Book Reviews

Speed Dating Books: 2024 Edition #bookreviews

I read a boatload of books for April’s book review selection, but some just didn’t make the cut. Usually, this would be my A-Z’s Z post, but I decided to read more books for the challenge instead. These books, I read so fast, especially series starters, that it was a lot like speed dating. LOL. Here are the reviews, in no particular order.

About the Book

I’ll start with a series I won’t read further. I read “Once Upon a Kiss” in 2023, “Once Upon a Curse” and “Once Upon a Wish” in 2024 for the April A-Z Challenge, and honestly, I’m not too impressed. (Click the links to read my reviews.) So I’m not going to continue the “Once Upon” anthologies. I know anthologies are usually a hit-and-miss, but I read a couple this year and I’ve decided to discontinue reading anthologies until further notice.

About the Book

Bite of the Past by Laura Greenwood

When Catherine encounters a man from her past, her life is turned upside down.

Outcast from vampire society hundreds of years ago, Catherine hasn’t let anyone stand in her way of succeeding. As one of the most successful madams in the City Of Blood, she’s made a name for herself.

But when she finds her first love in her waiting room, she is forced to confront the reasons she was thrown out of vampire society in the first place.

Is Benedict worth risking her heart for a second time?


Bite Of The Past is a second chance vampire paranormal romance. It can be read as a standalone and is set in the City Of Blood.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Interesting worldbuilding. But I’m not feeling it.

DNF 15%

About the Book

The Dryad’s Pawprint (Parnormal Council #1) by Laura Greenwood

He’ll give up his happiness to help his people – but can he give up his soulmate?When Kem is called before the Shifter Council, he’s told he needs to marry to secure an alliance for them. There’s only one problem; a year ago he met a woman he can’t forget. After meeting a mystery man a year ago, Lia has a secret. One that she can’t even tell her sister, Aella. When fate brings the two of the back together, even the most carefully laid plans get disrupted. Book 1 of the Paranormal Council Novella Series. A shifter romance with a standalone couple.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

An interesting shifter story with worldbuilding that intrigues. But: as a romance, it didn’t hit the mark. There are steamy scenes galore, but no heart. I won’t be continuing the series.

3 unicorn star rating

DNF Series

About the Book

Catching a Vampire (Grimalkin Academy: Catacombs #1) by Laura Greenwood

Studying at Grimalkin has been Daphne’s dream since she was a little girl.

With her best friend unable to do the simplest spells, her brother determined to find an old family spell to turn them into cats, and hot dates with a vampire, her hands are full enough. Add to that two other guys trying to get her attention, and a teacher that seems to hate her, and Daphne’s school year isn’t quite going to plan…


Catching A Vampire is a slow burn paranormal academy with a reverse harem theme. It is book one of the Grimalkin Academy: Catacombs.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

A cute story with interesting worldbuilding and promise – but there’s something missing. I won’t be continuing the series.

3 unicorn star rating

DNF series

About the Book

Heir to the Throne (Heir to the Throne #1) by Neha Yazmin

Only the worthy can take the Throne…

In the Kingdom of Adgar, the King or Queen’s firstborn is not automatically named Heir to the throne; any of their children can become the next ruler of the land. If they are deemed worthy.

17-year-old Aaryana has competed against her siblings from a young age and is a firm favourite to take the Throne. However, just days before her father is expected to name her his Heir, a scheme is devised to not only take Aaryana out of the running, but also to ruin her reputation completely.

Will her enemies succeed in cheating her out of the throne that she was destined for or will Aaryana and her friends manage to save her from disgrace?

Heir to the Throne is a new epic high fantasy that’s perfect if you’re getting Game of Thrones withdrawal symptoms or missing the Throne of Glass series.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

The obviously drugged princess, the near-rape of the maid servant, the slimy bastard behind it all… Just no. Right now it’s quite triggering.

DNF 2%

1 unicorn star rating

DNF series

About the Book

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

A visionary technothriller about climate change.

Neal Stephenson’s sweeping, prescient new novel transports readers to a near-future world where the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.

One man has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied?

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Felt like I was reading a flying manual with a bit of interesting weather titbits thrown in… Though I like the premise, the writing didn’t hook me.

DNF 1%

1 unicorn star rating

About the Book

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Young Daine’s knack with horses gets her a job helping the royal horsemistress drive a herd of ponies to Tortall. Soon it becomes clear that Daine’s talent, as much as she struggles to hide it, is downright magical. Horses and other animals not only obey, but listen to her words. Daine, though, will have to learn to trust humans before she can come to terms with her powers, her past, and herself.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I’ve been looking forward to reading this one for a while and though the detail surrounding the horses were awesome, the writing style didn’t draw me in.

DNF 4%

1 unicorn star rating

DNF series

About the Book

Green Rider (Green Rider #1) by Kristen Britain

On her long journey home from school after a fight which will surely lead to her expulsion, Karigan G’ladheon ponders her future as she trudges through the immense forest called Green Cloak. But her thoughts are interrupted by the clattering of hooves as a galloping horse bursts from the woods, the rider slumped over his mount’s neck, impaled by two black-shafted arrows. As the young man lies dying on the road, he tells Karigan that he is a Green Rider, one of the legendary messengers of the king, and that he bears a “life and death” message for King Zachary. He begs Karigan to carry his message, warning her not to read it, and when she reluctantly agrees, he makes her swear on his sword to complete his mission “for love of country.” As he bestows upon her the golden winged-horse brooch which is the symbol of his office, he whispers on his dying breath, “Beware the shadow man…”

Karigan’s promise changes her life forever. Pursued by unknown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, and accompanied by the silent specter of the original messenger, she herself becomes a legendary Green Rider. Caught up in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand, Karigan is hounded by dark beings bent on seeing that the message, and its reluctant carrier, never reach their destination.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Interesting world-building and vivid descriptions. Not too keen on the MC – calling the horse rotten didn’t endear her to me. I do like the Horse, though, and the mystery surrounding the country’s past. The horse riding scenes were good.

I liked the Berry sisters, but the sudden weird info dump in the library brought me to the end of my patience.

DNF 14%

1 unicorn star rating

DNF series

About the Book

The Marrying Type (The Man Catalog #1) by Megan Morgan

Need a date? Or a temporary boyfriend? How about a husband in a hurry? The professionals at SASS—Singles Arrangement Service Specialists—are here to help.

Libby Dawson has spent her life under the crushing thumb of her controlling father. She wants to escape, which would be easier if she had her half million-dollar trust fund first. However, she can’t have it unless she’s married by twenty-three—six months from now.

Blaine Parker is a savvy but disillusioned stockbroker. Tired of the cutthroat business world, he’s used his genius financial skills to secure most of the funds to retire by thirty. He just needs one more investment to get out forever—and he doesn’t mind selling himself for it.

Brought together by SASS, Libby and Blaine make a complimentary team. However, attraction and emotion—including love—isn’t a promised part of the deal. They soon discover it’s just a bonus.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I like the premise, but too many daddy-issues.

DNF 7%

1 unicorn star rating

DNF Series

About the Book

Misery by Stephen King

Paul Sheldon. He’s a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I’ve heard a lot about this book that made me want to read it, but the imagery used just grossed me out.

DNF 2%

1 unicorn star rating

About the Book

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

It’s an odd book that takes a bit of time to get used to: various formats, chapters, etc. And I was willing to try – until Olly started using the Lord’s name as an expletive. Just no.

DNF page 60

1 unicorn star rating

About the Book

The Necromancer’s Daughter by D. Wallace Peach

A healer with the talent to unravel death. A stillborn child brought to life. A father lusting for vengeance. And a son torn between justice, faith, and love. Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the nature of good and evil, the lengths they will go to survive, and what they are willing to lose.

A healer and dabbler in the dark arts of life and death, Barus is as gnarled as an ancient tree. Forgotten in the chaos of the dying queen’s chamber, he spirits away her stillborn infant and in a hovel at the meadow’s edge, breathes life into the wisp of a child. He names her Aster for the lea’s white flowers. Raised as his daughter, she, too, learns to heal death.

Denied a living heir, the widowed king spies from a distance. But he heeds the claims of the fiery Vicar of the Red Order—in the eyes of the Blessed One, Aster is an abomination, and to embrace the evil of resurrection will doom his rule.

As the king’s life nears its end, he defies the vicar’s warning and summons the necromancer’s daughter. For his boldness, he falls to an assassin’s blade. Armed with righteousness and iron-clad conviction, the Order’s brothers ride into the leas to cleanse the land of evil.

To save her father’s life, Aster leads them beyond Verdane’s wall into the Forest of Silvern Cats, a wilderness of dragons and barbarian tribes. Unprepared for a world rife with danger and unchecked power, a world divided by those who practice magic and those who hunt them, she must choose whether to trust the one man offering her aid, the one man most likely to betray her—her enemy’s son.

From best-selling fantasy author D. Wallace Peach comes a retelling of the legend of Kwan-yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Set in a winter world of dragons, intrigue, and magic, The Necromancer’s Daughter is a story about duty, defiance, cruelty, and sacrifice— an epic tale of compassion and deep abiding love where good and evil aren’t what they seem.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I wanted to like this book. A friend recommended it a while back and it sounded like something I might enjoy. But the hatred, violence, blood and vomiting overpowers the thin storyline to such a degree that the book isn’t enjoyable. The first part is basically a prologue and even when the story really starts, there’s nothing there to keep me reading – not even the dragons could balance out the things that bothered me.

DNF 16%

1 unicorn star rating

About the Book

Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert

In her award-winning novel, Mostert blends alchemy, the art of memory, high magic and murder to create a highly original psychological thriller. Gabriel Blackstone is a cool, hip, thoroughly twenty-first century Londoner with an unusual talent. A computer hacker by trade, he is also a remote able to ‘slam a ride’ through the minds of others. But he uses his gift only reluctantly — until he is contacted by an ex-lover who begs him to find her step-son, last seen months earlier in the company of two sisters. And so Gabriel visits Monk House, a place where time seems to stand still, and where the rooms are dominated by the coded symbol of a cross and circle. As winter closes in, Gabriel becomes increasingly bewitched by the house, and by its owners, the beautiful and mysterious Monk sisters. But even as he falls in love, he knows that one of them is a killer. But which one? And what is the secret they are so determined to protect?

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

It starts with someone who had a stroke, drowning in a swimming pool. Then moves on to an information broker (hacker) and then a flashback of him in a clairvoyance meeting. Yeah, I’m not feeling it.

DNF 7%

1 unicorn star rating

About the Book

Severance by Ling Ma

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale and satire.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Not what I expected and the style put me off.

DNF 4%

About the Book

Midlife Wolf Bite (Accidental Alpha #1) by Carissa Andrews

Midlife can bite me.

I could have lived out the rest of my days blissfully ignorant of the underground supernatural world. After all, being over forty, getting a divorce, and starting over is nuts enough.

But instead, I was bitten by a dying Alpha, and now I’m inadvertently thrust into the middle of his divided werewolf pack & their civil war. It’s basically me and my ex, but with more death and mayhem, if that’s even possible.

With new powers emerging & the urge to shift imminent, I’m being forced to make some tough decisions. Like, do I even want to be a werewolf? Not that there’s much of a choice there.

To make matters worse, I’m falling for the pack’s sexy Omega. Totally not planned, let me tell you.

This entire fiasco is putting me and my two kids in harm’s way and if there’s one thing this middle-aged mom won’t stand for – it’s any more jerks screwing with their lives.

Time for everyone to fall in line. There’s a new Alpha in charge and she’s got her big girl panties on.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

The blurb intrigued, but the language and the MC’s clear lack of sense irritated me.

DNF 8%

DNF series

About the Book

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seeing Red comes a suspense novel about a woman trapped in a remote cabin with a man who may be a serial killer.

Five women are missing from the sleepy mountain town of Cleary, North Carolina, and a blue ribbon has been left near where each woman was last seen. Lilly Martin has returned to Cleary to close the sale of her cabin. But when her car skids and strikes a stranger, Ben Tierney, as he emerges from the woods, they’ve no choice but to wait out a brutal blizzard in the cabin. And as the hours of their confinement mount, Lilly wonders if the greater threat to her safety isn’t the storm, but the stranger beside her….

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

There should be a trigger warning for the MC’s ex-husband. Creep.

DNF 3%

About the Book

Loving Lady Lazuli (London Jewel Thieves #1) by Shehanne Moore

A woman not even the ghost of Sapphire can haunt. A man who knows exactly who she is.

Only one man in England can identify her. Unfortunately he’s living next door.

Ten years ago sixteen year old Sapphire, the greatest jewel thief England has ever known, ruined Lord Devorlane Hawley’s life by planting a stolen necklace on him. Now she’s dead and buried, all Cassidy Armstrong wants is the chance to prove she was never that girl.

But her new neighbor is hell-bent on revenge and his word can bring her down. So when he asks her to be his mistress, or leave the county with a price on her head, Sapphire, who hates being owned, must decide…

What’s left for a woman with nowhere else to go, but to stay exactly where she is?

And hope, that when it comes to neigbors Devorlane Hawley won’t prove to be the one from hell.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

Not a fan of the language or tone.

DNF 2%

DNF series

About the Book

In the Eye of the Beholder by Sharon E Cathcart

When French equestrian Claire Delacroix loses her fiance in a tragic accident, she comes to live at the Paris Opera during its 1890s heyday. Whilst working at the opera, she meets a mysterious, masked stranger: Erik. Is it possible that the two of them will heal the pain of each other’s past?

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I liked the premise when the author did a month-long blogging challenge about the book and shared excerpts and other behind-the-scenes stuff. I mean, horses and the Phantom of the Opera – what’s not to love?

I DNFed at the end of chapter 16 (I read the paperback as the blogposts had me excited about the book and pre-COVID I preferred paperbacks). Though I quickly read the opening chapters (all about horses, life in the opera house, and being secretly wooed by the Phantom), at some point their relationship became all about sex, and though mentioned that they were courting, none of the romance was shown; instead heavily leaning on your previous infatuation with the Phantom from books, movies and theatre.

Too bad, as there was a lot of plot threads with promise.

DNF page 84

Trigger warnings: attempted murder, attempted rape, animal abuse, on-page sex (not erotica).

About the Book

Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles #1) by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even “settle down” for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia’s struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.

Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires–a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires. Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires. But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.

Originally begun as a short story, the book took off as Anne wrote it, spinning the tragic and triumphant life experiences of a soul. As well as the struggles of its characters, Interview captures the political and social changes of two continents. The novel also introduces Lestat, Anne’s most enduring character, a heady mixture of attraction and revulsion. The book, full of lush description, centers on the themes of immortality, change, loss, sexuality, and power.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I enjoyed the movie. Most of the time, the book is better than the movie. Not this time. It reminds me a bit, in style, of “Rebecca” with the whole telling of what happened. Not an immersive experience.

DNF 3%

DNF series

About the Book

Julia Vanishes (Witch’s Child #1)

Julia has the unusual ability to be…unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses.

It’s a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned—crime pays.

Her latest job is paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A disgraced professor who keeps forbidden books and sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets, spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the basement each night. And a mysterious young woman with an infant son who is clearly hiding—though from what or whom?

Worse, Julia has a creeping suspicion that there’s a connection between these people and the killer leaving a trail of bodies across the frozen city.

The more she learns, the more she wants to be done with this unnatural job. To go back to the safety of her friends and fellow thieves. But Julia is entangled in a struggle between forces more powerful than she’d ever imagined. Escape will come at a terrible price.

And even a girl who can vanish can’t walk away from her own worst deeds.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

An intriguing blurb, but the story doesn’t grab me. Perhaps because so much is in italics…

I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.

DNF 8%

DNF series

About the Book

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation.

In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.

But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel.

Grief struck and searching for clues to her grandfather’s final state of mind, she turns to the stories he told her when she was a child. On their weekly trips to the zoo he would read to her from a worn copy of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which he carried with him everywhere; later, he told her stories of his own encounters over many years with “the deathless man,” a vagabond who claimed to be immortal and appeared never to age. But the most extraordinary story of all is the one her grandfather never told her, the one Natalia must discover for herself. One winter during the Second World War, his childhood village was snowbound, cut off even from the encroaching German invaders but haunted by another, fierce presence: a tiger who comes ever closer under cover of darkness. “These stories,” Natalia comes to understand, “run like secret rivers through all the other stories” of her grandfather’s life. And it is ultimately within these rich, luminous narratives that she will find the answer she is looking for.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

The prologue immediately drew me in. But the rest was a bit meh.

DNF 4%

About the Book

Calluna (Spell Library #4) by Jewels Arthur

Calluna is sassy, snarky, and doesn’t give a crap about, well, anything. Calluna doesn’t believe in all this love garbage that she keeps seeing all over the town.

Nope, she is just fine keeping to herself and her pet store, Beastie Besties, spank you very much.

When a goofy romance book draws her in and she is given a meerkat shifter, a fennec fox shifter, a fallen angel, and a griffin shifter — well, Calluna’s views on love might be in for a whirlwind of change.

Will this whirlwind romance get in the way of the mystery she has yet to solve? There is someone in town cursing animals with dark magic, causing her shop to become a land of misfit pets. Calluna is determined to break the curses and find the culprit but she’ll have to travel down a dark road herself.

Calluna is a paranormal romance that is a part of the Silver Springs shared universe. Calluna will not be choosing at the end. Scroll up to read this sassy #whychoose romantic comedy today!

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

This is the book in the series that came recommended to me, so I decided to start with it. The premise immediately drew me in. But the language is absolutely foul.

DNF 5%

DNF series

About the Book

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) b Tahereh Mafi

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I’m more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war—and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I liked the premise. But all the lines through sentences mess with my eyes, much like italics, so I can’t continue reading.

I had a problem with the italics/strikethroughs as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.

DNF start of chapter 2

DNF series

About the Book

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

I’m not bonding with any of the characters, except feeling sorry for the dog (and triggered by its circumstances).

DNF 3%

DNF series

I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?

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