Tag: missing persons

What’s Ashley Reading?: You Belong Here

You Belong Here by Megan Miranda

First line: I knew how easily a story could shift.

Summary: Beckett grew up practically on the campus of Wyatt College. Her parents were professors at the college and it made sense to attend for her own education. Everything went smoothly until her senior year when two locals were killed on campus and her roommate went on the run for the murder. After these events Beckett left and rarely returned because the town never forgot and didn’t forgive the fact that she may have been involved.

Twenty years later, Beckett’s daughter secretly applies and receives a full scholarship to Wyatt College. Fighting against her fears for her daughter and the secrets of her past she allows her to attend. But then one weekend she receives a mysterious call and then the disappearance of her daughter draw her back to the town and the people who still blame her for what happened so long ago.

My Thoughts: Megan Miranda has been a very solid author. I usually rate her books a 3 or 4 star. They have good storylines and twists that can be shocking but at other times they fall a little flat. This one was a 3 star read for me. It took a while to get into the plot. I loved the short chapters and peeks into the past timeline. It helped explain things that were happening in the present and why Beckett felt the way she did about the town and college.

Having attended a small town college in rural Kansas there were things I could easily relate to. I pictured Tabor College in Hillsboro as I read, which was a fun addition to my reading journey. I also grew up going there for summer camps and visiting the town where family lived or for sporting events gave it this hometown feel. Having this book come out near the start of the school year is a perfect time as kids head to college. I think many will enjoy the plot and the atmosphere of the story.

What’s Ashley Reading?: She Didn’t See It Coming

She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena

First line: Bryden Frost is running late.

Summary: Bryden Frost has the perfect life. A loving husband, a luxury condo, a beautiful daughter and supportive friends but then one day she doesn’t show up to get her daughter from daycare. When her husband Sam comes home he finds her car, her wallet and no sign of foul play. It appears that she just vanished. As the police get involved pieces of their perfect life begin to fall apart. The police are now in a race against time to find her before it is too late.

My Thoughts: Several years ago I found Shari Lapena and really enjoyed her stories. She wrote good mysteries with lots of twists and turns. They felt fresh and intriguing. With this one I started out really liking the suspense of finding Bryden. I was invested in what happened because so much seemed off about the scenario but as the story kept on I slowly lost interest as I put the story together before the big reveal. I felt it was rather anti-climactic at the end.

In relation to the characters many of the people involved were horrible. As things are revealed there are lots of secrets in their pasts. It could easily have been multiple people for many reasons. Several parts of the plot seemed to be added just to have some filler because they did not seem to be resolved by the end. It was an okay story but definitely not my favorite of Lapena’s work.

FYI: Release date is July 29, 2025.

Monica’s Musings: House of Hollow

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

“You shouldn’t be afraid of the truth. It’ll set you free, right?”-Krystal Sutherland, House of Hollow

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

My Thoughts: Calling all fans of dark fairy tales! Right from the get-go, this story drew me in. While reading, the hairs on my arms stood up, and I lost my appetite several times at the many grotesque descriptions throughout. When I look for a creepy read, I do not aim to have the bejeezus scared out of me. Nor am I hoping to be so freaked out that I won’t sleep for a week and have to check every dark corner for fear of monsters. Rather, I want that perfect balance where a story is actually chilling, but it is also so much fun that I want more. And this book hits it right on the nose!

I loved how the story unfolded, with lots of little clues and happenings building up to a set of twists and turns. I’m not sure what I expected going in, but it sure wasn’t this. With its darkness and vivid imagery, this story feels like a fairy tale gone wrong.