Hey Bookworms!
Today I am bringing you two mini reviews of some of the books I’ve recently read.
Continue reading Mini Reviews: The Perfect Stranger and The Perfect Girl
Tag: Megan Miranda
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda| REVIEW
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
Published by Simon & Schuster on June 28th 2016
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.
Review
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a psychological thriller about a woman who returns to her hometown to assist her sick father and to unearth a decade long mystery about her missing best friend. When another local girl goes missing while she’s in town she is thrust back to the past and her secrets come to surface!
The Good
The Way It’s Written
All the Missing Girls is written backwards! Yes, you heard me right, backwards. The first chapter is “present day” when Nic decides to head back to her hometown. Then the next chapter is Day 15 and each chapter after that works its way back.
Miranda does a fantastic job with the storytelling. She must have spent a great deal of time fine tuning the chapters so that they are cohesive and flow properly as if they were to have been written in chronological order. It was definitely quite refreshing to read a thriller like this. Very intriguing storytelling.
Keeps You Guessing
This one will have you guessing from the start. After every chapter I am pretty sure I had a new suspect to look into. All the Missing Girls definitely throws you through some loops along the way until the very satisfying ending.
You would think because the story is told backwards that we would find out the big reveal quite soon in the story, but surprisingly Miranda only let out important information when it was needed. We never knew more than we should and each clue linked back and connected each chapter as we travel in time.
Unreliable Narrator
One of my favorite aspects of a psychological thriller is an unreliable narrator done right. Which is exactly what Nic was. At times through out the story she would not sleep for days. This leads to hazy memories, rash decisions, and crazy high jinks.
The Bad
I Was Confused!
This didn’t bother me too much, but I was getting a bit confused with All the Missing Girls going back in time over a two week period. I was blending information and blurring important discoveries.
At one point we find out something important but I sat there thinking that I already knew this already because they mentioned it slightly in the chapter before. Does that make sense? I’m probably confusing you guys with this awful explanation. Sorry!
I highly recommend this one if you like unreliable characters, a good psychological thriller and an interesting written novel. Let me know what you guys thought of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda! I would love to hear your opinions as well!
Until next time,
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Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls. She has also written several books for young adults, including Fracture, Hysteria, Vengeance, Soulprint, and The Safest Lies. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children. The Perfect Stranger (4/11/17) is her second novel of psychological suspense.
Top Spring 2017 Reads!
Hey bookworms!
Spring has sprung and as quickly as it has come, it is unfortunately coming to a swift end. But on the bright side the weather will continue to warm up and it will be summer in no time!
Spring is a time for renewal and growth. Out with the old and in with the new! Same rules apply to books of course. Over the last three months I had the opportunity to read some awesome books that I wanted to highlight for you all today.
Let’s go into summer with our heads high, shades on, and splash into the deep ends of some more awesome books to come!
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson
Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished.
More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie.
Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking.
When Ozzie is paired up with new student Calvin on a physics project, he begins to wonder if Calvin could somehow be involved. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy.
But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy–that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
5 Stars
Why You Should Pick This Up:
- LGBT+ character representations
- Metaphorical symbolism
- Beautiful/real/raw writing
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
Why You Should Pick This Up:
- Wicked cool concept.
- Has you guessing until the end.
- Twists and turns around every corner!
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?
Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be – whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.
What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
Why You Should Pick This Up:
- Exciting story concept.
- LGBT+ character representation.
- Pokes fun at the YA contemporary genre.
Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer
A kingdom burns. A princess sleeps. This is no fairy tale.
It all started with the burning of the spindles.
No.
It all started with a curse…
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and her voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
As the faerie queen and her army of Vultures prepare to march, Isabelle must race to find a prince who can awaken her sister with the kiss of true love and seal their two kingdoms in an alliance against the queen.
Isabelle crosses land and sea; unearthly, thorny vines rise up the palace walls; and whispers of revolt travel in the ashes on the wind. The kingdom falls to ruin under layers of snow. Meanwhile, Aurora wakes up in a strange and enchanted world, where a mysterious hunter may be the secret to her escape…or the reason for her to stay.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
Why You Should Pick This Up:
- Unique Sleeping Beauty retelling.
- Strong lead heroines.
- Fantastic world building.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?
Welcome to Weep.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
4 Stars
Why You Should Pick This Up:
- Out of this world concept!
- Amazing visual storytelling.
- Captivating writing.
Well there you have it, my Top Spring Reads of 2017! Let me know what books you really enjoyed this Winter or if you read any of the ones I’ve listed here.
Until next time,
February 2017 Book Haul
Hey guys!
Here are all the books I got in February and then some! There is quite a few to get through. I’m super excited about this month’s haul.
So let’s get started shall we?
INDIGO
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Windwitch by Susan Dennard
What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan
The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Frostblood by Elly Blake
The Fire by Night by Teresa Messineo
Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson
Book Outlet
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Asunder by Jodi Meadows
Infinite by Jodi Meadows
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Supernaturally by Kiersten White
Endlessly by Kiersten White
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Mind Games by Kiersten White
Perfect Lies by Kiersten White
Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger
The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence
The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski
The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Game by Barry Lyga
Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga
The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson
Wandering Star by Romina Russell
Jughead Vol. 1 by Chip Zdarsky
ARCs
Windwitch by Susan Dennard (Indigo)
The Beast is An Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale (Simon & Schuster Canada)
Bang by Barry Lyga (Hachette Book Group Canada)
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (Hachette Book Group Canada)
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller (Sourcebooks Fire)
The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda (Simon & Schuster Canada)
That was definitely a big month for me! Did you guys pick up any of these books too? See you next month!
Until next time,
Recent Adds to my TBR | Top 10 Tuesday
Hey guys!
Welcome back to another Top 10 Tuesday weekly fun on my blog! Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to join in the fun, hop on over to their blog to see what it’s all about!
This week’s topic is Top 10 Recent Adds to My TBR.
As readers, or should I say avid readers, we are constantly on GoodReads and adding books to our TBRs. So it should come as no surprise that their are hundreds and hundreds of books on them. Well today I am here to show you the last 10 books that I added to my TBR. If you haven’t heard about them, then I hope you add them to your TBRs too!
Nettie Lonesome lives in a land of hard people and hard ground dusted with sand. She’s a half-breed who dresses like a boy, raised by folks who don’t call her a slave but use her like one. She knows of nothing else. That is, until the day a stranger attacks her. When nothing, not even a sickle to the eye can stop him, Nettie stabs him through the heart with a chunk of wood, and he turns into black sand.
And just like that, Nettie can see.
But her newfound sight is a blessing and a curse. Even if she doesn’t understand what’s under her own skin, she can sense what everyone else is hiding — at least physically. The world is full of evil, and now she knows the source of all the sand in the desert. Haunted by the spirits, Nettie has no choice but to set out on a quest that might lead to her true kin… if the monsters along the way don’t kill her first.
The Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multiple award winning phenomenon from China’s most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.
The all-new ARCHIE adventure continues! Superstar writer Mark Waid teams up with the best and brightest artists in comics to bring a modern take to the legendary Riverdale cast of characters. The book will captures the bite and hilarious edge of Archie’s original tales in a modern, forward-looking manner, while still retaining the character’s all-ages appeal. If classic Archie is a Saturday morning cartoon, this new series is prime time!
Everyone on campus has a different version of what happened that night.
Haley saw Jenny return from the party, shell-shocked.
Richard heard Jordan brag about the cute freshman he hooked up with.
When Jenny accuses Jordan of rape, Haley and Richard are pushed to opposite sides of the school’s investigation. Now conflicting versions of the story may make bringing the truth to light nearly impossible—especially when reputations, relationships, and whole futures are riding on the verdict.
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (“gleaned”) by professional reapers (“scythes”). Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythe’s apprentices, and—despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation—they must learn the art of killing and come to understand the necessity of what they do.
Only one of them will be chosen as a scythe’s apprentice. And when it becomes clear that the winning apprentice’s first task will be to glean the loser, Citra and Rowan are pitted against one another in a fight for their lives.
Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, there could be a criminal investigation into the deaths.
Then Blake’s grandmother asks Carver to remember her grandson with a ‘goodbye day’ together. Carver has his misgivings, but he starts to help the families of his lost friends grieve with their own memorial days, along with Eli’s bereaved girlfriend Jesmyn. But not everyone is willing to forgive. Carver’s own despair and guilt threatens to pull him under into panic and anxiety as he faces punishment for his terrible mistake. Can the goodbye days really help?
There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?
Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be – whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.
What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.
Her vengeance. His vision.
Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer turned thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.
Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.
When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.
He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.
A sweeping fantasy, by the bestselling author of The Testing, about two royal siblings forced to compete for the crown.
Twins Carys and Andreus were never destined to rule Eden. With their older brother next in line to inherit the throne, the future of the kingdom was secure.
But appearances—and rivals—can be deceiving. When Eden’s king and crown prince are killed by assassins, Eden desperately needs a monarch, but the line of succession is no longer clear. With a ruling council scheming to gain power, Carys and Andreus are faced with only one option: to take part in a Trial of Succession that will determine which one of them is worthy of ruling the kingdom.
As sister and brother, Carys and Andreus have always kept each other safe—from their secrets, from the court, and from the monsters lurking in the mountains beyond the kingdom’s wall. But the Trial of Succession will test the bonds of trust and family.
With their country and their hearts divided, Carys and Andreus will discover exactly what each will do to win the crown. How long before suspicion takes hold and the thirst for power leads to the ultimate betrayal?
Well there you have it! Top 10 Recent Adds to My TBR. What are some of your favorite villains?
Until next time,
Books at Dawn 