Genre: Thriller


Monday, March 04, 2019

Review: City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

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Review: City of the Lost by Kelley ArmstrongCity of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong
Series: Rockton, #1
Published by Minotaur Books on January 14th 2016
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
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four-stars

Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

I’ve always been a fan of Kelley Armstrong ever since her Women of the Underworld series. While this one isn’t paranormal, it still has an air of fantasy in it when we’re taken into this secluded town where people go to escape their tragic or criminal past. 

This town is hidden from the world, and as you can guess comes with a side of mystery and even horror. Casey is brought there to try and find out why their people are disappearing and coming up murdered. The whole seclusion aspect makes this story so compelling and eerie. It’s sort of like a post-apocalyptic world where you have limited supplies and every skill is put to good use, and wandering off a bit too far from the edge means you’re likely to be eaten alive. 

The world is fantastically written, and so are the characters. Our mc is strong willed, stubborn, and sassy. She’s so easy to root for! I did find the side characters were hard to keep track of as there were many of them and they’re sometimes referred to by last name, other times by their first name. So it took me a while to differentiate between a few of them. But they’re all great characters with fun personalities that added a lot of humor and tension to the book. There was also romance thrown into the mix and I found it was in perfect balance to the plot and mystery of the book! 

Being brought into this ominous, yet charming town of Rockton was both exciting and shockingly horrific. I loved to get to know the many characters in Rockton and I’m happy that it isn’t over. I’ve already started on book 2!

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Not What I Wanted: #PrettyBoy Must Die by Kimberley Reid

Posted by on 02/21/2018 • 3 Comments

I wanted to love #PrettyBoy Must Die and I did NOT. It’s not even entirely easy to pin point where it went wrong and why I am not here salivating over its goodness? It’s got a teen CIA agent who is undercover, a mystery and some twists. My issue was that even though so many exciting things were happening in the story. I was not invested in the happenings. I did not care about the main character or the secondary characters and I didn’t really care about what was going on.

I didn’t passionately dislike or like the book so I basically have no idea how to rate it. Objectively, its not a terrible book but I do think that the writing might be part of the reason why I…

A Fun Read If A Little Romance Heavy: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Posted by on 10/11/2017 • 2 Comments

While I admittedly have some complex feelings about Anna and the French Kiss, I can wholeheartedly say that I enjoy Stephanie Perkins’ writing style and that when I heard about There’s Someone Inside Your House, I was extremely excited to see how her unique writing style would translate across genres.

It did take me a while to get into There’s Someone Inside Your House so it is slow-going but as soon as things started getting bloodier and gorier, I was HERE FOR IT and I just got sucked in.

While it does kind of suck it took me a while to get into There’s Someone Inside Your House, I think it also makes sense because it is drawing from the classic horror movie, Scream and classic horror movies take time…

Blog Tour: Like/Try/Why And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin

Posted by on 06/07/2017 • 5 Comments

Today Xpresso Reads is on the blog tour for AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR and I am going to be doing a round of Like/Try/Why. Lez goooo

Like Rocks Fall Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar –> Try And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin

Why: So ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES is actually a very underrated title that needs more love so I am trying to push both books with this rec. Both books have families that cannot be trusted, secrets and psychological thriller vibes.

Like Mystic River by Dennis Lehane –> Try And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin

Why: MYSTIC RIVER is somewhat of a classic psychological thriller AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR has similar vibes complete with bizarre twists you didn’t really think would occur.

Like Pretty…

The Infinite Variants of YA: The One Where Caleb Roehrig Chooses b/w an Alpaca and a Pony

Posted by on 03/28/2017 • 0 Comments

HELLO and welcome back to this fancy feature that Nick (Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist) and I are collaborating on! This month I have a really fun interview to share with the famously amazing Caleb Roehrig to share with you. He is hilarious and just as much fun to talk to as his book is to read! If you haven’t already read Last Seen Leaving, get on it because its a YA mystery you don’t want to miss. NOW. PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS UP (or flail around, I don’t have a preference) for Caleb Roehrig!!!

asdas

1. You’ve travelled A LOT. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you want to live and why?

Oh, man. I have definitely done a lot of travel, and I’ve…

A Fun Mystery: To Catch a Killer by Sheryl Scarborough

Posted by on 02/17/2017 • 6 Comments

This book has an unfortunate cover given that its insides are so different. To Catch a Killer as pitched as being great for fans of Veronica Mars yet this cover screams cheesy mystery. Luckily, To Catch a Killer is a well-written mystery that is fun to follow along and hella engaging. It is one of those books you are going to stay up reading saying just ONE MORE CHAPTER (spoiler alert, its never one more chapter, its usually the entire fucking book.)

Sometimes I’ll read mysteries and wonder how the MCs have the resources and ability to solve the big case just based on educated guesses but To Catch A Killer throws in forensics into the mix and everything is GREAT. EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE. I totally guessed the murderer a couple pages in but…

5 Reasons Why You Should Read Vicarious by Paula Stokes

Posted by on 08/24/2016 • 6 Comments

If you read Paula Stokes’ guest post on the blog the other day, you’ll know that it is not secret that she is a talented writer but Vicarious blows that out of the water. Liars, Inc. was the last thriller she wrote and one I rated 4.5 stars because of how amazing it but Vicarious is EVEN better and kept me EVEN more at the edge of my seat and holy crap the climax of this novel almost killed me. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Read Vicarious

1. The main character. Stokes’ always writes great characters and this book is no exception. Winter is a complex character with a backstory that will make you want to shelter her from the world. Winter is BADASS but her past has left a…

The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Posted by on 06/16/2016 • 3 Comments

Do you like Scandal? Do you like political thrillers? Do you like mind games? WELL. YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. But also, go read book one which is called The Fixer and is amazing.

So, if The Fixer made you swoon and made your heart beat faster and nearly killed you, I have some real bad news for you. It all gets worse in The Long Game. I had my feels shredded, my OTPs stomped on and my heart set on fire. I hope Jennifer Lynn Barnes at least feels a little bad about what she did to me.

Tess is still as amazing as always if a little more nosy than she should be. She thinks she is nothing like her sister but we all know…