[55] Never Lie by Freida McFadden
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, gift from Dunja, paperback

Synopsis: Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. They’re checking out a remote manor in the middle of a blizzard and get stuck there. The house belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a famous psychiatrist who’s been missing for years. As Tricia explores the house she finds a room full of tape recordings from Dr. Hale’s sessions, and learns more about what happened to her, and becomes increasingly concerned they might not be alone in the house.

Review: Okay, I have to admit, the twist got me on this one. I was reading it thinking “come on Tricia, this is OBVIOUS” then I was like, “Oh! I see.” I enjoyed this book. The writing is elementary, the characters are unlikeable, and the plot is full of holes, but it’s fast-paced and fun. I’m wondering if this author ever writes likeable characters? The characters were also highly unlikeable in the other book I read of hers. Usually that puts me off but I was here for it, hoping bad things would happen to them. Ha.

Recommend? Yes

[56] Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
Fiction / Romance / Workplace, saw in Libby/heard about from Jamie at The Popcast, audio

Synopsis: Rue and Eli decide to meet in person after matching on a hookup app, but their meeting does NOT go as planned. Then Rue goes to work the next day and Eli is there – as part of the company that bought out the loan where Rue works. She is instantly defensive and suspicious oh him and the company, but the attraction is still there.

Review: Ugh. This audio style is different. There were dual narrators, but they do their own voices for the whole story, meaning the female narrator does Rue’s voice during Eli’s chapters, and vice versa. For all my complaining about narrators doing crappy voices for the opposite sex, and my love of Graphic Audio, I am surprised to say I didn’t like this… but I think I just didn’t like the voices the narrators were doing, period.

Okay, all that being said, the business side of this story was hard to follow (on purpose? to be secretive?) and mostly boring. On The Popcast Jamie went on about how spicy this was but it was a bit meh for me – I guess because I didn’t really care for either of these characters?

Recommend? No

[57] Wild Eyes (Rose Hill #2) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, second in series, Kindle

Synopsis: Superstar singer Skylar Stone is escaping to small town Canada to record new music and get away from toxic LA and her controlling and unloving parents. She meets Weston (West) Belmont immediately on her way into town, when he saves her from a black bear she was taking a selfie with. He leads her to the recording studio – literally next to his property – and since the housing there isn’t set up yet, she stays in his bunkhouse, and becomes very familiar with West and his two kids.

Review: The story took me a while to get into, which surprised me – I had read the first chapter of this at the end of book 1 in the series and was stoked. But it was a bit of a slow build after that. Skylar has so much healing to do – she pretty much found out her entire life is fabricated and isn’t sure who she is or what she wants. The more time she spends at the ranch, the more she discovers herself, which was great to see… but I wanted the romance to happen faster. Ha. I’m impatient like that. I really enjoyed the second half of the book though!

Recommend? Yes