The Rumor by Lesley Kara

A casual comment.

There’s a killer among us. 

That’s all it takes.

She stabbed little Robbie Harris. 

To change a life –

She’s living under a new name.

For ever.

She’s reformed. So they say . . . 

Joanna is going to regret the day she ever said a word.

π π π π

I think this was the longest it took me to read 260 pages. I was excited to start reading The Rumor and I thought I would fly through it. Boy was I wrong. It took me 5 nights to get through it all and at times I struggled to pick it up.

The Rumor is exactly what you think it is – a book about how a rumor can get started, build and build, and take over a community. I like rumors and drama, but this rumor wasn’t really that bad – a grown woman was supposedly living in their town who had served time after killing a child over 50 years ago. Sure, I wouldn’t want to be living next door to a child killer, but it was tame to what it could of been.

There was so many characters in this novel that I couldn’t keep everyone straight. You had the school moms that Joanna (our main character) wanted to be friends with, you had the book club moms, that she was friends with, and some moms of the moms. It was confusing and there wasn’t much to tell these women apart.

The good thing was that I didn’t see the ending coming. But by that point, I didn’t care too much about the characters and just wanted to be done with this long 260 page novel.

2 calculators out of a potential 5. I just couldn’t connect or get into The Rumor.

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The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer

There’s no safety in numbers . . .

Eve Singer needs death. With her career as a TV crime reporter flagging, she’ll do anything to satisfy her ghoulish audience.

The killer needs death too. He even advertises his macabre public performances, where he hopes to show the whole world the beauty of dying.

When he contacts Eve, she welcomes the chance to be first with the news from every gory scene. Until she realizes that the killer has two obsessions.

One is public murder.

And the other one is her . . . 

π π π π

I’m not a huge fan of reporter based mysteries, but with all of the great reviews on Goodreads, I decided to give The Beautiful Dead a chance. Sadly, it did remind me of why I don’t like reporters as the main character of a mystery. I feel that with reporters, it’s about the fame and the struggle between them and other reporters to get the best story. It’s less about the victims and solving the mystery.

I did like Eve as the main character and I loved her interactions with her father who is suffering from dementia. He was easily the best part of the novel. I didn’t love the mystery/serial killer portion since I was waiting for a twist to happen, but sadly it never did.

2 calculators out of a potential 5. Wasn’t the novel that I was expecting. More of a softer mystery that I will forget about by the end of the year.

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Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books I don’t talk about enough

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that Bionic Bookworm hosts.  Today’s topic is Top 5 books I don’t talk about enough

What is your top book that you don’t talk about?

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Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.

Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it’s naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way—a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did.

When they’re alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another.

To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.

π π π π

It’s no secret that I love reading about other people’s drama. So of course I knew I had to pick up a novel about playing the Never Have I Ever game, where you know that there are secrets to be spilled!

The novel really isn’t about the game, Never Have I Ever, it’s about how far you are willing to go to protect your secrets from the ones that you love. Amy has a secret and no one knows the full extend of her secret until a new neighour, Roux, appears. Roux threatens to expose Amy and Amy will do almost anything to protect her and her family.

I found that the story moved along at a quick pace. I thought I had the novel figured out at the 25% mark, but it was like the author knew that I thought I knew. So at the next chapter, my thoughts were completely wrong and I had to come up with a new theory.

The ending was one that I didn’t expect at all, but not sure if I enjoyed it completely. It went a bit sideways and was a pretty dark ending in my opinion. Well darker than I thought a novel about never have I ever would be.

3 calculators out of a potential 5. I enjoyed the novel, but it missed a certain something to get a higher rating. Will look out for the author’s future novels.

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I can’t wait for … The Last Widow (Will Trent #9) by Karin Slaughter (Can’t-Wait Wednesday)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we are excited about that we have yet to read. The book I can’t wait to read is this week is:

A mysterious kidnapping

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. Vanished into thin air, the authorities are desperate to save the doctor. 

A devastating explosion

One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast—followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta’s busiest and most important neighborhood’s has been bombed—the location of Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters, and the CDC.

A diabolical enemy

Medical examiner Sara Linton and her partner Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, rush to the scene—and into the heart of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to destroy thousands of innocent lives. When the assailants abduct Sara, Will goes undercover to save her and prevent a massacre—putting his own life on the line for the woman and the country he loves.

What novel are you excited to read? Let me know in the comments below!

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