the_boozy_baking_bibliophile's reviews
1163 reviews

Short and sweet - had a hard time visualizing some of the things in this one, a rare occasion when I think it would be a better movie than a book. 🫣

Now I read these all out of order and I’m so glad to finally have this story! 

This one felt the most magical of the three in the series as we know Wakan gets what or who it needs and holds onto them - but their love story was special. 

So I’ve always said Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors - and just last fall I had the opportunity to meet her and hear her speak about her last Trent/Linden book. It all started with Pretty Girls for me…and then I was hooked. 

But NOW - after having finished This is Why We Lied, I’m fairly certain I’m about to download the Trent and Grant County books that I missed because they were 10-20 years ago and I was still in my Patterson phase 🫣

This may turn into a Slaughterfest readathon of her backlist because I cannot get enough. 

Her latest - a locked “mountain mystery” - taking place on what is supposed to be Will and Sara’s honeymoon 💋 turns into yet another murder for them to solve. Will they ever get to just relax? Probably not but with the two of them on the case, I always feel assured that they will serve justice to whomever deserves it. And maybe a good swift kick to the balls. 

Their honeymoon takes place in a mountain resort - very isolated and private with very limited access. Run by the same family for years, the McAlpines, the management now falls to the youngest daughter, Mercy. And it’s clearly an ironic name, as from the jump, the reader knows that no one in her backwoods, sadistic family has ever shown her any in her life. 

TW: this one is chock full of abuse - of all varietals. Physical, sexual, psychological - so reader beware. 

This one caught me a little off guard as I went into it blind. There are a lot of things happening all at once plus flashbacks to previous incidents. 

The story centers around Ellery. She’s a teacher who just got divorced and has a royal cockwad of an ex who I wish she had kicked in the nards. But nevertheless - she is our MC and is taking what should have been her anniversary trip to a beautiful resort near Big Sur.

Most of the resort is taken over by a wedding that is occurring in a few days and being alone doesn’t last long for Ellery as she is adopted by a pair of friends who are also vacationing but aren’t part of the wedding. 

All is going well, new friends made and then Ellery stumbles upon a body in the pool on the wedding night. And a raging storm comes in and knocks out communication and the bridge allowing them to leave. 

In a truly locked resort whodunnit, Ellery is scrambling to figure out who killed who and who might be next. 

I’m torn on how I feel about this one. It was incredibly atmospheric and creepy - sinister even. Taking place in a wild and off the grid town/rural area where local lore of The Birds righting wrongs and keeping bad people away. 

Three time periods - 2009 - with a group of teenagers, some visiting, some local and some part of an uber rich family who summer near this beautiful ocean front location. What starts as a friendship turns into something dark and ugly and dangerous games begin to unfurl into the ultimate evil. 

And the last two time periods are in the present - one just before the summer solstice and one the very next say , in the aftermath of the incident. Important as these once children - now adults - have returned to these sacred woods - one to open a luxury get away for the 1% and destroy the land around it in order to take more and more control. Another to right wrongs of the past. And others who are hiding in plain sight ready to take revenge on those who have dared desecrate their home. 

This one kept me guessing - but felt a bit jumbled and complicated at times. I did love how she tied everyone together but it felt a bit hard to follow at times. Overall a very entertaining read. 

Another quick read by Sally Hepworth, tho I found myself less invested in these characters than the last. A woman commits suicide on a popular cliffside and the man who lives next to it cannot save her. 

Or at least that’s what the police are told. What’s the real story behind her death? Told from multiple perspectives, including the victim’s, in different times - we have to uncover what the truth is - who’s been lying and the real reason why. 

This book was highly addictive and twisted AF. 

Three women return to the foster home and mother that tried to break them as adolescents when bones are discovered under the house. Forcing them to relive the past, the women are confronted with their monster and the scars she placed upon them that have followed them into adulthood. 


Holy shit. Sally, sweet twisted Sally. That ending? 🤌🏻 I didn’t see it coming and I sat here with my mouth open wide enough to catch flies - consider me shooketh. 👏🏼 

So I read it in one day. I didn’t hate it like I have several of Sager’s other books. I also didn’t love it love it, but that’s ok. It kept me engaged from the jump and I absolutely didn’t see the ending coming. I felt like the MC had almost zero personality aside from being the BFF of this missing kid from the 90s but his character definitely grew in the last 1/8th of the book. I also felt like there were a lot of timeline jumps mid chapter without notice - but it was a fast read (prolly coulda been 50-75 pages shorter) and one that was entertaining! 

I find these books to be campy and fun. Benjamin Stevenson has a way of making Ernest come across a bit full of himself yet naive. You are surprised by his astute observations once he figures things out because he definitely has a bit of a bumbling detective thing going on. These kind of whodunnit stories are some of my favorites because they really pack a punch and still have a lot of the humor that can be lacking in other thriller/detective stories. Can’t wait to read his next one! 

I’ve read all of Moriarty’s books - each one very different and each one hitting me differently. This one jumped out at me quickly because it led with a woman, seemingly possessed by something, begins to tell passengers on her flight at what age and how they will die. 

43 - workplace accident
31 - assault
98 - old age 
7 - drowning 

The passengers all leave the flight a bit shaken but resume their lives with only a small bit of worry that something might happen. Until the predictions begin to come true…

Who is this woman? And how does she know so much about these people and when they will die?