Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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Even those non-bookworms among us have heard of - and great things about - Delia Owens's beautiful debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, promoted by everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Instagram makeup Influencers to your good friend who enjoys fishing in places similar to the book's North Carolina setting. And I most definitely understand the hype and adoration for this lyrical tribute to things, people, and places we know little about.

"Kya" - also known as "Marsh Girl" by nearby villagers - has lived in solitude deep in the North Carolina marsh, learning everything nature has to teach her, since finding herself slowly abandoned by her family and ostracized by the community, surviving and living and loving among the birds. Kya is smart and strong and creative, and though she has accepted and swiftly navigates the life she lives, as she grows into a beautiful, young woman, she wonders how the opposite must feel; to be loved, touched, and kept sacred. Where the Crawdads Sing is a highly emotional, incredibly moving, coming-of-age story, pulled along by a vague murder mystery and frosted by an intelligent courtroom drama, though - ingeniously - the two are not stand-alone stories; one cannot exist without the other.

The writing is melodic and serene, delicately painting the lush swamp and marshland with lustrous talent and intellect for this incredible, mysterious, ecosystem. In her own right, and as a result of her surroundings, Kya is sad but strong, scared yet brave, secluded yet attractive, the story moving as slowly as the marsh waters it honors, not picking up any speed until it reaches the chaotic, open ocean that becomes the murder investigation of the local popular guy, Chase Andrews. The story then slows to a gentle ending that was surprising in the way that it wasn't. Owens leads you through the story as if she were Kya gliding through the still waters, which - as we all know - run deep.

As a nature-lover myself, and as someone who wants to wander into the wild, never to be found, to dwell amongst the deer and bears and bugs of the woods, to forget my unrequited love, I was drawn to Kya's story, her determination, and her knowing enough to believe in herself. This is definitely a great read for when you have the time and are in the mood for a good, hearty tale. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on my goodreads profile.

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

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We often wonder how much of ourselves is the direct result of where we come from; what is predetermined by what is running through our veins, and what is the result of our surrounding environment. And it's often an inconclusive venture to discern nature vs nurture when determining why someone did or didn't do something, and no one understands this more than Milly Barnes, facing her daily struggles of Good Me Bad Me. Daughter to a serial killer, the one and only witness to her mother's crimes, and the one to turn her into the police, she is placed in an affluent foster home and enrolled in private school. But as her mother's trial approaches, Milly is constantly faced with a choice: which wolf to feed? 

Good Me Bad Me is a thrilling twist on the age-old question, how far does the apple fall from the tree? Is that something we can even control, and to what extent? Milly and everyone in her world are about to find out.

Hers is a story unlike any other. Hauntingly and disturbingly seductive, it definitely highlights a horrific twist on an all-too-common crime. Good Me Bad Me is unsettling yet captivating and will crawl under your skin and suck you even though you may not want it to. It is brutal and unforgiving, the skillfully disembodied prose giving the story structure and depth and texture, with odd moments of humanity and tenderness, if any exists in such a terrifying scenario. Land - by way of Milly - leaves no stone unturned, and although there isn't the proverbial climactic twist at the end, the book positively drips with suspense. I read it in two days and I suspect you might too. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on my goodreads profile.

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The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

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I did something all us bibliophiles swear to never do but actually do with every one of our book choices and I picked The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine based solely on the cover. I was headed off on vacation, with ample amounts of pool-time in my imminent future and if there's one thing I love, it's a good theme. The cover screams "pool read," and the story requires minimal focus so you can still succumb to all of the "Mom, watch me!"s coming from your kids in the water.

Amber Patterson has a grudge. Not against anyone in particular, just whoever looks like they might be enjoying their life just a little too much. Growing up poor and forgotten, Amber has set her sights on rich, center-of-the-affluent-Universe, Daphne Parrish, in a manipulative scheme to usurp her. But what could have been a Master Class in Manipulation, turns cheap and tawdry and is more like Manipulation for the Mindless.

With insipid characters and a storyline to mimic The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a colossal disappointment, but the Devil is in the details. This book is painfully despicable, tasteless, disturbing, crude, and isn't so much duplicitous as it is easy and skanky. The writing is cheesy and inauthentic, and the story is overly long and drawn out and never actually reaches its synopsis, making it feel exhausting.

I didn't feel compelled to award any stars to The Last Mrs. Parrish on my goodreads profile, if you are looking for a good Domestic Noir, look elsewhere. 

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

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I picked up The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides in much the same fashion as everyone else who has ever decided to give it a go - obvious curiosity for "But why does she not speak?" (Euripides) But as I started to burn through the pages, I developed a different reaction to this book altogether. I stopped caring about, and wanting to know why, Alicia Berenson - a famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer - refuses, or is unable, to speak, and I just got it. I absolutely get why, after shooting her husband in the face five times while he was tied to a chair, Alicia never spoke another word. And by the end of the book, I was ready to shoot every character in the face five times.

Alicia Berenson is tucked away at a secure psychiatric unit in North London when, like most in the field, Criminal Psychotherapist, Theo Faber, becomes entranced by the story. Also like most in the field, he is positive that he is the one to rescue her, to save her from herself, and to save The Grove from imminent closure. Alicia's case quickly becomes his main focus, questionably blurring the lines between patient and therapist in a self-satisfying effort to truly understand her.

The story is intricate and well-told, with a lot of moving parts that Michaelides deftly keeps from getting too complicated. It is a definite page-turner, and offers up a serious twist that will make even the most seasoned reader gasp. It irritatingly reads more like a crime novel, the upside being that Faber is not actually a Detective, which, for some reason always gives characters a level of arrogance I cannot stand. The Silent Patient shouldn't necessarily be categorized as a psychological thriller, either, but more of a dramatic thriller, reminiscent of You by Caroline Kepnes.

The writing is clear, concise, and invokes some serious introspection, which all novels are meant to do, but this book far surpasses the norm, at least for this reader. In much the same way the book discusses transference, Alicia stops being simply a character and becomes a representation; I am her and she is me. We think of death as the cease to function by our physical bodies, not realizing or acknowledging how many times we die on the inside, while our bodies continue to plug away like machines. 

I really had to think about my goodreads rating before I made it and ultimately settled on ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5. The Silent Patient will definitely leave a lasting impression.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

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I happened across a goodreads review of The Widow by Fiona Barton that lamented the book description - or lack thereof - on the book jacket, labeling it as "misleading." I can understand that assessment, but I am one of those readers for whom the limited description is written. In fact, I would never have purchased the book (albeit for dirt cheap) had the synopsis been any more detailed. There is one particular element of which the entire story revolves, even though it is actually quite secondary to how everything generally unfolds, that I don't like, and if you read The Child, it's that. But the surprising plot and unsettling narrator kept me reading to an unpredictably predictable ending.

After years of being the dutiful wife, helping her husband through the literal trials and tribulations of being accused of horrible crimes, Jean's husband is suddenly dead. And the things she held to so tightly, things she believed, things she wanted to believe, and things she suddenly couldn't ignore, come rushing back to the surface and people are just dying to know what she knows. But the big question looms - what on earth could she possibly say? And can she be trusted to tell the truth?

Jean is quite possibly one of my favorite narrators, the last line of the first chapter hooking me and reeling me in: "Everyone was very kind and trying to stop me from seeing his body, but I couldn't tell them I was glad he was gone. No more of his nonsense." There is no way most of us can relate to exactly what Jean is dealing with throughout this novel, but there is always something us readers can recognize within ourselves; "It was my fault, too. Because I was the wife." The story, though unsettling, progresses well and clearly, the most uncomfortable aspects handled with grace and dignity. The alternating perspectives and timeframes can get a little muddy, but the story still flows nicely and offers up some very intriguing twists and surprises and laugh-out-loud moments. Oh, that Jean!

The Widow is a compelling novel that you'll find yourself reaching for out of impulse and a slight voyeuristic compulsion, with a story that is methodically and articulately laid out but still able to keep us guessing. Barton expertly, though sensitively, brings to light broken facades we usually find such security in, like the media, police work, and our friends and family. You will definitely want to know how it all ends.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads

Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser

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"The thing is, not all junkies are like you see in the movies."

Things aren't always what they seem, a general theme that seems to be running through my book choices as of late and Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser definitely epitomizes this finite rule. There are some difficult scenes, two of which take place within the first few chapters, but to really grasp and appreciate the story, you need to continue reading into chapter four, though I know some readers might feel a strong urge to chuck it before reaching page 30. But, as we all can agree, things aren't always what they seem. Sweetgirl is harsh and unforgiving, but also has heart and serves up a good dose of empathy and humanity.

In the midst of a treacherous snowstorm, Percy James sets out to find her drug addicted mother who hasn't returned home in almost two weeks. Searching an old farmhouse-cum-Meth-lab where her mother was last seen, Percy instead finds a crying baby covered in snow from a nearby window. Knowing she cannot just leave the baby alone in the room with her parents crashed out downstairs, Percy grabs her and runs for help and the hospital. What materializes accumulates faster than the rapidly falling snow, some scenes resulting in that shocked sort of laughter, and some scenes pulling just so on your heartstrings.

Like most books, the story is good enough that you want to know how everything turns out in the end. But, as I said, there are some difficult scenes and Sweetgirl is the first book that I skipped ahead to make sure something didn't happen that I was afraid was going to happen. The dialogue between Percy and Portis is infuriating, and even though I appreciate the hearty dose of humanity, the book reaches a point where we almost know too much about the characters so the story lacks any real suspense until after the first half, but not for lack of trying; like a drama that wants to be a thriller, something just doesn't translate properly.

The description of the setting is often confusing, getting bogged down with street names that don't mean anything to anyone besides the author. There are some scenes, however, where the imagery prevails and things sort of redeem themselves. The first half feels different than the second, like this novel couldn't decide what it wanted to be. It's a short read that isn't terrible but probably not the best thing you've ever read, either. ⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads.

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I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Since giving birth, I've read the last half of Sold On A Monday, the entirety of The People We Hate at the Wedding, and half of This Is Not Over, and yet I managed to read I'm Thinking Of Ending Things by Iain Reid in exactly two days. And those two days involved the older kids being home from school, and the first drop in temperature and snow storm, virtually stranding them inside the house. I first saw this book - where else? - on Instagram, and when I saw it in Target, I bought it for this tagline alone: "You will be scared. But you won't know why." In my ever-evolving reading career, I've grown to appreciate books with little to no description, and I even find myself steering away from books with overly long and complicated synopses. I'm Thinking of Ending Things lives up to its limited description. You will be scared and you won't know why, and then you will feel incredibly uncomfortable.

The book doesn't offer a synopsis, so I won't either, but that might just be an impossible task, anyway. How do you describe a book like this? This book? It's short and to the point even though there are moments when it feels like the story is getting away from you. It is, at times, overly complicated, but in a way that makes you feel creepily disoriented, like you're walking through a maze of mirrors. It is a scary story, but it also offers insight and epiphanies into the complex function of our brains and our minds, and what it means to be human. It's like those dreams where nothing innately scary happens, but you wake up feeling weird and scared, anyway. Between reading this book and watching The Good Place, my mind has been properly fucked with.

I don't usually read scary stories until this time of year, just like I only read beach-reads in the summer, and I am always hoping that what I choose will be scarier than The Shining, even books deemed, "scary as hell," by King, himself. But nothing has measured up to The Shining, not even Pet Sematary, which is scary for an entirely different reason altogether. I'm Thinking of Ending Things definitely keeps you guessing and keeps the pages turning; there is no way you won't want to know the conclusion, until you do, and then you kind of wish you didn't.

In my limited knowledge of triggers, I believe the end of this novel is one. BUT, I can't tell you what the trigger is without spoiling not just the ending, but the entire book as well. The end isn't exactly unexpected, but it is disturbing, and I honestly don't know how I would be able to watch the Netflix movie after having read the book. Well, ok...I am slightly curious...maybe tomorrow as it continues to snow...⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE $5.00 Like New.                     

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