I know I will remember this book for a long time and it has definitely become one of my favourites

Overall Rating:

.5

This is the Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde

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

This book is not what I expected.

This is the Way the World Ends bills itself as a YA thriller of sorts, at least from the vague description, but it is more of a dystopian than I was expecting. When Waverly gets the chance to attend an exclusive party she could never afford, she jumps at going. Unfortunately while she is there, the world literally starts to end and she discovers there has been an evil plot by the elite and wealthy to make sure only the 'appropriate' kind of people survive.

I must confess, my favourite part of this book was before any of the party stuff happened. I was enjoying reading about Waverly and her friends, and I found the reveal that the world was literally ending to be jarring and not what I wanted. Yes, it's there in the title but so many titles like this are metaphorical, especially in YA. It seems to be trying to come across as much more of a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars vibe from the blurb, and this is not accurate at all.

Putting that aside however, this book was fine. I think it skews close to the unbearable in terms of the 'wokeness' for me, and I say that as someone who adores representation in books. The rep was just a bit too deliberate and obvious in a clumsy way, with it being brought up almost constantly in ways which were unrealistic and didn't make sense. This is compounded by the villains, a bunch of old, white rich men. I hate people like that as much as the next feminist, but it was lacking the depth and realism to stop it being cartoonish. I support the intention, I just think the execution wasn't the best. This is especially clear when it comes to Freddie, the nice guy best friend who is just genuinely a nice guy for the most part, but gets punished by the narrative for...being male?

It also ends on a cliffhanger/sequel hook and that was a real pet peeve for me. The pacing felt a bit odd while I was reading it, and it was painfully clear by the end that it was purely to leave material for the next book. It didn't feel like a complete story by itself and that is always disappointing.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun in parts and it was nice to see such a wide range of representation. I just wish it had all been executed a bit better, and also that the blurb of the book told me more what kind of genre/experience to expect

Overall Rating:

If I Can't Have You by Charlotte Levin

 

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

If I Can't Have You is the twisted story of a woman obsessed with a man. From the day Constance meets Samuel at her workplace, she is convinced he is the one for her. Unaware of her obsession, he begins sleeping with her and so starts an unhealthy and dysfunctional dynamic which fuels the whole plot.

The plot of this book is very simple but it's all in the execution for me. This is a very well-told story, with a decent pace and enough going on that it keeps you invested. I really liked the addition of Edward, an elderly friend Constance makes early on. I think this could have easily focused entirely on the romance/stalking aspect and, while it is still mostly about that, it adds depth and realism that Constance has an existence outside of that, even if she doesn't realise it.

My biggest contention of the book lies with Constance's friend/roommate, Dale. Initially I thought he was her husband and this was a little confusing (I did listen to the audiobook so it's possible I missed something) but more importantly, I can't decide whether I like what he symbolises in the story. Dale is hopelessly in love with Constance and this is meant to be a mirror to her feelings towards Samuel, but it doesn't quite hit true. For starters, Constance initially does little to encourage Dale whilst Samuel definitely flirts with Constance and takes advantage of her. Secondly, the direction the Dale plotline takes means I am not quite sure what the author was going for. Is this meant to be Constance's punishment for acting how she does? Intentional or not, it's hard not to read into it that way. But again, I do like the depth and interesting parallels it adds at times.

Overall, this book is an intriguing exploration of an obsessive relationship. It doesn't do anything ground-breaking plot wise, and if you want a high-octane thriller then there are better examples out there. But it is an interesting blend of thriller and standard fiction, and it has enough depth and interesting things to say to be worth your time

Overall Rating:

.5

A Guide to Movie Based Video Games, 1982–2000 by Christopher Carton

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pen & Sword in exchange for an honest review.

As a video game researcher, I am always on the hunt for books about games. I love to learn and I was very excited when I saw this book available. The title tells you exactly what you are in store for-a guide to movie-based games created in the pre-2000s era.

I will admit, this book wasn't as entertaining as I'd hoped. I think not being alive when these games came out (for the most part) limited any kind of nostalgic enjoyment I could get out of it. I found some sections interesting (such as the Disney and comedy movie ones) but there wasn't a lot of commentary about the games themselves, which meant that if I didn't care about the intellectual property then there wasn't a whole lot to keep my interest.

Having said that, I think this book is very informative and seems pretty thorough. I imagine anyone who has nostalgia for these games would get a lot more out of it than me, and I am very excited for the next instalment which will cover the games I played myself. I recommend it for anyone who is curious what games exist from this time period, or for someone looking for a trip down memory lane

Overall Rating:

.5

The Other Side of Never edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

 

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

This is such a solid premise for an anthology and I was really excited to read it. It feels like there's been a recent trend of 'Peter Pan but creepy', with my absolute favourite Lost Boy by Christina Henry standing out among the crowd. I am pleased to say that The Other Side of Never is a worthy contributor.

As with any anthology, you get the good ones and the not so good ones. I think this starts off a little weak with many of the initial stories being confusingly told or hard to follow. Sometimes a story would end and I wouldn't get what the point was as nothing had really happened, and these were the most frustrating. But after the first few, the quality improved greatly for me and there were some real enjoyable finds here.

I would say my favourites were A School for Peters (kind of disjointed and not the best told, but I liked the idea behind it) No Such Place (a fantastic thematic interpretation of the source material and one of the easiest to follow) and The Lost Boys Monologues (again, disjointed but had some good ideas behind it).

Overall, I enjoyed this anthology a lot and I am looking forward to reading the Alice in Wonderland one even more so now. I do think that in general, this series of anthologies does need a bit more editing. It does seem to be a consistent problem that stories seem either unfinished or near incoherent, and it is a shame when some of them are so enjoyable. Hopefully they will continue to improve

Overall Rating:

Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky

 

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

This book is completely different tonally than what I was expecting from the cover. This looks kinda like a horror/thriller, but really it's a straight contemporary in tone. Lord of the Fly Fest is a retelling of Lord of the Flies, shifted to be a YA comedy. Our protagonist Rafi runs a true crime podcast and decides to attend the next big music festival, Fly Fest, to try and interview popstar River Stone. River's girlfriend went missing and Rafi is convinced he killed her, though her conviction looks more like she has a crush on him at times.

As mentioned, this book is pretty much a straight comedy. One of the main model characters is called Hella Badid, the name that made me realise I wasn't getting the horror I wanted. It's also way more like Lord of the Flies than I expected, with characters and some (loose) plot elements being lifted from it. This may sound odd and if it does, that's because it is. The end third of the book tries to ramp up the serious plot developments with increased comical farce, and the result is very hard to get what the author was going for.

Once I got over my disappointment about the lack of horror, this book was fine I guess. It feels a little dated already, making fun of influencers and popstars in a way which feels very 2016. Characters are often clear parodies of real people (Hella Badid, James Charles -> Jack, Harry Styles -> River Stone) and it all feels a bit mean. The main character is mocked mercilessly for running a podcast, even though podcasts are mega popular and tons of influencers either have their own or frequently guest on them.

I will say, I really enjoyed the audiobook. I think the narrator does some fun voices for the characters, and it was a lot more palatable to hear the humour than it would have been to just read it on the page. If you do decide to pick this up, the audiobook might be the way to go.

Ultimately, this book was a fun time but it's a big step down in my opinion from Moldavsky's other work. I also think it needs clearer marketing to avoid disappointed readers

Overall Rating:

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

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

I have long given up on finding a YA thriller which will genuinely surprise me, and sadly Five Survive is no exception. Having said that, this is a genuinely enjoyable listen and is by far one of the best examples of its genre.

Five Survive is the story of a group of friends on their way to spring break when they get caught in a nightmare situation. After going off road, a sniper shoots out all of their tyres and holds them hostage. Their only hope for escape is for them to correctly identify the secret the sniper wants, and potentially sacrifice that person to the sniper.

As mentioned, this book did not surprise me once. I think it is painfully clear from the first few chapters why the teens are held hostage, as well as a few other 'reveals' from later on. It would be nice if a few of these story elements were masked a bit better because it does undercut a lot of the tension.

The main strength of this book is the characters and the tension they provide from being trapped. Oliver in particular is a super interesting character, and Red herself made for a reasonable enough protagonist. I do think there was scope to develop characters even further. Maddy in particular is very important to the narrative throughout, but we barely learn anything about her despite her being Red's best friend. They never speak independently of the group or really interact properly, which seems super weird.

I had a few issues with the audiobook specifically. Some of Red's inner narration is quite annoying when it is read aloud to you, though I think this would be better in print. Several times the narrator says a line and then the speech tags say a completely different delivery (for example, shouting a line then following it with 'Maddy said quietly') which was just jarring to listen to.

Overall, I think this book would be very much enjoyed by a teen audience but it doesn't have much reach beyond that. In terms of YA thrillers, it is one of the better ones out there. I would probably recommend the text version over the audiobook, just because of the minor narration issues I pointed out

Overall Rating:

.5

Baby by Annaleese Jochems

 

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

It feels almost criminal to give a book like this 3 stars because it is anything but average, but I am not sure how else to represent my feelings about it.

Baby is the very weird story of two women who spontaneously decide to run off together. One of them is a 21 year old named Cynthia, who acts more like an 18 year old. This boat is sort of her dream, and most of the book focuses on things from her perspective. Anahera is her older ex-yoga instructor turned mother figure turned inappropriate crush. The book focuses on this very uncomfortable relationship dynamic, as well as what happens when they are joined by a mysterious man who upsets their dynamic.

This book is incredibly unique and not entirely coherent. I think I wanted a more coherent experience to be honest; I love stories about dark female friendships, and this had a lot of promise, but it remains a little too out there and disconnected from reality for any of the unpleasant elements to hit right. Cynthia is a deeply disturbed woman who is emotionally juvenile. You never quite learn what Anahera's deal with, which I think is a real shame. There are hints that Cynthia's viewpoint is skewing things at various points, but it's missing that other side which would really make the horror-esque elements hit home.

The other thing to mention about this book is that it's incredibly disgusting with its description. I get nauseated quite easily and large passages of this book were deeply unpleasant, with no real reason for it. There's a lot of stuff revolving around physical description or bodily fluids that I could have done without.

Finally, the ending was the most disappointing aspect of this book for me. If it had a punchier ending, I think I would have given this book 4 stars despite its flaws. But it just kind of ends with no real bite, and while I get what it was going for, I wanted something more.

Overall, I think there are books which do this concept better (Social Creature springs to mind) but I can't say I regret reading it. It's a bizarre time and I think it will stand out in my memory for that fact alone. Some people will absolutely love this book because it's not the kind of story you can be 'indifferent' to really. If you think you might be one of them, give it a try

Overall Rating:

Dead Lucky by Andreina Cordani

 

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

What a great surprise this book was!

Dead Lucky is the story of Maxine, a content creator whose world gets turned upside down when a video of her fellow influencer Xav being murdered on camera is posted online. Her friends don't seem too interested by it but she is worried that there is more to the video than it seems, and so she decides to investigate with the help of her new friend.

I adore thrillers about influencers and I hoped this would be a fun read, but it ended up exceeding my expectations. Dead Lucky is the rare YA thriller which is actually very good, with interesting characters and a fun examination of what it means to be famous as a teenager. The story is split between Maxine struggling to investigate Xav's death while she juggles being famous and unhappy, and segments set in the past when all the characters originally decided to start a video channel. Maxine's struggles seem very genuine, and in fact all the characters as a whole are pretty grounded. This is something many YA thrillers fail at and it was part of what made the book so enjoyable.

The writing style is also a strength of this book, and it is surprisingly funny. Maxine had a strong voice as a narrating character and it made her really likeable.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book if you find the blurbs of a lot of YA thrillers intriguing, but then find they never live up to those premises. This is a rare exception and is absolutely worth checking out as a result.

Overall Rating:

The Fifth Guest by Jenny Knight

 

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

The Fifth Guest tells the story of a group of old friends from Oxford university, reunited for a dinner as adults. The dinner party atmosphere soon turns sour as it becomes clear their bonds are not so much of friendship as having scores to settle with each other. The chapters alternate between the present day dinner party and the past days of university life, with both revealing secrets and dark happenings.

This book has one of the most generic thriller premises ever (although admittedly a good one) but boy does it execute it well! A book like this lives and dies by its characters, and all of them are fantastic here. They really do feel like real people, with their own flaws and lives going on. I particularly enjoyed the chapters set in the past-I almost wish there had been more of them, or less of a large time skip since they take place over all three years. I wanted to see how they all grew and changed throughout university life. Having said that, those sections are still very enjoyable and it does help the book to keep a good pace.

I also loved how this book didn't always go with the 'obvious' past tragedies/secrets. It took some really interesting directions and kept me on my toes as a reader, which I really appreciated. Again, it helped it feel fresh from its typical premise and really breathed some life into the book.

Overall, I definitely recommend giving this a try. It's a perfect example of how to take a classic thriller premise and create a solid story from it, as well as to have characters who are flawed but still enjoyable to read about

Overall Rating: