Book Review: Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
Local Woman Missing
Author: Mary Kubica
Published: May 18, 2021
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: March 2-8, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
People don’t just disappear without a trace….
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.
Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….
In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times best-selling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
Jessica’s Review:
Mary Kubica has mainly been a miss for me. I enjoyed her first novel The Good Girl but figured out the big reveal. And I like to have my mind blown and not figure ‘it’ out. I had read some of her other novels, but then decided she was not an author for me. Authors will not reach every reader. Then I heard about Local Woman Missing and it was seemingly getting good reviews, so I decided to give her one more try… And I am so glad I did! I was drawn in from the beginning and had no idea what direction it was going to go let alone what that ending would be! And that last 20%: OMG!!! That last portion of the book was very intense and I HAD to finish it!
Local Woman Missing has what I like in it: multiple narrators and we also have the two timelines: Present and 11 years ago. Are the missing women connected or not? Eleven years later how and why did Deliah return? And what secrets does she have?
The novel is far from perfect with the lack of believability in it and unanswered questions along with some decisions made by certain characters. I just enjoyed this novel for what it was and went for the ride. Local Woman Missing did have me forgive Mary Kubica, and if she writes a novel that interests me, I might read it.
I listened to the audiobook and there were multiple narrators, which also helped with my enjoyment of the novel.
Book Review: The Sacrament by Olaf Olafsson
The Sacrament
Author: Olaf Olafsson
Published: December 3, 2019
304 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 2.5 stars
Book Description:
A young nun is sent by the Vatican to investigate allegations of misconduct at a Catholic school in Iceland. During her time there, on a gray winter’s day, a young student at the school watches the school’s headmaster, Father August Franz, fall to his death from the church tower.
Two decades later, the child—now a grown man, haunted by the past—calls the nun back to the scene of the crime. Seeking peace and calm in her twilight years at a convent in France, she has no choice to make a trip to Iceland again, a trip that brings her former visit, as well as her years as a young woman in Paris, powerfully and sometimes painfully to life. In Paris, she met an Icelandic girl who she has not seen since, but whose acquaintance changed her life, a relationship she relives all while reckoning with the mystery of August Franz’s death and the abuses of power that may have brought it on.
Kim’s Review:
I just want paranormal horror stories filled with evil and demons and nuns and priests and old churches and cemeteries… is that really too much to ask?? And it looks like this book would deliver at least some of those, right? Wrong!! This is a book about sexual misconduct in the Church. And don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away, that becomes pretty obvious relatively quickly. Oh and the nun is a lesbian. There, that’s the book. The writing was pretty good and easy to follow, but that’s about the only good thing. The cover is also nice. But I was disappointed. That’s pretty much all I’ve got to say … sad, I know.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Apples Never Fall
Author: Liane Moriarty
Published: September 14, 2021
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: December 7-16, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 2.5 stars
Book Description:
The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .
If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?
This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.
The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?
The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.
One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.
Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.
Jessica’s Review:
I read The Husband’s Secret eight years ago and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to another of Liane Moriarty’s novels. I have one friend who adores her and reads all of her novels and was loving this one, the newest novel. I just wish I agreed with her.
Apples Never Fall has an interesting premise, but fell flat for me. It seemed too long and I was a little bit surprised with a couple of the twists, but not floored with shock. It just kind of seemed like “ok, next”. I will still be interested in reading Moriarty’s other novels and hope they work out better for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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