Act of Murder

The Fury by Alex Michaelides is a well-written tell all of a murder.

Elliot recounts the events leading up to his dear friend and former movie star Lana’s murder. He introduces each person present the night of her murder which takes place on her private Greek island.

Spoilers ahead- Elliot’s background is revealed. He was unwanted and unloved by his parents, and bullied by his peers. He found comfort watching Lana’s movies. He was quite obsessed with her.

He somehow manages to get taken in by an older, alcoholic female author. This allows him to reinvent himself and eventually befriend Lana. He is in love with her but unable to be with her as she is married to Jason. Eventually, Elliot discovers that her husband is cheating with their friend Kate.

Elliot devises a scheme to get Jason out of the picture. However, things go quite differently than planned. The narration kept me intrigued throughout the story.

Crime Solvers

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is first in a crime mystery series.

Cassie learned the art of reading people from her gypsy-like mom. After her mom’s apparent murder/disappearance, she went to live with her paternal grandmother. She never quite felt that she belonged.

Enter an offer to join a special teen squad training with FBI agents. Each teen in the group, the naturals, offers a unique ability to help solve cold cases. Dean is a natural people profiler like Cassie, Michael can read emotions, Sloane is a statistician, and Lia is an expert lie detector (and pathological liar).

Cassie begins learning more about each of her peers. Some have seemingly more to hide than others.

A recent slew of murders seem connected to Cassie’s mom’s death. She can’t help but get involved, even though she may be the next victim. The story follows twists and turns before resolving the case.

Family Road Trip

Huda F. Cares by Huda Fahmy is a story about family and acceptance. It is a graphic novel.

Huda is on a road trip to Disney with her parents and three of her four sisters. Her parents split the sisters into differing pairs each day to explore the park. The only rule is to meet back for meals at the correct time.

Huda meets a possible friend, but struggles with her Muslim identity amidst a sometimes unaccepting public. Overall, she comes to better understand and respect her sisters while gaining confidence in herself.

Stealing the Script

Yellowface by R.F. Luang is a trippy story about a young woman, June, who soars into bestseller territory after stealing her “friend’s” manuscript.

June met Athena during their enrollment at Yale. Athena seems to have it all and becomes a renowned author early in her career. Meanwhile, June’s first book was a flop.

Spoilers ahead- June seizes the opportunity to turn her stasis around following Athena’s death. She achieves acclaim after finishing Athena’s draft about Chinese laborers during WWI. The aftermath shifts between the ups and downs of success: adoration as well as harsh criticism. Readers begin attacking June’s authenticity as a white woman writing about Chinese history and also begin questioning whether she is the true author.

This sends June on a spiral of paranoia and obsession with social media. Can she write the next big novel to erase the negativity, or is she only as good as Athena allowed her to be?

A solid read with plenty of interest and great writing albeit a bit repetitive toward the end.

Keep Fighting

The Women by Kristin Hannah brought me through a roller coaster of emotions.

Frankie is from a well off family living on Coronado island in California. Her upbringing included glorifying the veterans in her family. Her older brother Finley is about to follow the same path. He is leaving for Vietnam after graduating from the naval academy.

Frankie decides to use her recent nursing degree to enlist too. Shortly before she is scheduled to leave, her family receives the horrific news that Finley was killed. Now she is sent to Vietnam with her terrible grief and a drive to help men like her brother.

The story gives brutal detail about the horrors and loss of war. Frankie begins completely unprepared but after two years leaves as a strong, competent nurse.

Retuning home brings new challenges. Her parents refuse to acknowledge her time in Vietnam, Americans despise Vietnam veterans, and she is shunned by veteran groups because she’s a woman. Through love and loss, addiction and post traumatic stress, she has two fellow nurses that are her rocks.

It takes time, but she finds her way. This book kept me turning pages and appreciating friendship, and more importantly, our veterans.

No Trust

The Resort by Sara Ochs is a twisty murder mystery set on an island.

Cass and Brooke alternate chapters. Cass is one of the residents on the island in Thailand, and Brooke is a traveling social media influencer posting about her trip.

Cass is part of a group dubbed the Permanents. All found their way to the island to escape their pasts. Cass is engaged to Logan, one of the guys in their group. All should be great except for when a note appears threatening to reveal her past.

Brooke begins getting friendly with the Permanents, especially Cass. A tourist was murdered shortly before her arrival, and now another girl and guy are found dead.

Cass and Brooke both want to figure out who is responsible, but they’ll need to get over their own pasts and figure out who they can trust to accomplish this.

Love or Friendship

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead is book four of the Vampire Academy series.

In this one, Rose travels alone to Siberia to find Dmitri who was turned into a Strigoi at the end of book three. She aims to fulfill their promise to kill the other if they ever get turned.

Rose meets a group of humans called Alchemists whose role is to keep vampires hidden from the regular population. She also meets Dmitiri’s family and contemplates staying with them for good. However, her quest is stronger. She joins a rogue group of Dhampir to hunt Strigoi in hopes of finding Dmitri. Things don’t go as planned once she is captured.

Dmitri is determined to turn Rose and is feeding off her to keep her weakened and dependent on him. Meanwhile, she keeps tabs on events at the Academy by slipping into Lissa’s mind and through Adrian’s dream visits.

Spoilers- Rose senses that Lissa is in danger due to another Moroi spirit user named Avery. This is just the push she needs to come to her senses and fight back. She manages to get away, but now the Strigoi she was chasing is after her. A twist is that there may be someone who can heal Strigoi, but he’s related to Victor (the Moroi they just had imprisoned for life). This will mean leaving the Academy again for a seemingly impossible fairy tale.

I can’t wait to see where this goes in the next and final book of the series.

Undercover Game

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston is full of secrets and twists.

Lucca has spent years of her young adult life on various undercover missions for her unseen boss Mr. Smith. Her current job places her in a relationship with Ryan in order to get as much as intel as possible on his illegal trucking company. She realizes that Mr. Smith may be setting her up to make this her last job.

Events become a game of who can be the first to outsmart and build an arsenal of people to take down the other.

The author does a great job weaving the story by alternating between her present time with Ryan and flashing back to her missions from the past eight years.

This is a fast paced and highly interesting read that will appeal to anyone who loves a good spy/undercover type story.

Dark Aura

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead is book three of the Vampire Academy series (two more to go!).

Rose’s Strigoi kills in book two further enhance her shadow-kissed state. Now she is able to see ghosts and has a physical reaction when Strigoi are near. Mason’s ghost keeps appearing and she realizes he is trying to give her a warning. Her bond with Lissa has also changed. Now she is taking on Lissa’s negative emotions which is making Rose more violent at times.

They travel to the royal court for Victor’s trial. The Queen makes her intentions clear- she wants Lissa close by so she can monitor her. She also wants to keep her away from Christian so she can try to match her with her nephew Adrian. Rose and Dimitri’s relationship also progresses, but hits a major roadblock at the end.

Mason’s warning plays out in a massive battle against a large group of Strigoi who manage to break the wards and stage an attack within the Academy. Lives will be lost or turned to Strigoi. Rose decides to leave the Academy, which is where the story ends for now.

Battle Lessons

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros is book two in the Empyrean series.

I usually have a tough time staying interested in a series, but this is not one of those times. Book two kept me just as interested as the first book (Fourth Wing).

Violet and her friends are now in year two. Her relationship with Xaden is put to the test now that he is stationed at a far outpost. They are only able to see each other once a week because of their bonded dragons. She is working with him to smuggle weapons as they figure out their own relationship amidst secrets and the presence of his ex-girlfriend.

The school has a new commandant who is determined to break Violet. She is pushed nearly to death. New enemies (and one old) are also introduced. Violet is working on honing her abilities while also further developing bonds with her dragons, Andarna and Tairn.

Ultimately, events build to another rebellion and a final battle amongst venin and wyvern. Riders and fliers will need to overlook their differences in order to fight together.