book of the month Archives

Two Girls Down

Stereotypical Detectives And Tough Girl Action Author: Louisa Luna A mother leaves her two children in the car to rush in and buy a present for a birthday party. She comes out, and they are nowhere to be seen. The local police are overwhelmed and understaffed. The family reaches out to bounty hunter / private detective / all-around kick-ass Alice Vega to find the girls before it’s too late. Vega, known for her results and general lack of law abiding, soon teams with shamed ex-cop Max Caplan to suss out answers. What follows is a web of misinformation, wrong suspects, [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-29T13:35:25-07:00December 29th, 2025|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, detective, fiction, mystery, read, reading, thriller|

Play Nice

“But so often, being right means nothing but winning a round of a losing game.” Author: Rachel Harrison A selfish young stylist/influencer who loves her content and feels nothing for people, including family, friends, and lovers. A demon-possessed house in need of some TLC. A traumatic childhood. And A LOT of drinking, drugs, and things that go bump in the night and leave smiley faces etched on the walls. And that, dear potential readers, is Play Nice. A less sarcastic, more complete synopsis looks like this: A divorced mother accused of child abuse and alcoholism finally loses custody and visitation rights [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-22T20:21:44-07:00December 22nd, 2025|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, haunted house, horror, Play Nice, Rachel Harrison, read, reading|

Turn of the Key, The

“People do go mad, you know, if you stop them from sleeping for long enough...” Author: Ruth Ware It looks like she murdered the child. She had the opportunity and motive, but she swore in her novel length letter to her lawyer that she didn’t do it. Yes, she treated the children badly. Yes, she lied. Yes, she was there under false pretenses. But no, no, she never hurt them. That’s how The Turn of the Key begins, and, as Rowan Caine writes from prison, begging this famous lawyer to take her case, she slowly unravels the strange tale of Heatherbrae [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-15T12:27:38-07:00December 15th, 2025|Tags: book of the month, book review, botm, mystery, read, reading, thriller|