Book Review: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Sundial
Author: Catriona Ward
Published: March 1, 2022
304 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
You can’t escape what’s in your blood…
All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.
She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.
Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…
The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future.
Kim’s Review:
This is an odd one. I’m not sure why it was put in the horror section; I would classify it more as a thriller. I wasn’t actually scared by this book, but that twist was pretty crazy. There were too many annoying things in it for me to say that I liked it. I hated how Rob let her husband walk all over her; how Falcon didn’t raise the girls, just let them run wild; how Rob let Callie know that she preferred Annie … I was just too annoyed to really enjoy any of it. Honestly the only thing that saved this book was the twist; it was a struggle to get there, but it was twisty all right. I can’t really say that I’d recommend this book, but I also wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it. So it was just meh.
Purchase Links:
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Book Review: The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
The Chemist
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Narrator: Ellen Archer
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 12-22, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.
Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.
When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.
Jessica’s Review:
I listened to the audiobook version for a book club I am joining. I don’t think I would have ever picked it up on my own otherwise, but I am so glad I did!! I enjoyed The Chemist immensely. It has just about everything a reader could want: Action, thriller, a strong female lead who is tiny in stature, and there is even some romance! There is also the world’s best canine sidekick with the best name ever!
I had read the Twilight series as just about everyone else many years ago and had seen the movie The Host, but not read the novel, so I wasn’t sure where Meyer was going to go with The Chemist. I got a different novel than I was expecting based on the title, and I wasn’t really expecting much going in.
This was a good novel that kept me interested. I had figured one ‘twist’ out early thanks to me being a heavy thriller reader, and at first, I wasn’t sure about the novel. But I liked our female character, she can definitely do damage despite her size: In fact she can torture when needed and she is good at it too! For me the torture was just graphic enough to make the reader squirm just a little.
I liked all of our three main characters and main dog sidekick. The whole novel I kept thinking “Don’t let anything happen to the dog!” The Chemist is a fast-paced novel that would have kept me turning the pages if I had read the physical book. I never lost interest in what was coming next. I’m glad we had a strong female lead in this novel. This is a long novel at over 500 pages, but never lagged and worth the read. The audiobook was narrated by Ellen Archer and she brought the novel to life for me. The epilogue wrapped things up nicely. I don’t see there ever being another novel, so it brought a good conclusion to The Chemist for me.
Purchase Links:
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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.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK