Happy Sunday Friends! I hope everyone had a great week! We had remote learning snow days for the first part of the week and now it’s almost all melted which is just in time for more snow to start tonight. For this round up I read 3 books and dnf’d 2, I have decided to not force it especially if it will lead to a slump which is where I was headed. So far I think Neon Gods could be my favorite of the month, it was really good!
Neon Gods by Katy Roberts – 5 Stars This was my first book by Katy Roberts and I loved it!! The story of Hades and Persephone is one of my favorites and I love reading retellings of it. In this story the old god’s die and new mortals will take over being that god until they die and the cycle continues. Hades is believed to have died with no successor but is actually the leader of the lower city of Olympus. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter who decides to engage Persephone to Hades. Not wanting to marry a man who has gone through many wives (that he supposedly killed) already Persephone flees and without realizing it ends up at one of the bridges to the lower city. Once across the bridge Persephone learns that Hades is indeed alive and not quite what she was lead to believe.
I loved this one so much and I can’t wait for the next in this series. I loved Hades and his “friendship” with Hermes and Dionysus was so much fun to read about. I also loved the relationship between Persephone and her three sisters and I really hope we are getting their stories next. Hades and Persephone were so good together and I loved going on their journey with them, not only their journey as a couple but also as individuals who have personal things they most go through as well. This is a very adult and steamy book so be warned if you don’t enjoy that. If you are ok with steamy reads then be sure to pick this one up! Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for my gifted copy for review.
Truth, Lies and Second Dates by MaryJanice Davidson – 3 Stars I read a review before I started this one that compared the main character Ava to Stephanie Plum if Stephanie was a pilot and I thought this was a pretty good description. Ava is a pilot who ends up having a layover in the town she grew up in. And this weekend happens to be the 10 year anniversary of when her best friend was murdered. By Ava attending the memorial she sets off a string of events that leads people to believe she was the original target 10 years ago and the killer is now trying again to kill Ava. While at the police station after an incident at the memorial service, Ava meets medical examiner Dr. Tom who decides to help her find out who is after her and be her bodyguard. Tom and his niece and grandpa were great additions to this story. Tom especially was such a great character and his chapters were my favorite. Overall this was a fun and quirky mystery that had me guessing till the end. Thank you St.Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my gifted review copy.
Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager – 4 Stars This was my second book by Riley Sager and I enjoyed this one much more than Home Before Dark which I still thought was good. This book follows Emma as a 13 year old and the two weeks she spent at Camp Nightingale before her 3 cabin mates ended up missing and the camp was closed. We are also following Emma 15 years later who is now a successful artist and is asked to come back to Camp Nightingale for the summer as a counselor for the camps reopening. While at camp Emma seems to be being harassed and reminded of the events that happened 15 years before but she is not sure who is doing it. Then she wakes up one morning to find the three girls she was in charge of have gone missing in the night again and is now suspected of having done something to all 6 girls. I really enjoyed the mystery with this one and Emma as a character. She was struggling with what happened in the past and present as well as her own mental issues that she has. Great pacing and a fun read, can’t wait to read more of his books that I have on my shelves.
Saving Grace by Debbie Babitt – DNF This story follows Mary Grace from childhood into adulthood in her small mountain town of Repentance. I have heard such great things about this book and that the ending is crazy, unfortunately I struggled with the content as well as the writing style. This book has a lot of religious aspects to the plot and I just didn’t like how it was done, this a very much me thing and don’t enjoy this in my reading. I also struggled with the writing in that there are multiple time lines and I didn’t feel like they were separated well and wasn’t sure what time line I was reading. Thank you to Penzler Publishers and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review.
A Deadly Chapter by Essie Lang – DNF Again I want to say thank you to netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for my gifted copy for review, unfortunately this one just did not work for me. I thought the premise sounded cute, a woman living on a houseboat in a small town and she works in a bookstore. Shelby wakes up one morning and there is a man dead hitting the side of her boat and an investigation ensues. I am learning about my reading tastes that I find I do not really enjoy when average people can solve mysteries when the local police can not. Another problem I had with this one was the writing style, for whatever reason I found it to be a bit choppy and didn’t flow well. I think there are readers out there who will enjoy this one, it just didn’t work for me.
BeckyBookstore 