Title: The Death of Jane Lawrence Author: Caitlin Starling
Pages: 368
Rating: 2.5 stars
Published: October 5, 2021
This book has everything I love in a story: the occult, Victorian era, and a haunted house. But this book, despite its amazing cover and interesting description, fell flat.
Jane is a woman who knows what she wants; to work with numbers, and to be married to a well-off man who will want nothing to do with her physically. She is able to achieve the latter by marrying one of the few bachelors in town - Dr. Augustine Lawrence.
Dr. Lawrence is a man of many reservations and fears. He only agrees to this marriage of convenience if Jane agrees to never step foot in his dilapidated mansion - Lindridge Hall.
On their wedding night the carriage accidentally takes them to Lindridge Hall, Augustine makes Jane promise that she will leave before sunset so she doesn't get trapped in the hall. On Jane's journey back to town a horrible thunderstorm and mudslide strands Jane in the middle of nowhere and her only option is to go back to Lindridge.
Once back at the hall all hell breaks loose. Augustine is acting strange and once his history comes to light it's up to Jane to decide what is important.
This is one book I was looking forward to reading in 2022 and now wish I didn't bother. The way Jane goes on and on about trusting Augustine and how her world is falling apart because her life isn't turning into working with numbers all day got very old.
Title: The Sign for Home
Author: Blair Fell
Pages: 416
Rating: 2
Published: April 5, 2022
ARC Read
This is my very first ARC (advanced readers copy) and I was so excited to start reading - but the story fell short for me.
Arlo Dilly is a DeafBlind man who is struggling with his disability and the fact that he is a Jehova's Witness. He is constantly having "naughty thoughts" and giving himself "Red Stars".
Arlo is also in love with a woman he can never have again and is severely haunted by this fact. He is stuck in his thoughts about the past with this woman and the fact that he felt freedom with her - he wants that freedom back. He doesn't want to be the "DeafBlind voice for the Jehova's God".
This story was an amazing representation of what the DeafBlind community faces in the hearing world and the different ways they can communicate. I had never heard of tactile sign language until this novel. But I did struggle reading this book.
What I didn't like about this book were the chapters written in Arlo's perspective - it was childish writing and the way he kept yelling "Red Star" at himself got old quickly. This novel was also advertised as a romance novel, but it really isn't - it's more of a coming-of-age story about gaining independence despite a disability.
This book was a great concept, just wish it was 1) more interesting, and 2) better executed about a great topic that isn't written about often.
Title: The Searcher
Author: Tana French
Pages: 451
Rating: 4.5
Published: October 6, 2020
Cal Hooper is a retired Chicago cop who decides, after a messy divorce, to move to the remote countryside of Ireland to live a quiet life. This quiet time is ruined when he gets a knock on his door from 13-year-old Trey.
Trey informs Cal that her brother went missing and that she needs to know what happened to him, she claims that he would never just leave without telling her. Her family is considered "the white trash of the Irish countryside" so nobody cares about anybody in her family missing.
Cal and Trey go on a wide goose chase around the village and get in way over their heads with trouble.
This novel is a great representation of a small town and the secret politics that are involved. Who do you trust and who don't you? Who is in charge? Is your last name a local name? Are the police usefully in a small town - no.
The ending was fairly predictable about halfway through the book but it was still a great story. The friendship that develops between Cal and Trey really holds the book together.
Title: Woman on Fire
Author: Lisa Barr
Pages: 416
Rating: 5Published: March 1, 2022
ARC Read
https://basilscheuring.wixsite.com/basilreads/post/woman-on-fire-by-lisa-barr
Title: My Sister, The Serial Killer
Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
Hours: 4 hours
Rating: 2.5
Published: November 20, 2018
Korede's sister, Ayoola, cannot keep a boyfriend or fiance, she always ends up murdering them. Korede is always the one that has to fix everything and clean up the evidence.
This novel is the very definition of "blood is thicker than water". Korede is the older sister and is constantly enabling Ayoola - making sure she is fed, waking up for appointments, and helping dispose of the bodies of 3 boyfriends. Korede is frustrated beyond belief that nobody ever pays attention or cares about what she wants in life - all they are interested in is how beautiful Ayoola is. This family dynamic is turned upside down when Ayoola goes after the man that has stolen Korede's heart. Is blood thicker than water?
I had such high hopes for this book. The premise sounded amazing and I thought it was going to be a thriller (since it was advertised as one) - but sadly, it is not. It is very character-driven and not plot-driven, which got boring after a while. You do feel bad for Korede because you can feel her frustration and how taxing it would be to be considered the "ugly sister".
The ending was not really an ending; I like them to be explained. This ending was very open-ended - gives you the idea that Korede will always enable Ayoola and will help her with the next killing.
Title: Portrait of A Thief
Author: Grace D. Li
Pages: 320
Rating: 3
Published: April 5, 2022
ARC Read
A robbery at the Sackler Museum and a conveniently placed business card sent 5 Chinese-Americans on a heist of a lifetime.
The synopsis of this story got me in, hook, line, and sinker - but the execution of the story was so incredibly boring and the author repeated the same themes in every chapter. In this 5 Point-Of-View book, every single character had to give their take 100 times about the same 2 themes. It got repetitive and very annoying. I honestly skipped through a lot of those parts where the characters repeated everything they said about the Chinese diaspora and Chinese art several chapters prior.
One thing I did like about this novel was that it touched on how children of immigrants have this immense pressure on them to succeed in America. Each character goes into too much detail and comes back over and over again on how this heist is going to elevate them and be able to do things that they wanted to do, not what their parents were expecting of them.
I had such high hopes for this book. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get over how repetitive themes and dialogues became.
Title: The Corpse Flower
Author: Anne Mette Hancock
Hours: 8 hours
Rating: 4.5
Published: October 12, 2021
Heloise Kaldan is a prominent journalist in Copenhagen and gets surprise letters from a wanted murderer, Anna Kiel. Anna claims that they have a connection and Heloise needs to figure it out in order to understand Anna Kiel's motive. In doing so she has to revisit a demon from her past in order to expose the truth.
I truly enjoyed this book! I didn't think I was going to like it but it kept me interested and there was enough suspense to keep you going.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator, Laura Jennings, did an excellent job.
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