Book Review: "The Recruiter" by Gregg Podolski

This was a great thriller! I can’t believe this was Gregg Podolski’s debut, but it certainly seems like the stage is set for this to become a series. And I’m all in.

“People who aren’t prone to making bad decisions often fail to foresee just how life-altering a truly bad one can be.”

Rick Carter is a recruiter. However, he’s not the guy you’d call to find a new marketing person or CTO. Rick recruits assassins, hackers, smugglers, and any other kind of skilled criminal his clients might need. He doesn’t share secrets and the cops never get involved—and he gets lots of referrals from clients.

But he has a bad feeling about the latest client to hire him, or force him to work for them. You see, while Rick isn’t the most upstanding of citizens, he never wants to be party to harming the good guys. And this client is more than a little, ummm, persuasive, in making him see things their way.

When Rick learns that the family he left behind 10 years ago is somehow in danger related to this new client, he has to come out of hiding to try and fix things. It won’t be easy, however, because not only does he not know whom to trust, but his family definitely doesn’t trust him. Can he convince them he’s capable of saving them, and, more importantly, can he save them?

The pacing of this book was great. The action kept coming but there were pauses, so it never was too much. Rick is so sarcastic, and that’s very close to how I am, so I enjoyed him and the ragtag band of “candidates” he worked with. This reads like a movie and it really entertained me.

Book Review: "Search" by Michelle Huneven

This is a quietly compelling and dramatic story of a church searching for its new minister. Plus recipes!!⁣

⁣ Dana is a restaurant critic and food writer, and a member of a fairly progressive Unitarian Universalist church in California. At one point in her life she attended seminary and had thoughts of becoming a minister, but that was when her writing career took off. But for her, the ministry has always been the path not taken.⁣

⁣ Lately, however, she’s been less enamored of attending church, despite a friendship with the minister. When he announces his retirement, Dana is asked to join the committee that will identify his replacement.⁣

⁣ In order to represent both the church’s past and its future, the committee is fairly diverse in experience, age, and tenure. Even at the outset, Dana wonders how this disparate group will ever reach a consensus, but she also realizes that this process is a tremendously rich subject for her next book.⁣

⁣ Search is told as if it were a memoir, and Dana faithfully records the tensions, enjoyable moments, and all of her concerns, about her fellow committee members, some of the candidates, even her decision not to complete her ministerial studies. The more Dana gets involved in the search, the more passionate she becomes about the church’s future and its new leader.⁣

⁣ I absolutely loved this. It’s gorgeously written, and it’s a fantastic study of human dynamics. I’m Jewish (although not observant at all), and I found the conversations about theology and philosophy to be fascinating and never heavy-handed.

And with all of the talk about amazing food and cocktails, the recipes are an excellent addition.⁣

Book Review: "The Locked Away Life" by Drew Davies

If you’re looking for a book to warm your heart while it chokes you up, look no further!!

Esther is an 82-year-old woman living alone in her once-grand house. She knows that the end of her life is drawing near, so she can’t stop thinking about Thackeray, her one true love. Why did he betray her? Where is he now?

The answer may very well be found online, or as Esther refers to it, the Inter-Net. But how to navigate that scary world? She places an advertisement looking for someone to help her, and it is answered by Bruno.

Bruno is 18 and feels like an outsider in his life. He’s interested in this opportunity so he can make the money he needs to escape and make the changes to his life he desperately wants.

The two form the most unlikely friendship, brought together by the secrets each has and the feelings of loneliness. But can they make each other see how special they are, just how they are?

This really was a beautiful book. It deals with some pretty heavy issues but it’s just so charming at the same time. These characters were really special.

Book Review: "The Deal of a Lifetime" by Fredrik Backman

This novella is an inspirational story about love and sacrifice.

“Hi. It’s your dad. You’ll be waking up soon, it’s Christmas Eve morning in Helsingborg, and I’ve killed a person. That’s not how fairy tales usually begin, I know. But I took a life. Does it make a difference if you know whose it was?”

With that, Fredrik Backman draws you into a story about ambition, regret, love, fear, life, and death. I’m totally late to the party on reading this although I love his books.

There’s not much to say without giving the plot away, but essentially, the story is narrated by a father for his son. It has a bit of a holiday feel, and it’s definitely a poignant story. I wish it were a little longer, but it is what it is.

Book Review: "My Mother's Eyes: A Short Story" by Jeremy Ray

Jeremy Ray's My Mother's Eyes is a poignant and powerful story about regret, grief, and memory.

Jordie’s mother is in a coma, on life support. He and his older brother sit by her hospital bed every day. While his brother believes she can hear them and may come back at any time, Jordie knows the truth.

He’s been trying to draw a picture of his mother for some time now, and he can’t get her eyes right. More than 57 drafts and he can’t get her eyes right. Why? If he captures her essence, will she come back?

“Why had I never thought to draw her when she was alive, or better yet, take pictures?”

This is a beautiful story, and a powerful one. It reminded me how important it is to make moments matter when they happen because regret is all too prevalent. I just wish the story was longer!!

Thanks to Jeremy Ray for a free copy—which included a sweet super-short story at the start!! Y’all need to check out Jeremy’s writing because he’s so creative—his story The Houseplant made me care about a plant!!

Book Review: "Under Red Sky: The Boss" by J Calamy

Man, J Calamy's Under Red Sky: The Boss was a HOT, steamy, and intense read, with lots of emotion and action!

Since I joined Bookstagram more than two years ago I’ve been fortunate to work with some groups that organize blog tours for books. Through those groups, I’ve been lucky to find books I might never have heard of otherwise, and I'm so grateful.

That holds true for Under Red Sky: The Boss, too! Thanks to Pride Book Tours for putting it on my radar and for sending me a complimentary copy in exchange for an unbiased review!

Nick did a horrible thing in the heat of the moment—he killed a family in a traffic accident as a result of road rage—and he paid the price for it. Shunned by family and friends, he spent some time in prison and then fled the U.S. for Singapore, where he’s content being a tiny cog at the U.S. Embassy there.

But when his past is discovered, it threatens to destroy him professionally and personally until Lord Nelson Graves, a powerful shipping magnate, intervenes. Feeling guilty about nearly running Nick over with his sports car, he helps Nick land a job which puts him on a much better path and shows him he is worthy of happiness and success again.

Nick can’t help but feel drawn to Graves, even if he’s never really had an interest in men before. But Graves has secrets, too—he is the head of Red Sky, a major arms and drug dealer in Asia. He’s hunting a traitor in his midst and between that and fighting his growing attraction to Nick, he’s all over the place and doesn't know what he really wants.

This was a quick read and I was hooked from the start. There’s action, intrigue, serious sexual tension, emotion, and some immensely hot (and graphic) sex scenes, both M/M and M/F. The relationship between Nick and Graves is really fascinating—it's a younger/older thing, and I love how the book doesn't shy away from dealing with Graves' disability while still portraying him as a powerful, virile man.

I could really see this as a series on Netflix or something because of the drama and action!

Book Review: "Heartbreak Boys" by Simon James Green

Simon James Green's most recent book, Heartbreak Boys, is an adorable and fun story about trying to overcome heartache and finding the strength to start over.

It’s prom night. Jack is hoping that he and his boyfriend Dylan might be crowned king and queen. Although school had been hell for Jack since he came out, once popular athlete Dylan did, Jack’s flamboyance became nearly tolerable by his classmates. (Nearly.)

Meanwhile, Nate is still coming to terms with publicly acknowledging his sexuality. He’s kept his relationship with Tariq very secret until this point, but on prom night he’s ready to finally let the world know who he is, and let everyone know he and Tariq are together.

But prom night isn’t the magical occasion Jack and Nate hope it will be, when they both get dumped, quite publicly. They’re both devastated, and while Jack is used to being the target of humiliation, for Nate, it seems like a good excuse to go back into hiding again.

With their now-ex-boyfriends showing no signs of regret or sadness, Jack comes up with a plan: he and Nate could create the illusion that they’re having the summer of their lives, too. Jack agrees to tag along on Nate’s family’s road trip across England, and document their exaggerated and/or fake moments of living their best lives for social media.

Nate and Jack were childhood friends, but Nate pulled away from Jack right around the time he came out. Nate knows he’s nothing like Jack and he isn’t sure he wants to be, but is the idea of rekindling their friendship really that awful?

If you’ve read a rom-com or two, you know where all of this is going. Heartbreak Boys was a really sweet, enjoyable book that accurately captured the emotions of young relationships and the battle between living your truth and staying out of the spotlight.

Given that you know how things will unfold, the pacing was a bit slow at times, and I wanted the characters to say what they needed to instead of constantly avoiding subjects. But Jack and Nate, as well as a few of the supporting characters, are such fun, you can’t help but root for them.

This is my first Simon James Green novel, but it won't be my last, that's for sure!

Book Review: "All About Us" by Tom Ellen

A holiday romance? A book that explores the decisions we make and what our life would’ve been if we made different ones? Sign me up!

It seems like I’ve read a number of books recently that play with the Sliding Doors-type concept, where the characters see what might have happened had they made a different choice. I’ve got to admit, I love this concept so much.

In Tom Ellen's new book, All About Us, it’s Christmas Eve. While Ben usually loves the holidays, this year his marriage to Daphne is definitely in a rough spot. He knows it’s mostly his fault but he’s just not happy. And she's not happy either. When his old friend Alice gets in touch and says she's coming to town, the idea of seeing her fills him with joy, which means he could be headed down a dangerous path.

He always thought he and Alice might have gotten together at university but it never happened, and then he met Daff. But what would’ve happened if he had chosen differently? Was Alice the one who got away?

When a stranger gives him an (apparently broken) wristwatch he thinks nothing of it—until he wakes up and it’s December 5, 2005, the day he and Daff first kissed—15 years earlier. So now Ben has the chance to see what might happen if he followed his instincts and his heart’s original intent. But will he? Will that choice mean happiness? Or will he make the same decisions he did then?

As I’ve said more times than I can count, I’m a total sap, so this book worked so well for me. Obviously the concept requires a suspension of disbelief, but that was fine for me. To have a chance to say things you never said, take back the things you shouldn’t have said, choose a different path—longing for one or more of those makes us human.

Given all that’s transpired over the last week in the US, All About Us was a beautiful escape for me. Plus, it’s nice to imagine a holiday season when there’s actual snow on the ground, lol!!

Book Review: "The Truth Hurts" by Rebecca Reid

Is it okay to keep your past a secret from the one you love? That fundamental question is at the heart of The Truth Hurts, Rebecca Reid's newest thriller.

It’s 2:00 a.m. Poppy has just been fired from her job as a nanny, where she was on holiday with the family in Ibiza. With barely any money and nowhere to turn, she winds up at a bar. There she meets a handsome, slightly older man, Drew, who can see that she’s in need of rescue. She, of course, doesn't want him to feel obligated but also doesn't want to be taken advantage of, but he surprises her with his actions.

Their not-quite meet cute is the start of a whirlwind romance, although Poppy keeps waiting for Drew to tire of her. But somehow their relationship keeps going, and it’s not long before they agree to get married and Drew buys an English country estate for them to live in, giving her carte blanche to do what she wants with the house.

Before they get married, Drew offers a proposal: they’ll plan their future but never talk about their pasts. Never. Since Poppy has her own secrets, she’s more than fine with this arrangement.

But the more time she spends in their isolated home, the more time Drew is away on business, the more people in the nearby town react negatively to her, she starts to wonder what her husband is hiding. Is she in danger?

I was surprised how much I enjoyed The Truth Hurts and how I was hooked from the very start. It’s a familiar story with some good twists, and even I was a little surprised at times.

While the book isn’t perfect—I was left with some unanswered questions—it was definitely a compelling read. Given how much thrillers have made me roll my eyes lately, I’m always happy to find one that doesn’t frustrate me!

Book Review: "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig

Wow, Matt Haig's newest novel, The Midnight Library, was absolutely beautiful.

“...sometimes the only way to learn is to live.”

Nora has decided she wants to die. She’s just so unhappy and doesn’t feel like she or her life matter to anyone. She's disappointed everyone in her life, and she doesn’t think her death will have an impact.

She finds herself in The Midnight Library, which is filled with books that each contains a life Nora could have lived had she made a different choice or picked a different path. Some books even contain lives she never imagined.

With the help of an old friend, Nora explores the options the library offers her. But sometimes the choices aren’t easy to make, and sometimes a decision has ramifications she could never fathom. Ultimately, she needs to understand what living a life really means, and whether it’s worth fighting for, before the choices she makes or doesn’t make doom the library—and her—forever.

I loved this book so much. Matt Haig is an amazing writer (I also loved his How to Stop Time) and this is such a moving, thought-provoking book. Many of us have felt the way Nora has, so this book had particular meaning for me.

This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Book Review: "Dignity & Grace" by Alison Ragsdale

Dignity & Grace, Alison Ragsdale's new novel, is gorgeously lyrical and emotional.

Iona has just turned 21 and her life is at a bit of a crossroads. An immensely talented musician, she’s given up her beloved cello and left university because it dredges up too many painful memories of her mother, Grace, who died of a form of ALS 10 years earlier. She also mostly avoids her father, because of blame and resentment related to her mother’s death as well.

On her 21st birthday, her father sends her a letter her mother wrote her years before. In the letter, Grace urges Iona to visit her old music teacher, a man Grace worshipped and trusted more than any other. At the same time, Iona finds an old photo in the bottom of her cello case, of her mother when she was much younger.

Visiting Grace’s music teacher starts to help put the events of her childhood in perspective. And this visit is just the start of a journey that her mother is sending her on, to help her find a way back to the things—and the people—she loves and needs. Along the way, she starts to better understand her mother and the choices she made.

This beautiful book resonated with me in so many ways. Can you imagine what it must be like to receive letters from someone you lost years ago, and whom the adult you never got to know? The book deftly explores so many emotions and choices but allows you to make your own decisions about what happened, as it did Iona.

This is the second book I’ve read by Ragsdale (I read her story collection, The Liar and Other Stories, earlier this year), and man oh man, can she tell a story! The book takes place in Scotland (a place I’ve always wanted to visit) and her imagery was so vivid I could see the places she described so well. Plus there’s nothing quite like a good cry late at night while you’re reading!

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for this book. Kate Rock Book Tours and Alison Ragsdale provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Read this if you love family drama.

Book Review: "The Request" by David Bell

After you read David Bell's newest thriller, The Request, you’ll think twice the next time a friend asks you to do them a favor!

If people didn’t do stupid things and/or lie, would thrillers exist? That’s the question I asked myself while reading this twisty thriller.

Ryan and Blake were very close in college; Blake was practically a brother to him. But they’ve been estranged for the last several months, so Ryan is surprised to see Blake one night after work. Blake needs Ryan to break into a woman’s house and steal some evidence that proves Blake had an affair with her. And if Ryan doesn’t do it, Blake will expose his darkest secret, which will upend his life.

When Ryan gets to her house and goes to look for the letters, he makes a shocking discovery. Not only does he know this woman, but he finds her body in the house, and it appears she has been murdered. Of course, this puts him in the middle of a tangled web that threatens to destroy his life and his marriage—and he has no idea whom to trust or where to turn.

Despite the fact that I guessed a key plot point really early on, this book kept me guessing. Bell throws in lots of twists and turns and the book moves pretty quickly. You do need to suspend your disbelief, but that’s typical of thrillers. It really becomes fast-paced at one point and things get a little tense.

It’s amazing how dumb people can be when they think they’re doing the right thing!

I was honored to be part of the blog tour for this book. Get Red PR and Berkley provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "A Good Marriage" by Kimberly McCreight

How much do we really know about the person to whom we’re married? How much do we care? These questions are at the forefront of Kimberly McCreight's new book, A Good Marriage.

When Lizzie met Sam, she thought she had truly found a partner in taking on the world. She’d be a prosecutor and he’d be a writer, both beating back injustice. But things didn’t work out the way she hoped. Now their relationship is filled with anger and guilt, and Lizzie was forced to take a job at a fancy law firm and work long hours.

One night at the office she gets a collect call from Rikers Island. An old law school friend whom she hasn't seen in years, Zach Grayson, desperately needs her help. He’s been arrested for the alleged murder of his wife, Amanda, at their Park Slope brownstone. He maintains his innocence and pleads for Lizzie to defend him.

It’s the last thing she wants to do, but she’s encouraged by one of the firm’s partners to do so. And as she starts to dig into what happened that night, she discovers that Zach and Amanda’s marriage wasn’t quite what it seemed, and neither are Amanda’s seemingly well-put-together friends and neighbors. Everyone has secrets to hide about their lives and their marriages. Even Lizzie herself.

For me, this book started SO SLOWLY that I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep reading. I get slow burn, but this took a long while to hit its stride. When it did, however, it took off. I honestly didn’t know what to think or what to believe, and even though I figured some of the twists out, I was still surprised by some of the plot, too.

I loved Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia, so I was eagerly anticipating this one. It’s definitely twisty and suspenseful, provided you have the patience to stick with it until it takes off.

Book Review: "The Summer Set" by Aimee Agresti

No one does drama quite like actors and actresses, you know? That's on full display in Aimee Agresti's fun new novel, The Summer Set.

Charlie Savoy was once the hottest actress around. Raised in London where she acted with her famous mother at the Old Globe Theatre, she received an Oscar nomination for her very first film. And then, amidst a gigantic flop at the box office and her own mercurial behavior, her star burned out.

She’s now 39 and owns an art house movie theater in Boston. She doesn’t miss acting. (Or does she?) When a brush with the law gets her sentenced to community service at the summer theater program where she got her start in America, she’s not happy, especially when she finds she’s being reunited with Nick, who is now the program’s artistic director. He's also the man she met at this very same program all those years ago, the man who directed her in that first film. Their pairing was the stuff of legend—and tabloids.

Nick is energized by Charlie’s return and hopes they can start anew. And when Charlie starts acting again, and realizes she never really lost her groove, it’s easy to slip into the old dynamic between her and Nick. But there are three shows to do, the theater program is in danger of shutting down, and a new arrival spells trouble. But are second chances in acting—and love—really possible?

This was fun and soapy and silly and full of drama and I was there for ALL OF IT. Sure it was predictable, but that doesn’t faze me. I do wish the parallel story with young actors was a little more fleshed out, but it was cute, so I can't complain.

Make The Summer Set part of your summer reading—or whenever you like! It's definitely entertaining.

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Graydon House Books for making this possible!

Book Review: "November 9" by Colleen Hoover

I tell you, Colleen Hoover wrecks me emotionally so often yet I keep coming back willingly!! And it happened again with November 9.

Fallon was a successful television actress for two years, until she was 16, when she was seriously injured in a fire. Left with significant physical and emotional scars, she always keeps her guard up, convinced people only see the damage she has sustained.

Two years later she meets Ben, an aspiring writer, the day before she’s moving to NYC from Los Angeles. Their chance encounter intrigues both of them and both are shocked by the intensity of their feelings for one another. They spend Fallon’s last day in LA together and then make a vow: they’ll meet for the next five years on the same day (November 9), no matter what their life is like. After five years, they’ll see if they’re ready for forever. But in the meantime, no contact with each other except that one day a year.

Each year finds them in different places, feeling different things, facing different obstacles. Can someone who doesn’t believe in “insta-love” let their guard down? Is that even realistic?

How much can your life be shaped by someone you’ve barely met? Will the feelings you have for one another intensify or die in the absence of regular contact?

"When you find love, you take it. You grab it with both hands and you do everything in your power not to let it go. You can't just walk away from it and expect it to linger until you're ready for it."

This book is romantic, tragic, frustrating, and beautiful. I love the way Colleen Hoover writes and this book kept me guessing a bit. I stayed up late to devour this one.

Bravo, CoHo!!

Book Review: "This Is How I Lied" by Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf's new thriller, This Is How I Lied, is not to be confused with Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied or any other thriller with the word "lied" in it.

If you’re looking for a slightly creepy thriller with some great twists, one that will have you flipping pages as you race toward the ending, stop. You’ve found it right here.

Twenty-five years ago, Maggie’s best friend Eve was murdered. Maggie and Eve’s troubled younger sister Nola found Eve’s body. There were a few suspects, including Nola herself, but the police were never able to close the case. Maggie’s father, who was the town police chief at the time, worked tirelessly to try and solve the murder, but failed. Maggie can't help but wonder if the stress of this case led to her father's dementia.

New evidence has been found at the scene of Eve’s murder, and the new police chief wants to retest all of the old evidence using new technology. Maggie, now a detective in her hometown, takes the case despite being seven months pregnant. (You betcha, I thought of Frances McDormand in Fargo, too.) She’s desperate to figure out what happened, and she hopes she won’t find her father missed something crucial.

But there are a lot of people with secrets related to Eve, both obvious ones and some who surprise Maggie. And there’s at least one person who wants Maggie to come to the conclusion they believe—and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure that happens.

This book hooked me from start to finish. As usual when I read thrillers I suspect everyone, and there were some people I hoped weren’t guilty. Heather Gudenkauf threw in lots of twists and they kept my heart racing.

One character is pretty creepy and has a bit of a penchant for not-quite animal torture. It's gross, but you can skim. (I did.)

I’ve always been curious about Gudenkauf’s books but never read one before, but if they’re all like this? Count me in.

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Park Row Books and NetGalley for making an advance copy of the book available in exchange for an unbiased review!

Book Review: "You and Me and Us" by Allison Hammer

I’m not sobbing, you’re sobbing.

Alexis knows she works too much and she has done so since she started her own ad firm a few years ago. She’s missed a lot of things like family dinners and school plays, but she knows Tommy, her supportive partner, will smooth everything over, especially with their teenage daughter CeCe, who is definitely at the stage of hating everything Alexis does or says. (She even hopes that the couple will split up so she can live with Tommy alone.)

When Tommy is diagnosed with terminal cancer and chooses not to fight it, everything Alexis has depended on is thrown into disarray. He wants to spend his last summer at their beach house in Destin, Florida, where they first met as children, so despite her concerns about his ex-wife, a television actress, being in Destin at the same time they will be, she can’t deny him this wish.

It’s not easy going from being the one taken care of to becoming the caretaker, especially when your daughter has such resentment for you. The worse Tommy’s condition gets, the more strained her relationship with CeCe gets, even though Alexis is (mostly) doing the best she can.

As you can imagine, this is a tremendously poignant book but it’s not maudlin. It’s a book that is tremendously genuine in its depiction of grief, facing the loss of your true love or your parent, and how hard it is to see someone who was so vital become so physically ill.

The one area I struggled with was CeCe. I understood her attitude toward Alexis, and know it’s probably accurate, but she was just so hurtful and mean sometimes I didn’t entirely enjoy reading scenes with her in them. Ultimately it got easier, but that was the sore spot for me in this book.

To be honest, it might not have been the best idea to read this book as the sixth anniversary of my dad’s death approaches, but I was really captivated by the beauty of the emotions Allison Hammer captured. Sure, my eyes were red afterward, but reading You and Me and Us was worth the emotional trauma.

Thanks to William Morrow Books for the Bookstagram giveaway through which I won a copy of this book!

Book Review: "Behind Every Lie" by Christina McDonald

In Behind Every Lie, a woman’s search for answers is complicated when she can’t trust her own memory.

The last thing Eva remembers is finding a knife in her hand and her mother’s body unconscious in front of her. But then the cops found her not far from her mother's house. It turns out she was struck by lightning and sustained a brain injury. And to top it off, her mother is dead and the cops suspect Eva.

She couldn’t have killed her mother, could she? They always had a prickly relationship, but why would she have killed her? As Eva tries to remember what happened that fateful night, she discovers that her mother had some secrets, but were they secrets worth killing for?

Against the advice of everyone—her fiancé, her family, her doctors, and the police—Eva goes to London to figure out what her mother was hiding. But when she gets too close, someone is willing to kill her to keep those secrets hidden. Is the truth worth the danger? And who is it that wants to keep her from finding it out?

There are a lot of twists in this book. One I figured out within the first few pages (which annoys me), but Christina McDonald kept throwing more twists and coincidences into the mix. It was confusing after a while and I had to reread part to be sure I understood.

The book's narration switches back and forth between Eva in the present and trying to make sense of that fateful night, and Kat, her mother, years later, so you understand her impetus for keeping secrets. I loved McDonald's last book, The Night Olivia Fell, so much, but although the emotional content of the story in this book resonated with me, it just didn’t appeal to me overall.

Lots of other people loved this, so I’m starting to wonder if thrillers are my jam. Don't be dissuaded by my review.

Book Review: "Into the Fire" by Gregg Hurwitz

The fifth book in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series, Into the Fire is a pulse-pounding thriller with emotional heft to it.

Evan Smoak has been moving since he was young. Pulled out of a foster home and recruited into a super-secret government program, he once was Orphan X, one of the most lethal assassins ever.

When he had enough of killing because people told him to, he reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man, a guardian angel for those in the most desperate of situations. He’ll do whatever it takes to help those truly needing the kind of help he can provide.

Max is that person. Living a desolate, lonely life, his cousin, a forensic accountant, was just brutally murdered. The same cousin who once gave him an envelope with a key in it and told him what to do in the event he died. And now people are looking for the key, some who are clearly evil and some who hide their evil deep below the surface. Max may not be happy with how his life turned out but he doesn't want to die yet.

What seems like a dangerous but fairly simple operation for Evan turns out to be anything but. And as the puzzle becomes more and more complicated—and deadly—to solve, he is torn between this mission of the Nowhere Man he gave himself and the desire for a “real” life.

"'Redemption' was an imperfect word for what he was seeking. Confronting the world with his own code, illuminating the darkness with the guttering light of his own morality—that was a process of becoming. Becoming less sharp. More human."

This is one of the best thriller series out there. Evan Smoak is such an incredible character and Gregg Hurwitz has created an amazingly complex world, and in doing so, has written a thriller series that balances incredible action scenes with rich character development.

I can’t wait to see where Hurwitz goes with this series. My thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

Book Review: "Ugly Love" by Colleen Hoover

"Love isn't always pretty, Tate. Sometimes you spend all your time hoping it'll eventually be something different. Something better. Then, before you know it, you're back to square one, and you lost your heart somewhere along the way."

When Tate first meets Miles, her initial impression isn't a positive one, despite how handsome he is. Of course, the fact that he's passed out in the doorway of her brother's apartment where she's about to move in—and so drunk that she can barely move him out of her way—doesn't help, and neither does the fact that he calls her "Rachel," and then starts to cry, asking for forgiveness.

All Tate can think is, "I have no idea who Rachel is or what he did to her, but if he's hurting this bad, I shudder to think what she's feeling."

Once Tate gets to know Miles, who is one of her brother's best friends, she can't stop thinking about how handsome he is, and how much she's attracted to him. But he remains a mystery to her, and even as the chemistry between the, intensifies, he doesn't show any interest in opening up to her, either emotionally or physically. However, once they're honest with another about their mutual attraction, but before they embark on a no-strings-attached relationship, Miles sets two basic ground rules:

"Don't ask about my past," he says firmly, "And never expect a future."

Since Tate is in nursing school and working around the clock otherwise, the idea of simply having sex with Miles sounds like a good one. She doesn't have time for a relationship and he doesn't want one—seems perfect, doesn't it? But she is unprepared for how she feels after they have sex, how she realizes she wants more of an emotional connection with Miles, and she doesn't like that he doesn't communicate with her unless he's in town, and isn't interested in even becoming real friends.

The deeper Tate falls for Miles, the more she wants to understand why he has put up such a barrier to letting himself get emotionally involved, to actually feel something deeply for another person. Yet he refuses to answer her questions, and the minute he senses she's getting too attached, he wants to end things rather than let down his guard, no matter how much it hurts Tate.

Is it truly possible to turn one's emotions off and not feel anything for a person you're in a sexual relationship with? Does a person ever truly "deserve" not to be happy? How willing can one person be to constantly let themselves be hurt? Colleen Hoover's Ugly Love is an emotional exploration of a woman fighting her attraction for a man determined not to fall in love with her, but she can't seem to understand why he keeps her at arm's length.

The book shifts narration between Tate in the present time and Miles about seven years earlier, so you can see how their relationship plays out and little by little, Hoover clues you in to what happened to Miles to make him act the way he does. It's an interesting juxtaposition, but the narrative style with which Hoover tells Miles' part of the story is a little odd, so it makes those chapters a little more difficult to comprehend.

This is now the third book of Hoover's I've read, and I'm so impressed with how easily she can draw you in to her stories and how she touches your emotions so completely. It is also super, super steamy, so for those of you who don't like to read a lot of sex scenes, you may want to pass on this one.

Ugly Love didn't quite have the emotional punch for me that This Ends with Us did, but it did make me cry, and I know it will stick in my head for a while. She's truly becoming one of my new favorite authors, even though I'm super late to the party!