Tag: fiction

Monica’s Musings: Expiration Dates

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

“But being surprised by life isn’t losing, it’s living. It’s messy and uncomfortable and complicated and beautiful. It’s life, all of it. The only way to get it wrong is to refuse to play.”
― Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates

Summary: Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

My Opinion: Once again, a book by Rebecca Serle does not disappoint! I thought this one would be a light, fluffy romance, but boy, was I wrong! This book was so much more. The concept of receiving notes that show how long a relationship will last is quite intriguing. I managed this one in a single session.

There were a few surprise twists that I did not see coming, but the best part for me was when Daphne stopped letting the pieces of paper dictate her life. She took control and realized you only have one life, so do what you want! I like how Serle writes because it is unique but not too wordy, and her books are always unique.

Check out my reviews of In Five Years and One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle too!

Monica’s Musings: End of Story

End of Story by A.J. Finn

“I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.”
― A.J. Finn, End of Story

Summary: So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story . . . living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana; his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine. Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life “detective fever.”

“You and I might even solve an old mystery or two.”

Twenty years earlier—on New Year’s Eve 1999—Sebastian’s first wife and teenage son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again. Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime? And why has he emerged from seclusion, two decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past?

“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”

As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian’s life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth . . . while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long-ago night. And when a corpse appears in the family’s koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn’t gone—it’s just waiting.

My Opinion: This book makes you slow down and pay attention to every detail. I highly recommend reading the physical copy, as I was confused multiple times throughout the audiobook. Pacing-wise, End of Story is a slow read, with an over-complicated plot. It tries to weave in too many strands that it ends up being hard to keep track of.

The last few chapters were interesting, but the rest of the book never grabbed me enough that I found it irresistible. If you have read The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, and enjoyed it, just be warned this is an entirely different type of book. Overall, I think this book was intriguing, but I do wish it had a little more going on in the first half to make it quicker paced.

Monica’s Musings: The Villa

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

“And in moments like this, when it’s just the two of them in their perfect cocoon, she doesn’t regret any of it.”
― Rachel Hawkins, The Villa

Summary: As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of the rock & roll lifestyle gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.

My thoughts: The Villa is a story told in two timelines, one being present day from the viewpoint of Emily. The second being in the 1970s from the viewpoint of Mari. It is a layered, suspenseful story, in both timelines. In the past, the mystery is straightforward: the who and the why of the murdered and murderer. In the present, the mysteries are more subtle: the tension in Emily’s relationships with Chess and with her soon-to-be ex-husband Matt. Both stories work individually, and each adds a bit of depth to the other.

Once again I am impressed with a Rachel Hawkins book! I definitely enjoy her writing style. Her stories are quickly paced and easy to follow. While this one was a little more straightforward, I found it just as eerie as her other works! For my reviews on Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs, click the links.

Monica’s Musings: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger

“What is it that they say? That thing about happy and unhappy families? That happiness is all the same, but misery is unique?”― Lisa Unger, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

Summary: Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller.

What could be more restful than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods with spectacular views, a hot tub, and a personal chef. Hannah’s generous brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It’ll be three couples on this trip with good food, good company, and lots of R&R. But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare.

A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated pasts, with secrets that run blood deep. How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?

My Thoughts: There are so many POVs in this, which is a bit daunting. Adding to the confusion, the characters do not seem to mesh with the main narrative of the luxury vacation. Plus, the prologue included a tense Christmas dinner involving the mysterious gift of DNA tests where no one claimed to be the gift provider. Simply put, there is a lot to grasp in this story.

Once the three couples get to the cabin, the cabin owner proves to be disturbing. Bad things start happening. Who is doing it? To what end?

I listened to the audio and enjoyed the story, but it might be better to read it instead. I had to rewind a few times, thinking I missed a thread. It is one of those thrillers that allows many open threads that ultimately come together to knit a nice ending!

Monica’s Musings: You Shouldn’t Have Come Here

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose

“It’s easy to be fooled by pretty things. We look at them and think something special went into creating them, like extra time was spent, like they are good because of their beauty. I rarely trust beautiful things.”
― Jeneva Rose, You Shouldn’t Have Come Here

Summary: Grace Evans, an overworked New Yorker looking for a total escape from her busy life, books an Air BnB on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. When she arrives, she’s pleasantly surprised to find that the owner is a handsome man by the name of Calvin Wells. But there are things Grace discovers that she’s not too pleased about; such as the lack of cell phone service, a missing woman, and a feeling that something isn’t right with the town.

Despite her uneasiness and misgivings from Calvin’s friends and family, the two grow close and start to fall for one another. However, as her departure date nears, things between them start to change for the worse. Grace grows wary of Calvin as his infatuation for her seems to turn into obsession. Calvin fears that Grace is hiding something from him.

Told from dual points of view, You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is a thrill ride and a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when you open up your house and your heart to a total stranger.

My Thoughts:  My head is still spinning at that crazy and out of nowhere ending, and I am unsure how I feel about. I thought I had it figured out, but I was so far off it was not even funny.

The first half of the book felt like a romance novel. A city girl heads to a ranch in Wyoming for a 10-day escape. The owner is good-looking, and suddenly, a love story is happening. After the halfway point, then we had a thriller. Just when you think you have it figured out, who and why, you haven’t. I think my favorite aspect of this story is the overwhelming sense of foreboding that starts at the beginning and doesn’t stop until the end.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Trade Off

The Trade Off by Sandie Jones

First line: “You’ve got a nerve showing up here,” he hisses, coming to an abrupt halt beside me as he leads the mourners back up the aisle.

Summary: Jess has just landed her dream job. She is going to be a real reporter for The Globe newspaper. With her new job she hopes to change the world with her reporting. But once she meets the infamous Stella, her boss and deputy editor, she sees that standing by her morals may be harder than she thinks. On her first assignment she learns that the underhanded ways of the paper can lead to some deadly consequences. How can she continue working at a place that puts sales over the lives of those they report on?

My Thoughts: I was not sure about requesting the newest Sandie Jones book. The last two books were just not that good. I wondered if it was time to move on but I am glad I picked this one up. It was a quick paced and shows the backstabbing nature of modern news outlets.

The two main characters seem to be night and day. Stella is the hardened reporter who will do whatever to get the big story. Jess is the rookie who still believes in justice and the truth no matter what. With the alternating chapters the reader sees the differences in how they deal with similar situations. But really how different are they? Both are women in a world dominated by men.

Reading this really made me think about how tabloids and clickbait is used to destroy people’s lives. How much can we really trust some of the “news” that is circulating all over social media? I think this will give readers a look at something we see every day but then question how these stories were tailored.

FYI: Suicide, rape and stalking.

Monica’s Musings: I Have Some Questions for You

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

“Just because you can’t picture someone doing something doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of it.”- Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You

Summary: A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past— her four miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict someone, did the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she had thought—if, perhaps, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

My Thoughts: Rebecca Makkai wrote Bodie in a way that perfectly shows how when you’re in so much pain yourself, you feel downright lonely. In those moments, you fail to notice that those around you feel the same way. Bodie is strong, resilient, flawed, and scarred by tragedy. All of which add to her character development.

Makkai shows the social dynamics between classes and genders while asking uncomfortable questions about victim narratives in order to gain status and attention. She tackles highly relevant topics such as gender norms, racism, “Me Too”, Covid, the justice system, misogyny, cancel culture, predatory behavior, and more, challenging our preconceptions and underlining the complexity of the real world

This story does have multiple timelines. In the beginning, you have a forty-four-year-old Bodie in the present, but the next minute you are in 2016, and then 2018, where the bulk of the novel took place. Additionally, there are multiple flashbacks to Bodie’s four school years at Granby (1991-1995) and a few from her childhood. And, these flashbacks and flash-forwards switched at the drop-of-a-hat or a scene that triggered something from Bodie’s past. Once I got into the groove, though, I enjoyed it. 

Monica’s Musings: A Flicker in the Dark

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

“It made me realize that monsters don’t hide in the woods; they aren’t shadows in the trees or invisible things lurking in darkened corners. No, the real monsters move in plain sight.”

― Stacy Willingham, A Flicker in the Dark

Summary: When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as the serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she worked so hard to get.

And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid and seeing parallels that are not really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

My Thoughts: I have never had so many guesses for how a book would end. It was fun to keep up with because I kept switching my prediction on who was guilty. The story is solid and structured in an interesting way, integrating Chloe’s past memories seamlessly into the current narrative, where she is either lost in thought, dreaming, or having flashbacks, rather than using the format of the past/present chapters.

I really liked all the characters. They were interesting, and each had something to hide. That helped add extra twists and turns. They all had a purpose, whether to confuse us or reveal more about Chloe’s past, traits, and fears.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Drift

The Drift by C. J. Tudor

First line: A watch alarm was beeping.

Summary: Told through three people trying to survive a blizzard in the middle of a pandemic.

Hannah, wakes up after a bus accident. Several people are dead and the bus is stuck in a snow drift. She does not remember how they got here and she has to decide how to help the survivors escape alive. But it appears that the escape methods have been tampered with, leaving the occupants without many options.

Meg, finds herself with other volunteers for the trials, stranded on a cable car, suspended high above a forest in the middle of snow storm. One person has already been killed while they were sleeping so it appears that there is a killer among them. They must out who the killer is and hope they don’t kill again before rescue comes.

Carter has been living at the Retreat for three years helping to keep the place running. The Retreat was once a ski resort but has since been commissioned for scientific research to try and cure the pandemic that is ravaging the world. But as a storm moves in they are increasingly plagued by power outages which could lead to even more dire circumstances.

My Thoughts: I love C. J. Tudor. Her books are always lots of fun and a wild ride. I read a majority of this one in a weekend. I spent hours on the couch in between laundry, diving into the this story that at times felt very close to home. We have recently lived through and are still dealing with repercussions of the Covid pandemic. Each story gave new insights in to the lives of the population and the nature of the illness. It sounds terrifying and once again very similar.

There are a few twists and turns throughout which I really enjoyed. The big one is one I figured out about half way through, before the reveal. I was happy that I caught it but I don’t believe it spoiled anything. I think it made me look at everything closer and pay more attention. I highly recommend this quick read because it will keep you interested and on the edge of your seat. The only thing that would have made my reading experience better was actually having February weather rather than 60s to help set the atmosphere.

Monica’s Musings: The People We Keep

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

“We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that’s the most important part.”
― Allison Larkin, The People We Keep

Summary: 

April lives in a motor-less motor home that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school and picking up shifts at Margo’s diner, she is left fending for herself in a town where she has never quite felt at home. When she “borrows” her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that is all hers.

As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she chronicles her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she came from does not dictate who she has to be. This lyrical tale is for anyone who has ever yearned for a found family or belonging.

My Thoughts: 

This is an emotional story, but it is sometimes problematic. I didn’t find April likable in some parts of the book, so it was hard to agree with all of her decisions. She did grow on me, but it took a while. This book discusses April’s relationships as a 16-year-old pretending that she is older. While the relationships were strange, they did add to the plot and help her character grow. 

As stated before, April eventually grew on me, and I felt for her and her situation. She meets some good people, and it is endearing to read. I found myself rooting for her by the end. While I felt that everything wrapped up a little too perfectly, I have to admit I did enjoy the journey overall.

*Spoiler Alert Below

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