Tag: mystery

Review: The Noise by Allison A.

~ likelystory18 ~ 1 Comment

Synopsis:

Angela Blau has a degenerative bone disease, but she was never warned her mind could deteriorate as well. There’s no other explanation for the footsteps coming from the second floor—footsteps her husband, Jack, never hears. And then there are the ghosts who attack her at night, and the townspeople who dig through the dirt like rabid animals and peer through her windows.

Maybe the ghosts and the townspeople are in her head—it wouldn’t be the first time she’s let her mind wander—but the noise has to be real, and she’d go up there and prove it if the stairs weren’t so rotted that she’d fall right through, Jack says.

Things get worse when Arlo, a lonely old man who lives “somewhere down the street,” reveals a violent crime that occurred on the second floor. Against Jack’s warnings, Arlo indulges Angela’s growing obsession and pushes her to discover the true source of the noise, who exactly the townspeople are, and whether a traumatic incident that occurred four months ago, an incident Angela refuses to talk about, is to blame for all of it.

Favorite Lines:

“Death is supposed to affect us, change us, make us see things differently. Don’t let anyone make you believe you need to ignore that.”

“But I used to tell them the same thing I tell myself: you don’t move on, you carry on, towards the reward of true love that will last an eternity. Everything else is just noise”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

I will admit I was a bit hesitant about this book because it seemed like it would be really spooky and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. As someone who has anxiety, which comes with paranoia, and also someone who hasn’t made up their mind about if they believe in ghosts and the supernatural, this book felt like it was going to feed my fears. 

Putting my fears aside, I devoured this book in one sitting. While this book was definitely spooky, the creepy ghosts were just a part of the equation and I found myself much more distracted by the suspense and mystery of what was happening to Angela. I was turning page after page trying to get answers to the burning questions that I had. The author did a great job keeping me at the edge of my seat and there was an awesome plot twist towards the end. Without giving any spoilers away, by the end of the book, I had tears streaming down my face; the author did an amazing job at evoking strong emotional reactions.

Summary:

Overall, I loved this book. It was very well written and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a book that has elements of the paranormal, a psychological thriller, suspense, mystery, and romance. Happy reading!

The Noise

 

Review: Hounds of Gaia by Sean M. Tirman

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Synopsis:

Foxhound doesn’t care about the gaps in her memory. Being a Contractor, a kind of spacefaring mercenary, keeps her occupied enough. Rather than dwelling, she rockets around the farthest reaches of the solar system, earning a steady paycheck hunting down ne’er-do-wells and enjoying a semblance of freedom most folks in the outer colonies can’t dream of.

So when she receives an urgent prisoner transfer request from a cult starship, she accepts the gig. She figures that transporting a bone marrow-eating serial killer from the cult’s colony back to Earth is just another well-paying job that’ll keep her mind off things. Upon discovering that the suspect in custody is an orphan girl—one that could pass for her much younger doppelgänger—she decides it’s time to get some answers.

But before she can piece together who the girl is, how their lives intertwine, and who orchestrated their implausible rendezvous, a group of violent prisoners aboard Foxhound’s starship breaks free. As the once-peaceful cultists take up arms in response, Foxhound teams up with her mechanized AI assistant and two of the cult’s wayward members to stop the barbaric escapees, elude the grasp of the cult’s radicalized leader, and protect and extract the mysterious, potentially dangerous girl.

Favorite Lines:

“We can’t change humanity but we can do our best to help as many in need as possible, especially those who cannot ask for it themselves.”

“Yet for all our goodness, all the wonderful things we created, it was not enough. Or perhaps a better way to put it was that it was too much. Our avarice, our greed, our wanton desires were killing the Earth, the only place we had to call home.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

I will start this review off by saying that sci-fi is not a usual genre for me, at least when it comes to books. I am, however, a sucker for sci-fi movies/tv shows and I think this book could make a great TV show/movie with multiple points of view coming together but we will get to that in a moment.

The beginning took a bit to get used to because there were a lot of character introductions and point of view changes. I felt like the scenes were flashing from one to the next at a rapid pace and somehow, they carried both a lot of detail and not enough at the same time. This is what made me think it could translate to the big screen well – if you wanted to keep viewers at the edge of their seats, you could dangle the carrot and leave them wanting more of that piece of the puzzle. 

I actually really enjoyed the background story of Earth’s history and how civilization came to be beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It is almost exactly how I imagine the future of the human race explores the stars.

There is a lot of mystery around Foxhound and Leila with Tirman ending the book on a somewhat foreseeable cliffhanger but somehow, I still wanted more. Tirman did a great job of answering some questions but leaving you with more. I would love more background on Foxhound’s backstory and how they got to where they are. What were their origins? Who are the hounds in Hounds of Gaia? 

Summary:

Overall, this was a really creative story that left me wanting answers to several questions I have after being left on a cliffhanger. If you like sci-fi, mystery, action, and adventure then this book could be for you.

Hounds of Gaia

Review: The Essence of Magic by Michelle Ermens

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Synopsis:

Hunted by strange creatures,

Desperate to protect her family,

Will finding magic help her keep them safe?

Thera has always known that she’s different from her loving human family. However, that would mean that she’s one of the specials, beings of legends – but how could it be, when no human has seen them for hundreds of years?

A visit from a masked stranger who warns her of danger, and an attack on her village shatter the life that she knew. She’s forced to flee with her mother and younger siblings and has no other choice but to enter special territory – a very dangerous place for humans to be.

They find temporary shelter in the home of a special named Raven, but they need more than temporary shelter. She needs a way to keep her family truly safe, she needs to be strong enough to be the one to protect them. The only way to do that might be to find the Magic’s Source and get some magic of her own.

Will she dare to seek it out? And if she does, what kind of magic will she receive? And will it be enough to keep her family safe?

Favorite Lines:

“I can sit in a library and learn from books whenever I want, but right now, I want to learn more about life and who I want to be, and I feel I can do that a lot better if I go with you.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book  from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m a sucker for fantasy stories and this book was no exception. Featuring a strong, brave main character with other lively, unique characters scattered throughout, Ermens did a good job bringing this story to life. There was also a major emphasis on family throughout the book which I think can get lost in other books but Ermens did a great job at holding true to the theme of family and the dynamics that take place in them.

This book had me hooked pretty early on; it doesn’t waste time introducing you to some action and mystery However, I will admit that this book wasn’t quite what I thought it was going to be, especially with more emphasis on character dynamics than I am used to but it was still an interesting story nonetheless. I also felt that the ending was a bit abrupt. The ending left room for more in the series but I felt like the scene was cut short mid-thought almost.

Summary:

Overall, if you like fantasy, magic, mystery, action, strong main characters, and family, then this book may be for  you. Happy reading!

The Essence of Magic

 

Review: The Bookseller’s Apprentice by Frances Evelyn

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Synopsis:

Time to choose your last book
Emily Brewster is an angel. Ask anyone she reads to at the hospice. So when she’s arrested for murder, it should be easy to clear her name. The only problem is, she thinks she might be guilty.

But what if death isn’t The End?

Favorite Lines:

“Sleeping better made everything less desperate”

“If we’re to push past the boundaries of knowledge, we can hardly expect our quest to be risk-free.”

My Opinion:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

I must admit, I found this book a bit hard to get into in the beginning. This is partly because I am not used to British literature and partly because I was thrown into a world with multiple characters that were introduced very early on and there are time jumps that took a bit to get used to all of which added up to me finding it difficult to get my footing at first but once I did, I found myself turning page after page to get the answers to my burning questions.

The story follows Emily, a woman who volunteers at hospice to read to patients in their final days until one day when she is arrested following a series of her patients dying. This sets us off on a path of mystery as we follow Emily through her journey to uncover the source of these deaths – leading her to discover that perhaps the source is herself.

Like I had mentioned above, once I found my grounding a bit more, I found this book to be really interesting. It was a refreshing plot with Evelyn doing a great job at storytelling and really focusing on the development of the story. Plus, I couldn’t resist a cat named Dumpling.

Summary: 

Overall, if you want a fictional, supernatural/magical, mysterious book with a fresh story that will keep you on your toes and that adds touches of history, then this book may be for you. Happy reading!

 

The Bookseller’s Apprentice