Althea Mason

I picked up this book for my son, who is a little too young for the book at this time as he is only 11 months old but I know it will come in handy later when he is older. The books is filled with colorful illustrations. When Sarah Read is describing the anxious monster, it reminded me of the way that I describe my son to others when talking about what milestone progress he has made and what he likes to do. Sarah Read takes the reader through a few different events where the monster is feeling anxious and each of these events are very relatable even to an adult. Some of those events are speaking in front of your classroom for a presentation and going to the doctors for a regular check-up. Sarah walks the readers through relaxation techniques to use when you are feeling anxious. These techniques include deep breathing and taking a walk. Rating: 5 out of 5. The book was easy to read and follow. It was relatable and the techniques are easy to implement for the target age of 3-5. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the book. This is my honest review.

Zack and Joey were both enjoying a coffee at a Greengirl Coffee Shop. Zack was waiting for his childhood best friend and Joey was on his phone. Joey looked like a business man. Zack was sitting next to Joey and happened to notice that him and Joey had the exact same phones. He also happened to observe Joey enter his password into his phone. Once Joey leaves the coffee shop, Zack realizes that Joey had taken his phone by mistake and the he now had Joey's phone. Zack wanted to do the appropriate thing and return Joey his phone and get his phone back. So Zack entered the password that he saw Joey enter and gave Joey a call to let him know about the innocent mix-up. What should have been an easy, simple exchange of phones, turns out to be a race against a murder for hire assassin. Can Zack outsmart Joey and if so will he live to tell the tale? The story line for this book is so simple, two strangers in a coffee shop with identical phones sitting next to each other. One accidentally picks-up the wrong phone and the other individual wants to get his phone back. However, the story quickly becomes unbelievable and so far fetched when Zack realizes that he has a "die phone" because he accidentally switched phones with that of a murder for hire. I quite enjoyed the characters that Jonathan Stone had created for this story. I especially liked, Joey the murder for hire assassin who has also been diagnosed as being on the spectrum or as having Asperger's. Joey's diagnosis is not one that you often find in a role like this one. I liked it because it goes to show that no matter what, you can be whoever you want to be, even if that is an assassin. The story is filled with fear, anxiety, love, attempted murder, etc. It is also filled out heart break and unlikely friendships being formed. It is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting more, especially since you never know what is going to happen next. Rating: 5 out of 5 because it was fast paced, fly by the seat of your pants suspense. It kept me guessing and I love a book like that. I highly recommend this and it is a must read.

This is my second Ruth Ware book and I found this book to be way better than the first one I have read. I am glad that I decided to give Ruth Ware a second chance. This book has a slow start and there are a lot of characters that are involved in the story. It took me quite a while before I could get everyone straight in my head. The story itself is told from 3 peoples point of view and that also took me a while to remember who was who. It wasn't until the story was about 50-60% complete that I really found myself enjoying the book and struggling to put it down. This was about the time when one of the characters started to figure out what was actually going on. I have to say that it took me by surprise and I also didn't see it coming either. I really like a good story that keeps you guessing and can blindside you. Unlike the previous Ruth Ware book that I have read, I really enjoyed the ending of the book. The previous one, I felt like the ending was left incomplete and I was concerned that would be the case here. I am so glad that I was wrong. The one thing that took me a while to figure out and does eventually get explained is the Snoop information that is provided at the start of the chapter. Honestly, I found that the information was unnecessary for the story itself and didn't really contribute at all. Rating: 4 out of 5 because the story didn't really catch my attention until further into the book. Once it caught my attention I had difficulty putting the book down. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy. This is my honest opinion.

This is the third book in the The Burning Girl series and as funny as it may be, I have only read this one and the second book, Blood Echo, in the series. I have the first one and plan on reading it especially after having read Blood Victory. I quite enjoyed Blood Victory and found that it kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want to put it down even late at night when I knew I needed to get to sleep because my little one would be waking up in a few hours. I don't find a lot of books like this. Christopher Rice has a brilliant imagination when it comes to his books. How he came up with the Head Slayer, is beyond me. How does someone come up with anything that was written into this book. The perpetrator and what they do is not something that I have heard of before and I am a huge thriller fan. I love the main character, Charley. She has overcome so much in her past and is conquering it in ways that are unimaginable. In a way, if you have experienced trauma than you can relate to Charley to some degree. Blood Victory is filled with suspense, mystery, action, and so much more. It is a must read and as I mentioned before the books don't necessarily need to be read in order. I have not had any difficulty with understanding the story even though it does seem to touch on past events because Christopher Rice provides a small summary about them. Blood Victory also has a Glossary of Terms at the end of it that really helps for understanding some common used terms such as Zypraxon and paradrenaline. Rating: 5 out of 5 as this book will keep you wanting more and more. It is well written and I loved the ending. I am hoping that we get a 4th Burning Girl book. Many thanks to Thomas and Mercer and Netgalley for this review copy. This is my honest opinion.

Roz is pregnant after a surprising one night stand. She does not know what to do but is sure she does not want to keep the baby. Roz signs up for Miracle Moms, an adoption website, and is surprised when a diamond couple from America is interested in her. She cannot believe it. She responds back to them and soon agrees to travel from the United Kingdom to New York to meet them, all expenses paid. Roz doesn't know who the couple is yet and has to sign a non-disclosure agreement before their real identifies will be revealed once she lands in New York. Roz feels that the celebrity couple is interest in her because she wrote on her Miracle Moms profile that she has no family or friends, which is not true. The couple wants to pass the child off as if it was their own, which is why Roz is perfect. Roz is estranged from her mother and she lives with her best friend Dympna. Once in New York, Roz starts to wonder if she is making the wrong decision by giving up the baby. She is wondering if she should keep the baby even though she does not have much to offer it and the diamond couple can offer the baby a lifestyle that she could only dream of. Can this couple and the arrangement with them be too good to be true? Roz soon finds out that her quest for the perfect mother may not be what she originally thought it was. I found that I really connected with this book, especially with Roz for a couple of different reasons. First off, my sister and I were adopted so I can understand a parent wanting to have the best for their child. Secondly, I am a new mom (my son is now 9 months old) and all I want is the best for my son and to be the "perfect mother" to him. I found that Roz was very relatable for these two reasons. The story is written from multiple points of views: Roz, Dympna, and Sheridan (power couple). I am often times not a fan of a book that uses multiple points of views by alternating the view chapter by chapter, however, this was so well written that it didn't both me. The transition from one point of view to the other was done seamlessly and flowed very well. Rating: 5 out of 5 because the main character Roz was very relatable and it was well written. The story itself does become a little unbelievable when you discover the extremes that the power couple are willing to go for a baby, and the surprising twist which I don't want to give away.

Alice is a journalist for a small local country paper in England. When she answers the phone at work on a Wednesday she is shocked by the callers threat, "I am going to use cheese wire on you." Little did Alice know at that time that Wednesdays for the next several weeks would be filled with fear and the unknown of what the next threat from her stalker would be. Her boyfriend, Tom, hires a private investigator Matthew Hill because he does not have much faith in the police and their ability to keep Alice safe. Matthew is an ex-cop and works with this old partner DI Melanie Sanders who has been assigned to Alice's stalker case. As DI Melanie Sanders starts to look into Alice's case and her past, she discovers that Alice may not be who she said she is. Is it possible that Alice's past has caught up to her? Could her ex-fiancee Alex really be behind the stalking? Alice doesn't think so, but the that the police learn about Alex, the more they start to think that he is behind the stalking of Alice. ***warning- this story contains hints to sexual child abuse endured by "Him" (the stalker) as he was younger by a neighbor that occurred over the course of several years. It also talks about Alice's ex-fiancee and him having multiple sexual relationships with underage girls. The story does not go into any great detail, only hints or mentions the above events, but wanted to mention this as I know that this may be bothersome to some readers. This book is written with multiple narrators, and as previously mentioned, I am not often a huge fan of this style of writing. However, this was done really well in this book and I found that it helped provide different perspectives to the story that were quite helpful. The multiple narrators are: Alice, Matthew, and Him - before. The story itself was very fast paced and draws you in almost immediately with Alice getting the phone call with the "cheese wire" threat. It is filled with many twists and turns. Teresa does an excellent job at keeping you guessing who the stalker is. Honestly, I couldn't figure it out. It definitely has a surprising twist at the end that will shock you. Rating: 3 out of 5. I am knocking off two points from my rating because of the hints to sexual child abuse, which I don't feel like added anything to the story. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this book copy. This is my honest opinion.