Alaina Urquhart: The Butcher and the Wren

Alaina Urquhart shows that a serial kill will stop at nothing for the perfect kill:

Dr. Wren Muller is one of the best forensic pathologists out there, and there has not been a case that she has not been able to figure out the manner of death to help the police. Now there is something dark and evil lurking in the Louisiana bayou, one where the killer is using inventive ways to kill.

I might be in the minority here but I do not know Urquhart from their podcast. I have yet to get into podcasts as I do not have enough time for those and audiobooks so I didn’t have the expectations others had going into this book. Now that I know this fact, I feel there were certain aspects of the book that Urquhart could have done better.

I liked when "The Butcher" was being more the mad scientist with his methods and Urquhart took the time to for him to explain the method and where the idea came from. Those were The Butcher's more sinister moments. I felt like the Butcher had yet to find a complete MO for doing things, and kept trying different things which was interesting but at the same time he felt incomplete and kept changing a bit too much throughout the book. 

I think my favourite part of this book was that the major twist was in the middle of the book as I did not see it coming. It really changes the story, overall flow, and mystery aspects of the book. I really really enjoyed that Urquhart did this, as without it the book would just be very similar to other mystery/thriller books with serial killers.

I think that Urquhart did not take the time to truly flesh out the characters, even Wren as a main character. We are told very surface level information about her and her life, but nothing beyond that. We get a little bit of her personality, but nothing to let the reader really know Wren, especially with events that happen within the book.

There were times in regards to Wren's profession that Urquhart asked us to extend our belief's a little too much. I don’t think a forensic pathologist would be brought out on police operations, like hunting for a killer at a music festival. I'm not sure that she would be able to smell a body amongst all the other orders that would be there, especially as it was written that she was some distance away. And I am fairly certain that they do not attend crime scenes, pretty sure they wait for the body to be sent to them (this aspect I could forgive though, as I think many crime dramas do this). I just had higher expectations about these aspects after I found out that she was a true crime podcaster, you should know your stuff when it comes to crime and how they are investigated and who does what.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I would check out another book by Urquhart or if this book becomes a series with that ending? I just hope that Urquhart takes the time to flesh out the main and minor characters a bit more.

Enjoy!!!

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Elle Cosimano: Finlay Donovan Knock'em Dead

This is the second book in the series and to fully appreciate this one you need to read the first book Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Elle Cosimano is back with Finlay Donovan who may sometimes want her ex-husband dead but doesn’t want anyone else to kill him:

It starts with some back room Chats that Vero is looking at looking for the next job that Finlay should accept, even though the last one was a one time thing. At the livery least Vero chocks it up to research as Finlay seems to have writers block for the next book in her series. When Vero stumbles upon a hit on Finlay’s ex-husband Steven she knows she has to do what she can to prevent, but before she can accept the hit, someone beats her to it. Determined to protect Steven, figure who the other hit woman is and who took out the hit on Steven, Finlay has her work cut out for her and she needs to get it down before the deadline of her book.

Sometimes it is hard to right a sequel to an amazing book that many have loved. It is often compared to the first one, was it as good? Funny enough? And I am happy to say that Cosimano did not disappoint with this book.

I really love this series as it is me laugh but also that Cosimano is also able to weave an interesting mystery throughout the book. Like who did put out a hit on Finlay’s ex-husband and the lengths and antics that Finlay and Vero go to had me laughing a lot, maybe not as much as the first but one still pretty close.

I honestly did not mind the romance in the book as Finlay really does not know how to date, so everything is a bit of a train wreck. I’m not a fan of the love triangle that is playing out but I can live with it as long as it doesn’t become the sole focus of the story.

I like that Finlay is able to take what is happening in her real life and translate it, in a way, to her next novel as it makes Finlay feel more real. But then part of me questions how long Finlay (and Cosimano) can keep this up before someone really get hurt (Finlay) or the ideas become stale (Cosimano).

This book is a fun easy mystery read that not only keeps you on the edge of your seat but also laughing out loud. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series

Enjoy!!!!

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Ainslie Hogarth: Motherthing

Ainslie Hograth shows what happens when a mother in law decides to continue medaling even after death: 

Abby has always been searching for someone to love her ever since she was a child. When her an Ralph fall in love, she is not only happy to have Ralph's love but hopefully the love of his mother, Laura, as well even though Abby knows the history with Ralph. When Laura takes her own life, Abby thinks that her an Ralph can now focus on their own lives, maybe start a family but Laura has other ideas. Laura begins to haunt the house, determined to keep Ralph to herself and plunge him further into depressive state and to haunt Abby so that she destroy every ounce of love she has to give. This forces Abby to come up with a chilling plan to break Laura's hold and save everything she loves.

I like the concept/premise of this book, literally Mother-in-Law from Hell that does not even leave the happy couple alone after her death. She decides to haunt them instead as she wasn’t content to make their life miserable while she was alive she had to do it in her afterlife as well. Now with this premise it could go a few way with it being a horror novel (as it is touted to be) or a dark comedic book but for some reason it never really reaches either of these aspects. 

I didn’t mind how the book was written, I actually liked the scenes that Abby would play out in her head with her conversations with Laura and Cal, as well as the flashbacks we got. What I really had a problem with was the similes and metaphors that Hogarth put throughout the book. I'm talking that sometime there would be 3 on the page, it just felt like Hogarth was almost trying too hard, trying to be too descriptive when she didn't need to be.

Especially at the beginning I felt like this book was a bit tone deaf at times when it came to mental health and mental health issues. Like stating a wife’s duty is to cure their husband of their depression (pg. 48 if you wondering where). Depression is not something that can be vanquished or conquered, it is something that is part of a person for life. I’m just not sure if Hogarth, wrote Abby not being aware of depression, even though her and Ralph have been together for quite awhile, that you would think she would have a better ways or mechanism to help not only herself but Ralph as well or if Hogarth herself did not understand mental health/depression. Granted Abby is also dealing (but not dealing) with her own mental health issues and cannot fault some of the actions she chose to take but I think from the beginning it left a bad taste in my mouth. Also the fact that they agree to move in with Laura in the first place, with her history of manipulation and previously causing Ralph to go into a depressive state baffles me. They both know that it is bad for Ralph, yet do it any ways, why are these people not thinking straight?

I think that the scariest thing within this book is people not seeking help for their mental health issues or sticking to the plans/boundaries that have been working for them. Abby, who has suffered a long time in silence, that it leads to some very irrational actions. I think this will be a book people will either enjoy this book or not, especially if people go in thinking that it is a traditional horror book, which it is not, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had been, it a pretty heavy read with an intense focus on mental health/depression that I was not prepared for.

Cheers!!!!

Normally I would put books to read instead of this one, not sure I have anything in the same realm as this book, so I'm going to forgo that aspect of my review this time around.

Hailey Edwards: Black Hat White Witch

Hailey Edwards show that one's past and investigations will always come back to haunt you:

Rue was once part of an organization that the only way out was in a body bag, but Rue had found a way out that did no include a body bag. At least she thought she did until the Black Hat shows up where she had been hiding for 10 years. Her former partner, Clay, is happy to see her (he thought she was dead) but he is there to tell her that the Silver Stag paranormal Serial Killer is back in the form of a copy cat. No one knew the Silver Stag better than Rue and now she is pulled back into the Black Hat world one she ran from and has been hiding from for Rue has her own secrets that she needs to keep safe.

This was a good urban fantasy, I liked the overall investigation and story I just wish that is was darker as I felt that it had the ability to be. It even had a disclaimer at the beginning that it featured mature themes, so I was thinking that it was going to be a lot darker than it was. It was not, I would say normal content for an adult book. We have all these magical creatures and humans are none the wiser about them and we have an agency that hunts down the bad ones. But those who hunt them down are seen as bad as well in a way? I mean I like the concept but i was hoping that the characters would be a bit more morally Grey in a way. And once again darker.

I liked that Edwards featured different creatures, and Clay as  golem was pretty unique (I don't think I have read a book where a golem was one of the main characters) and the transformation of Colby and what she became was really interesting as well.

Rue was a fine character, I mean you root for her, especially after you hear about her and Colby's past together, but I just didn't find her that much of a standout in the present, the past Rue sounds badass. On thing that was not explained as why she stopped eating hearts. She was only eating the hearts of bad people and by doing so she would get more powerful, but does it become the more hearts she eats the more she craves them? Even innocent ones? I mean if she is only eating bad guys hearts then why not?

I could have done without (what will undoubtable turn into) relationship/tension/attraction between, I just didn't get the attraction other than Rue's obsession with Asa's hair. I don't know how many times I had to read about his hair but it was a few too many. Also it seems like Asa's demon half has chosen Rue, so we have that troupe coming soon I think. 

There is not really any world building that occurs in this book. All we know is that there is a lot of paranormal creatures in this world and the humans seem to not be the wiser.

This was a good read and kept me entertained enough that I will check out the second book in the series and hopefully the "mature" content catches up to the series then.

Enjoy!!!!

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B. A. Paris: The Prisoner

B.A. Paris looks as....I don't even know what to put here, this book was just a train wreck

Normally I would write what I think the synopsis of the book should be as sometimes what is on the book is misleading, but I just can't with this book as I'm not 100% sure what is going on other than a woman is kidnapped and all this stuff before happened that we don't get much about.

I have been wanting Paris to capture what she had in her debut novel Behind Closed Doors and I am sad to say that Paris was not able to succeed in this book. If this book would have been longer, I would not have finished it and unless by making it longer it became a more complete novel.

This did not feel like a full novel as it jumps around A LOT and we get random bits of information here and there and you wonder how we get there. In one of the past she is an orphan living on the streets and follows a lady home from having a coffee and the next chapter they are older and friends, like wtf.

It feels like Paris had all of these ideas but no idea how to connect them together, I felt like I was reading a first draft of this book and she was struggling to write a full novel. I mean the guts of the book is there, but there was random shifts of information, that would come out of left field that I did not see them as twists but just slaps in the face of this new info and why didn't we get this information earlier or lead up to in the past parts. I kept thinking that I have missed something and had to back track to make sure I had not. What do mean this person is dead? When did they die? When did this go down? I don't think I have said WTF in regards to a book in a long time.

Don't get me started on the ending, just when we are supposed to get what happened and why it happened in more depth readers do get to be part of the conversation.

Sorry Paris but I am done with reading your books. It pains me to say that as I have always been excited to read them and hope you could regain your magic but you have not been able to. I have read all of the books you have released (except the Therapist) and they have just not hit the mark each time (though I did think that The Breakdown was okay). On to the next book and author, I'll keep recommending Behind Closed Doors but that is it.

Cheers!!!

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Mira Grant: Rolling in The Deep

Mira Grant shows what happens when humans go searching for things thought to be myths:

The Imagine TV Network is wanting to get into the documentary game, though most would see the venture they are currently going on is a mockumentary as the team set out to the Marianas Trench in search of Mermaids. And they will find Mermaids, whether they are real or fake. What the team on the boat were not expecting was to actually find Mermaids and for them to have teeth and a taste for Blood.

This is the novella to the book Fear the Drowning Deep which I read a few years ago, it is fantastic non-Disney look at mermaids and this one is no different. While Grant makes reference to the footage, this book fully details the carnage that took place on the video. Thank said i think to fully enjoy the full novel i would recommend still reading Fear the Drowning Deep first as if you read this one, it takes away a bit of the suspense and what is going to happen.

As this is a novella there is not a lot of character development that goes on, plus Grant has multiple POV in the book, but I do not think that this took away from the story as all the people that Grant chooses to feature are very different. You have the captain who wants to make sure everything runs smoothly, a new deckhand who is hoping to sell some extra footage and spoilers of the show they are trying to make, the documentary host, scientists who are trying to make a name for themself and some of the mermaids (those brought on by the media company just to make sure that there are some mermaids in the documentary). 

I like that this book and Fear the Drowning Deep plays on the idea that we have not explored all of our ocean and some of the creatures that were spoken of old, and I really like that idea as I have not read too many books that play on that. Plus i don't think people are really doing mermaids any more, they have gone out of "fashion" but i personally hope they come back, but more like this and not the Disney one (but if the new live action Little Mermaid can make this happen I am all for it).

As I had read the previous book I knew how this one was going to end, but I was okay with that. I was still sucked into the story.

I'm a fan of this novella and Mira Grant and I really do need to read more by her and I highly recommend Fear the Drowning Deep and Rolling in the Deep.

Enjoy!!!!

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