Just a girl and her books
ALL THE LIVING AND THE DEAD | Hayley Campbell 08.16.2022 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 4/5 stars We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what … Continue reading Book Review: All the Living and the Dead
LAST DAYS | Adam Nevill 05.24.2012 | St. Martin’s Griffin Rating: 4/5 stars When guerrilla documentary maker, Kyle Freeman, is asked to shoot a film on the notorious cult known as the Temple of the Last Days, it appears his prayers have been answered. The cult became a worldwide phenomenon in 1975 when there was … Continue reading Book Review: Last Days
ROAD OF BONES | Christopher Golden 01.25.2022 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 4/5 stars Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, is a 1,200 mile stretch of Siberian road where winter temperatures can drop as low as sixty degrees below zero. Under Stalin, at least eighty Soviet gulags were built along the route … Continue reading Book Review: Road of Bones
THE DOOMSDAY MOTHER | John Glatt 01.18.2022 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 3/5 stars For years, Lori Vallow had been devoted to her children and her Mormon faith. When her path crossed with Chad Daybell, a religious zealot who taught his followers how to prepare for the end-times, the tumultuous relationship transformed her into someone … Continue reading Book Review: The Doomsday Mother
RECKLESS GIRLS | Rachel Hawkins 01.04.2022 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 4/5 stars When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel after a … Continue reading Book Review: Reckless Girls
THE GOOD SISTER | Sally Hepworth04.13.2021 | St. Martin’s PressRating: 4/5 stars Fern and Rose appear to be as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one. The sisters share an incredibly close bond with Rose serving as Fern’s protector from the time they were small. … Continue reading Book Review: The Good Sister
THE WIFE UPSTAIRS | Rachel Harrison01.05.2021 | St. Martin’s PressRating: 4/5 stars Meet Jane. She has just arrived in Birmingham, Alabama and is looking to make a new start. Luck has brought her into dog walking in a gated community, Thornfield Estates, filled with McMansions and bored housewives. It’s the kind of place where Jane … Continue reading Book Review: The Wife Upstairs
TAKE IT BACK | Kia Abdullah 06.2020 (12.2020 in US) | HQ Rating: 5/5 stars The Victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by her alcoholic mother. She has accused her classmates of rape. The Defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from immigrant families. All tell the same story. Someone is lying. TAKE IT BACK … Continue reading Book Review: Take It Back
THE NIGHT SWIM | Megan Goldin 08.04.2020 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 4.5/5 stars Rachel Krall is the host of a popular true crime podcast. For season three she has chosen to cover a live trial, which brings her to the town of Neapolis. This small town is at odds over a devastating rape case. … Continue reading Book Review: The Night Swim
YOU ARE NOT ALONE | Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen 03.03.2020 | St. Martin’s Press Rating: 4/5 stars Shay Miller’s life has taken a downward slant that she wasn’t expecting to find herself in at her age. She has just lost her job due to downsizing. She doesn’t have a love interest. She’s losing her … Continue reading Book Review: You Are Not Alone
What Jess Reads 