Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Watching You by Lisa Jewell is chalk-full of suspense and has a twist at every turn. No one in Melville Heights is 100% who they say they are and they all have their own fair share of secrets that are hell-bent on getting out one way or the other.
I haven't read any of her other novels but I think I need to remedy that, and quick!

Joey, one of the central main characters, has just arrived in Melville Heights to stay with her brother and his wife until her and Alfie, her hubby she brought back from living abroad in Ibiza, can get on their own two feet.

Joey's felt like she's been lacking something her whole life but when she meets her next door neighbor who seems perfect to her in every way, her life gets twisted in ways she never could have imagined.

There are quite a few elements to this novel I like. The first being how perfect everything looks in the character's lives until slowly the facade begins to crack with every turn of the page. It's slow and methodical and Jewell really knows how to get us in the grips of suspense. The short chapters added to my ability to keep turning the pages, each chapter a slight cliff-hanger leaving me wanting more and more.

A second thing I liked was how the novel is told. Alternating voices between a decent amount of characters while somehow managing to give them all their own stories and flesh them out so they don't seem hollow is amazing to me. In 324 pages Jewell managed to give me everything I didn't even know I wanted in a novel all wrapped up in a bow. The incorporation of police transcripts of interviews done with some of the characters are thrown in sporadically was well-executed and I thought they were a good addition to the novel. This is a novel that switches between the present and the past but I promise it's not hard to follow in the least.

You can buy the book here!

 

Mythicals by Dennis Meredith

This was a pretty unique book. I feel like I've been picking a lot of those up recently and I am not disappointed at all. This was definitely a fresh breath of air from reading what's considered "popular."

Blurb: 

What if fairies, pixies, vampires, werewolves and ogres weren’t just legends—but real-life creatures living in disguise among the natives! And what if they decided those natives were ruining their planet’s ecology, and should be driven extinct?
In this riveting scifi/fairy tale, our hero joins with fairies, pixies, and other sympathizers in a fight to save the planet from the Mythicals, as well as the mysterious alien group called the Pilgrims, who have their own nefarious plans for the future of the world.
MYTHICALS is a rousing sci-fi fantasy where mythological and fairy tale creatures are not only real; they’re on a mission to make the planet their own.

Review:

Unique, intriguing, spell-binding. These are the first three words that come to mind when I started writing this review. I'd say they pretty much cover my feelings on MYTHICALS. Meredith has such a big imagination and that is what brought this amazing story to life. It's unlike anything I've ever read before and I appreciate the fact that I've gotten the chance to read it.

A thing I really enjoyed was the fact that the cast was so diverse. There's humans, fairies, pixies, trolls, vampires, even Bigfoot was included in this. They all have distinct voices and mannerisms and I adore how well thought out each individual species was.

Another thing I loved was the fact that the romance between Jack, our main character, and Sam, a pixie wasn't rushed or the main plot of the story. It's something that enhanced the book, not something that managed to overtake the actual plot which I think is a great quality to have in a writer.

A third thing I have to bring up is the fact that Meredith challenges us in his upcoming book. It weirdly parallels how we live and view different cultures even if it is about mythical creatures. A lot of tough issues are tackled like sexuality, global warming, politics among other topics heavily debated.

Don't expect a PG book if you're picking this one up either. It's for people with a sense of humor who can laugh at crude jokes and take minor explicit scenes with a grain of salt. None of it was overly explicit but it's definitely not a book for children.

Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean Hicks

Have you ever finished a book and after you finished it you had to sit it down and take a deep breath? Yeah, that was me with Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones.
It's a book unlike any other I've ever read before in my life.

The story centers around Jane, her brother Henry, her mom, dad, her boyfriend, an invasion of pig people, and ghosts.
The ghost that haunts Henry has the ability to make things unlike anyone has ever seen. Henry's latest experiment was the pig people. He actually managed to make walking, talking pigs.
Because they're different, this causes tension between the townsfolk and the ghosts feed off of it.

I don't know how to explain it other than to say that this book is heavy. Heavy on both my heart and my mind. An overall theme is "feelings" and my oh my are there so many of them. And you feel all of the feelings our characters are feeling right along with them. It's hard not to.
Hicks has the ability to pluck your heart out of your chest. He did with me during so many scenes in this book.
So many times I wanted to reach in and give some sort of comfort to Jane or Henry or the pig people. I even felt bad for the ghosts.

If you're looking for a book that's "different" because you're tired of the same old recycled ideas, pick this one up. At first you'll wonder how in the world you came to hold the book in your hands, then realize it's what you needed all along.

You can purchase the book from Amazon here.
Find out more about the author here.

Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

I woke up one morning to a pretty big box on my doorstep. Those always get me super excited! I had no idea what was going to be in it. I was pleasantly surprised!

There was bright red confetti laid out beautifully in it along with this book and some other bookish goodies. Pencils with this book and other book titles in the series printed on them, prints of the book covers (which I think are super pleasing to the eye), paper dolls you can make, as well as posters of the book covers you can color yourself! I really enjoyed getting the chance to participate in the "Kopp In A Box" campaign.

Girl Waits With Gun is about a woman and her two sisters who live by themselves out in the middle of nowhere after their mother passed on.
One day they end up getting into a collision with a group of rough and rowdy men and end up getting on their bad side. So ensues months of aggravation and harassment leading up to a final conclusion I think you'll be happy with. I was!

I very rarely read historical fiction but I really did enjoy myself with this one. The cast is so great and there's a lot of action. I especially love the fact that it's set in the 1900s and Constance doesn't give two hoots what a "woman" would do. She does what she feels is right and what she sets her mind to.

If you love female detectives, historical fiction, and a whole lot of "bad-assery", I highly recommend this book. I had no idea what to expect, but after reading the first one in the series, I know I'll be grabbing the rest of them. I am hooked on the Kopp sisters and their shenanigans. There's even ONE extra-illustrated version of Girl Waits With Gun here that I'm so sad I didn't get my hands on. It's beautiful!

You can find out more about the book here, and if you're interested you can buy it here. No proceeds go to me!