A good girl’s guide to murder – Holly Jackson

I pulled an all nighter to finish this book! You may be wondering why and how, LOL. Me and my husband did not plan our return flight situation back home from our anniversary trip so we ended up checking out of our Airbnb, drove an hour to the airport, returned our rental by 8pm, and stayed up all night for our 5am flight the next day at the airport. And like most men, my husband was able to nap and get rested with all the bright airport lights on a steel bench at our terminal while I, obviously who can’t fall asleep easily, chose to start a book. And thank God I had this book on me!

Let me start by saying that the title of this book is very misleading (obviously never judge a book by its cover lol). The story revolves around an open and shut murder case that a high school student decides to reopen and review for her school project/ college essay. From then on, the book shows her every step, her personality, how her brain works, who she interviews and how intuitive she is,sort of very Nancy Drew vibes which I loved reading back in the day. The book kept me on edge for hours chasing the high (maybe the sleep deprivation ?? nah, just kidding, I can stay up all night if I did not have a day job) and I finished it by the time I boarded my flight (I did pass out on the flight though).

I personally loved it, I bought this book without reading too much of the review because there was a Black Friday deal going on at Target (yep, I did buy books on my vacation and it was really hard to pack it into our already over packed luggage. Bless my husband’s heart for his patience lol). Ooo also not forgetting to mention the inclusion of South Asian characters into the story which really depicts the life of an American born Indian kid that me and my family can totally relate to! (kudos for diversity & inclusion right?). Overall an amazing book if you are into mystery/thriller/crime solving genre. Happy Reading:)

The Taking of JAKE LIVINGSTON – Ryan Douglass

Whew!! What a refreshing read :))

I have been a horror movie fanatic ever since my dad explained to me in detail about the props and theatrics involved into making horror movies when I was a child so I really did not have to be scared (except for jump scares – never liked them). And plus, I am such an ardent fan of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps so naturally I grabbed this one at Target to give it a read and boyyyy was I spooked!

The writing style is very simple and it’s a trip of imagination. I could actually visualize every scene in the book like it was a movie and I couldn’t stop myself from finishing the book within a day LOL. The plot is super refreshing and new and it touches the horrors of both the dead imaginary world but also the things that happens or can happen to us in our real world like gun violence, racism and hate against the LGBTQIA+ community for which I applaud the author for using a real world horrors in the plot line to give more of an insight into the life of a queer, black teen. I would definitely give this a 10/10 for its spookiness and the magic. Happy Reading 🙂

Verity – Colleen Hoover

I started reading fiction after a long hiatus (not by choice but because I have been so focused on self help and non-fiction)…but reading Verity brought back the same dopamine high I used to experience back in my teens when I would finish one book in a very few hours and jump to the next.

This particular book caught my eye because it has been making some noise in the reading community and obviously curiosity got the best of me to see what the hype was about. So first I read some reviews on Amazon just to see if reading this was going to be worth the time and I read some extremely mixed reviews so I had to know the truth for myself. Colleen Hoover was an author I wasn’t too familiar with since I don’t really read romance novels so I was surprised to learn that she had branched out to write something different than her usual style.

I have to say Verity made me want to keep reading chapter after chapter and I did not put the book down till I finished it! It had all the thrill and excitement of a murder mystery, peaked my curiosity and even made me nervous for the main character. The ending though, as most readers described was greatly confusing and psychologically disturbing especially because it left me confused with the decision made by the main character (you have to read to find out LOL ! No more spoilers from me). I wasn’t particularly a fan of the explicit scenes (reason No. 1 why I don’t read romance – not my cup of tea) or the child abuse aspect. If you are sensitive, I would recommend skipping the book since most chapters are also written from the antagonist POV. Overall, I would give a 7 for the writing style and the plot. Open to more discussions. Happy Reading 🙂