Joint Review: The Institute by Stephen King

Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: September 2019

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

I'll be honest, I didn't ultimately care for this latest from King.  I think I'm pretty much done with this author.  Which makes me really sad because I am a HUGE fan of his earlier stuff.  The Institute was just OK.  When i finished it I thought...meh.  It felt like it was a YA version of Firestarter and Carrie.  As Autumn said to me in our discussion of the book, "Maybe he is out of ideas?". 

The characters were forgettable.  The ending was a big let down.  There was no real tension except maybe toward the end.  There was a lot of potential here, but it just fell flat for me.  I think the only character I really liked was the ex-cop, but I can't even remember his name.  It's long, so if you have the time, maybe try it, otherwise go back and read one of his earlier books.

I'm kind of on the fence with this one.  Yeah, I kinda liked it.  But I also found myself thinking that various parts reminded me of other things.  I know King likes to pull little tidbits from other books into the story, but this wasn't like that, it felt like recycling.  

I always say I'm gonna give him one last chance and I keep expecting more.  Maybe my expectations are too high?  I'm not really sure.  Will I give him another chance?  In all honesty, probably, but it better be something spectacular!

Joint Review: The Defense by Steve Cavanagh

Author:Steve Cavanagh
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: May 2016

The truth has no place in a courtroom. The truth doesn't matter in a trial.

The only thing that matters is what the prosecution can prove.

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.

It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter Amy.

Eddie only has 48 hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial—and win—if wants to save his daughter.

Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?

I'll admit to being a little bored in the beginning of this book.  However, I'm so glad I stuck with it.  I ended up really liking the story.  For a courtroom drama, it was pretty fast paced with a great mystery.  I loved the main character.  Eddie Flynn is a conman turned defense lawyer who is forced out of retirement to defend a case no one can possibly win.  I loved how his mind worked.  He is definitely someone I want to read about again. 



I've been really trying to get back into reading since school just completely zapped all the desire to do so out of me.  This is one of the first audiobooks I was able to get into and finish.  

Eddie Flynn was a fun character.  I liked all the backstory of his upbringing and how he ended up as a defense attorney.   This was one of those movies that I could totally see being a movie.

This is the first book in a series.   I will definitely be looking into the second book.   The Plea is the next book, the third is The Liar.  

Joint Review: Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr

Author: Caleb Carr
Publisher: Random House
Date of publication: August 2016

In the small town of Surrender in upstate New York, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler, and Dr. Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones’s family farm. Once famed advisors to the New York City Police Department, Trajan and Li now work in exile, having made enemies of those in power. Protected only by farmhands and Jones’s unusual pet cheetah, the outcast pair is unexpectedly called in to consult on a disturbing case.

In rural Burgoyne County, a pattern of strange deaths has emerged: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered in gruesome fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, yet their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective.

Jones and Li soon discover that the victims are all “throwaway children,” a new state classification of young people who are neither orphans, runaways, nor homeless, but who are abandoned by their families and left to fend for themselves. Two of these throwaways, Lucas Kurtz and his older sister, cross paths with Jones and Li, offering information that could blow the case wide open.

Autumn and I were eagerly waiting the release of this book. Both of us are fans of The Alienist and Angel of Darkness. I even liked Killing Time!  Unfortunately, Autumn was much more patient than I was.  This book was dreadful.  I DNF'd at about 30%.  I was so bored.  I know there is a good book in there somewhere, but I just didn't have the patience to wait for it.  I am glad Caleb Carr is writing again, but he really needs a better editor.  This book probably could have been cut in half and been a good solid mystery.


I finished it, but I think that was more out of loyalty to the author.  I think if someone else had written this book, I probably would have DNFed it.  The book wasn't terrible.  It was a good story line.  But like Kari said, it needed some serious editing.  It was SOOO long and repetitive.  It was very wordy and the dialogue was a little silly at times.  Like do people seriously talk like that??  However, I liked the characters and I could see this becoming a series.  Although, I'd much rather more books along the lines of The Alienist or Angel of Darkness.  I like the historical stuff more than the present day I guess.  BUT, I'm glad Caleb Carr put something out there.  Keep it up!

Joint Review: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Author:Kara Thomas
Publisher: Delacourte
Date of publication: April 2016

There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away. 

I will admit that I almost made this one a DNF.  But I'm really glad I stuck it out.  It starts off a bit slow, but the wait is really worth it.    Tessa has returned to her old home town after tens years.  She hasn't been back since her mother abandoned her and she went to live with her grandmother.  She and her best friend Callie helped put away the man who police say killed Callie's cousin ten years earlier.  But Tessa has always wondered if they really saw what they testified having seen that night. When a local girl is murdered, it raises even more questions for Tessa.

The Darkest Corners has two mysteries really...Who killed local girl Ariel and was Callie's cousin Lori really killed by a serial killer?  Tessa and Callie end up setting aside their differences to figure out the truth.  I'm not going to say much more about the book. Just know that the plot was well planned out with reveals coming just at the right time.  It really kept me guessing. There are a lot of twists and the ending has a BIG surprise.   I definitely recommend checking this one out. 


Like Kari, I didn't know if I was going to like this book when I first started.  However, I got sucked in to story and it was a good one.  If you've read it and want more, check out the TV show Slasher on Netflix.  They have weird similarities.  I say give both a try!  Especially, if you like a good creepy/scary story.

Joint Review: The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

Author: Alexandra Oliva
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date of publication: July 2016

Survival is the name of the game as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself in Alexandra Oliva’s fast-paced novel of suspense.

She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go this far.

It begins with a reality TV show. Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens—but how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? Cut off from society, the contestants know nothing of it. When one of them—a young woman the show’s producers call Zoo—stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game.

Alone and disoriented, Zoo is heavy with doubt regarding the life—and husband—she left behind, but she refuses to quit. Staggering countless miles across unfamiliar territory, Zoo must summon all her survival skills—and learn new ones as she goes.

But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways—and her ability to parse the charade will be either her triumph or her undoing.

I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.  It definitely sucked me right in.  It's told through alternating time lines between what happened on the reality show and what happened after the world went to hell.  I liked both parts, but I liked the after parts with Zoo's travels into the world beyond and into insanity the most.  I could understand her struggle to know what was real and what wasn't.  Her descent into madness was kind of frightening yet realistic.

One of the things that I also liked was how the reality show contestants were "labeled". It actually made them easier to keep track of than it would have if they had had real names.  I had read that some people didn't like that, but I found it helpful.  My only complaint was the ending.  I thought it was a bit abrupt and would have liked more of a resolution.  I do recommend this one.  It was unique idea and one worth reading.

I also really enjoyed this book.  I thought the premise was really interesting and one of a kind.  The fact that you couldn't really tell what was real or not was kind of fun.  Zoo was the narrator so as the reader we could only go on what she thought or felt.  

I'm surprised that people would be complaining about the labeling of the contestants.  That made it so much easier to keep everyone straight.  They were all kind of stereotypical of their "names".  Plus, that's pretty much what they do in real reality shows.  

I've been telling anyone that would listen about this book, so I definitely recommend this book!

Joint review: I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan

Author:  Judy Sheehan
Publisher: Delacourte press
Date of publication: March 2016

When you’re sixteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. Unless you’re Sarah. Not to give anything away, but . . . she’s dead. Murdered, in fact. Sarah’s murder is shocking because she couldn’t  be  any more average. No enemies. No risky behavior. She’s just the girl on the sidelines.

It looks like her afterlife, on the other hand, will be pretty exciting. Sarah has woken up dead at the Mall of America—where the universe sends teens who are murdered—and with the help of her death coach, she must learn to move on or she could meet a fate totally worse than death: becoming a mall walker.

As she tries to finish her unfinished business alongside her fellow dead teens, Sarah falls hard for a cute boy named Nick. And she discovers an uncanny ability to haunt the living. While she has no idea who killed her, or why, someone she loves is in grave danger. Sarah can’t lose focus or she’ll be doomed to relive her final moments again and again forever. But can she live with herself if she doesn’t make her death matter?

So I thought this was going to be a cutesy little YA book.  It actually ended up having some pretty interesting ideas about death and the afterlife.  Don't get me wrong.  The story was really cute and fun.  While the relationship between Nick and Sarah was sorta insta-love in the afterlife, I guess it was destined to happened.  I liked many of the other characters too.  Lacey was a fun character with her crazy attitude and Alice was interesting too in that she had been there for so long without moving on.  I would recommend this book to the YA readers!

I Woke up Dead at the Mall was a unique take on the afterlife.  What better place to end up after you die than the Mall of America?  I enjoyed this book.  I thought it was a cute story.  The characters were interesting even with an insta-love scenario thrown in.  

 I liked Sarah and Nick.  The mystery of who killed Sarah was kind of easy to call, but the why was a surprise.  I was rooting for her to save her father.  The "BOY" was a little creepy though especially in kid form.  There is talk of sex and an almost sex scene, so I would keep this to older YA readers.

Joint Review: Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher:  Fiewel + Friends 
Date of publication:  February 2, 2016

The enchantment continues....

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

I listened to all the stories and mostly they were all pretty good.  I didn't really care for the one entitled The Little Android.  It didn't have any of the characters from previous stories, so it was just sort of a random story.  I guess it would have been ok, but it didn't go with all the rest.  In general, all the stories kind of had the feel of writing exercises or experiments that had been put aside and then they had all been gathered up for this one last book.  They were good to read, but I guess it just sort of seemed like a last gasp of a series that the author and publisher just can't give up.   That said, I was happy to hear the little snippet of Heartless and I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Honestly, I only picked this one up for the last story. So, I can't really comment on the rest of the stories.  I really liked "Something Old, Something New".  I was hoping for an epilogue that showed the couples getting after the events of Winter.   This one was perfect and just what I needed to walk away from the series feeling satisfied.  I got my HEAs and can walk away a happy woman!

Joint Review: It's All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick

Author: Paul Rudnick
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Date of publication: January 2016

My name is Caitlin and up until forty-eight hours ago I had never:
Tasted alcohol, kissed a boy, sang in public at the top of my lungs, kidnapped anyone or—WHAT? STOLEN A CONVERTIBLE?  Now I’m in jail and I have no idea what I’m going to tell:

The police, my parents, the mayor, all of those camera crews and everyone on Twitter. I have just noticed that:  My nose is pierced and I have—WAIT? IS THAT A TATTOO? I blame one person for this entire insane weekend:  My famous cousin. Who is also my former best friend.  Who I have HATED for the past four years. Who I miss like crazy. NO I DON’T!!!!  IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, HELLER HARRIGAN!!!!

I wasn't really sure what I was going to get with this book, but I knew I needed a break from all the serious stuff I had been reading.  I figured this would be cutesy little comedy.  It ended up being hilarious.  Caitlin is as straight arrow as you can possibly get and she gets put in charge of her wildly out of control mega superstar cousin Heller Harrigan.  Every thing is going ok until Heller has to meet a Make a Wish kid and she has some crazy plans of her own.  I found myself cracking up with this book.  However, I wouldn't recommend it for the younger readers, it had quite a bit of language in it.

Autumn told me how much she liked this book and how funny it was, so I gave it a try.  I'll admit, it was funny in parts.  But for me, it was all a bit over the top.  Yes, I know it was a parody, but I found I could only take so much.  It was funny that it was so obviously making fun of Hannah Montana, Twilight, and homeschooling.  But, again I found I could only take so much.  I do think that this might work as a parody movie if done correctly.  Christopher Guest are you listening?  I would definitely keep this to the older YA crowd. 

Joint Review: The Widow by Fiona Barton

Author: Fiona Barton
Publisher: Berkley NAL
Date of publication: February 2016

Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming. 

Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.

But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.

This book was one of those slow to grow on you stories.  I kept wondering "where is it going?"  I couldn't understand what the big deal was and why did all these people care about this woman's husband dying?  Finally, about halfway through, the lights came on.  It was a really captivating story from there on out.  It was hard to decide if this marriage was a like attracting like, as in they were both crazy people, or if he drove her to become quietly out of her mind.  It seemed like he was a sociopath from the beginning but her changes were more insidious.  Either way, it was a good, creepy story.  Just the kind I like.

This was an unexpected surprise for me.  I ended up really liking the story.  The alternating points of view helped keep up the suspense and the pacing.  The reveals came just at the right time without giving away too much too soon.  What I liked most was the ending.  It was really spine chilling and creepy. I thought the writing was really good for a debut novel. Definitely a book worth checking out and definitely an author to watch!

Joint Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Date of publication: November 2015

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

I know Winter is one of the most anticipated books of 2015 for both me and Autumn. The book isn't really totally focused on Winter as all 8 of the main characters get equal time in the over 800 pages of the book. That's right, 800 pages.  I swear when I finished I felt like I had run a marathon.  If I was rating the book I would have to take a half star off for length.  I think there were scenes that could have been cut short or cut out all together.  But, that is just me being nit-picky.

In the end, I loved the story.  I remember when I finished Cress, I spent time  trying to figure out how it would all come together.  I won't give anything away, let's just say the author did a great job of world building and bringing all of  the elements together to make sense.  I have enjoyed the spin the author has put on each of the fairy tales in the series.

If I had to choose, I would say favorite couples are Wolf/Scarlet and Cinder/Kai.  The other two weren't as strong as I would have liked, but they were still enjoyable.  Each of the couples have some very touching scenes throughout the book.  I'm sad to see the series end, but I have to say, I did enjoy the journey immensely!

I agree with Kari, even though I'm so anti-never-ending-YA-book-series, this one was fantastic.  I've enjoyed every single book in this series and I'm sad this is the ending...or is it?  There's an author's interview at the ending of the audiobook that hints at another book or short story to come.  

I also agree with Kari that this book got entirely too long at times.  I felt like it was the author not wanting to let go, which I can understand.  Honestly, most readers probably won't care because at this point they're loyal to the story.  It got tedious and repetitive and could have used at more heavy handed editor.

If you haven't read this series yet, I would start.  If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a reader in your life, get this!!

Joint Review: The Rules by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Author: Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
Publisher: Delacourte Books for Young Readers
Date of publication: June 2015

Narrated by alternating unreliable narrators, this dark thriller will have readers on the edge of their seats. No one is safe and everyone is a suspect. It's Saw meets I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Junior Robin Brisset has no idea what she's in for when she accepts an invitation to one of Callabrese High's most exclusive parties. And when the trademark scavenger hunt begins, Robin must go against every rule she's lived by to survive.

The Rules reminded me of an 80s teenage slasher film. You know the type? The ones where you never know who to trust, teens keep splitting up to investigate or find a missing person or strange noise. Ultimately, that never ends up being a good decision. The story is told through several alternating points of view.  While it was hard to keep track of the characters in the beginning, it gets easier as they start dying off.  Each chapter opens with one of that person's rules of life.  Unfortunately those rules don't always help them.

I ended up really liking this book.  I found was completely off base when the book ended and I loved it!  I would definitely keep this to over 16 crowd.  If it was a movie it would probably get an R rating because of sexual and violent content.

This book reminded me a lot of the movie Scream with "The Rules".  It seemed like no one followed the rules for survival set forth in that movie.  I also really liked the story.  It kept me guessing throughout the whole book.  I thought I had it figured out at least twice and only to find out I was totally wrong in the end.  

I had the same issue with being able to keep track of who all the characters were.  It was easier towards the end of the book.  I would definitely recommend this book to the older YA readers.  It was a lot of fun.

Joint Review: The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon

Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: Doubleday
Date of publication: August 2015

Once the thriving attraction of rural Vermont, the Tower Motel now stands in disrepair, alive only in the memories of Amy, Piper, and Piper's kid sister, Margot. The three played there as girls until the day that their games uncovered something dark and twisted in the motel's past, something that ruined their friendship forever.

Now adult, Piper and Margot have tried to forget what they found that fateful summer, but their lives are upended when Piper receives a panicked midnight call from Margot, with news of a horrific crime for which Amy stands accused. Suddenly, Margot and Piper are forced to relive the time that they found the suitcase that once belonged to Silvie Slater, the aunt that Amy claimed had run away to Hollywood to live out her dream of becoming Hitchcock's next blonde bombshell leading lady. As Margot and Piper investigate, a cleverly woven plot unfolds—revealing the story of Sylvie and Rose, two other sisters who lived at the motel during its 1950s heyday. Each believed the other to be something truly monstrous, but only one carries the secret that would haunt the generations to come.

I really enjoyed The Night Sister. I was pleasantly surprised and liked it a lot more then The Winter People.   It had a lot of twists that kept it exciting right until the end.  It's a hard one to review without giving away any surprises. Let's just say that I was pretty surprised at the end. 

The story is told through flashbacks to the 1950s and 1980s as well as the present.  At first it was a little hard to figure out what is going on, but I ended up liking the format.  It allowed the story to unfold in a logical manner without really giving away any secrets too soon.  The story is a bit creepy but that just adds to the entertainment.  I definitely recommend this one.  

I was rather surprised by this book as well.  I probably shouldn't have been, I've read enough Jennifer McMahon books  to know that she's going to come up with a story line that's completely unusual and hard to guess.  The flashbacks were a little difficult to keep up with in the beginning and initially I didn't care for it, but I found that it was necessary for the story.

I would definitely recommend this book.  It would be especially great for these cool, fall weekends that are coming up soon!

Joint Review: The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne

Author: S. K. Tremayne
Publisher: Grand Central Publshing
Date of publication: May 2015

A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.

But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity—that she, in fact, is Lydia—their world comes crashing down once again.

As winter encroaches, Angus is forced to travel away from the island for work, Sarah is feeling isolated, and Kirstie (or is it Lydia?) is growing more disturbed. When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, Sarah finds herself tortured by the past—what really happened on that fateful day one of her daughters died? 

I can't really say that I  liked The Ice Twins.  I thought it was really slow.  I stuck it out for about 75% of the way and then skipped to the end to find out what really was going on.  I didn't find it that creepy.  I mean Kirstie/Lydia was kind of creepy, but that was about it.  Both parents were annoying.  First, can parents of identical twins really not be able to tell them apart?  I do know a set of identical twins and their mom can totally tell which twin is which, even when they dress exactly alike.

The other thing that kept going through my mind was therapy.  Why did neither parent suggest therapy for the surviving twin?  That was just so frustrating to me, especially when Kirstie started acting weird.  No, let's just go along with it and assume we got it wrong. Really?  The big reveal was kind of dumb.  The secrets and lack of communication were frustrating.  I really don't recommend this book if you are looking for a thriller.  You won't find it here.

I'm a mom of identical twin girls and the whole time I was listening to this book I kept thinking this author must not be a mom of twins.  You can tell your kids apart.  Yeah, sometimes you mix them up for a second or two, but even if one is insisting they are the other there are physical ways to tell which one is which: moles, birthmarks, scars, etc.  

I didn't feel like this book was scary or a ghost story of any kind.  I kinda kept thinking this was more a story about mental illness.  I thought Kristie/Lydia had some kind of mental illness, then later on her mother obviously had some mental issues going on.  From that aspect, it was kind of interesting and I  think if it had been portrayed from that angle it might have been better.

Joint Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

by:  Lauren Oliver
publisher: HarperCollins
publish date: March 2015

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

Autumn and I both liked Panic, so we decided to do a joint review of 
Vanishing Girls, the latest buy the same author.  This was a DNF for me.  I found it uninteresting.  The fighting between Dara and Nick was strange since they never tell you why.  I could also see the potential for a love triangle, and I hate those.  I just wasn't interested in finishing the book to see how it ended.

I feel kind of the same way about Vanishing Girls.  I've read a couple of Lauren Oliver's books and I've really liked them.  I wish I could say the same thing about this one.  The story wasn't very interesting.  The fighting between Dara and Nick was infuriating rather than intriguing.  It was never explained why they were so angry with each other and I wasn't interested in figuring it out.  The disappearance that I thought was supposed to be so central to the story happens so late and I could even figure out how one Dara's disappearance was supposed to link to the little girl's....and I was nearly done with the book and I was bored with it and didn't care to finish...so I didn't.

Joint Review: The First Wife by Erica Spindler

Author: Eric Spindler
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Dte of publication: February 2015

An idealistic young woman marries a man she barely knows only to discover his first wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As a child, Bailey Browne dreamed of a knight in shining armor swooping in to rescue her and her mother. As she grew older, those dreams transformed, becoming ones of a mysterious stranger who swept her off her feet and whisked her away from her ordinary existence; then, suddenly, there he was. Despite the ten-year difference in their ages and her working class upbringing and his of privilege, Logan Abbott and Bailey fall deeply in love. Marriage quickly follows.

But when Logan brings her home to his horse farm in Louisiana, a magnificent estate on ninety wooded acres, her dreams of happily-ever-after begin to unravel. A tragic family history Bailey knew nothing about surfaces, along with whisperings about the disappearance of his first wife and rumors about women from the area who have gone missing, and when another woman disappears, all signs point to her husband's involvement.

I actually enjoyed The First Wife.  The book definitely has a soap opera feel to it.  I have seen others describe the book as something you would see in a Lifetime movie. You know, a guy and girl meet on vacation and instantly fall in love and marry.  The girl has no family and must uncover all of her new husbands secrets.  Can she really trust him?  This book would make a good movie.
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The story has a few twists that I didn't see coming.  You don't know who is telling the truth. I totally didn't call the ending! I liked the memory loss scenario. The reader discovers what happens right long with Bailey. I definitely recommend this book.  

So I liked that this book took place in Louisiana and the audiobook reader didn't give people ridiculous accents.  I also liked that it took place in a sort of "non-traditional" part of the state.

However, I don't watch soap operas because I can't stand all the melodrama.  I felt like all the characters in this book were hysterical half the time.  They were always crying or shouting or screaming.  I just wanted to tell everyone to chill out.

While this book wasn't really my cup of tea, it wasn't badly written.  The story was interesting.  The twists and turns were pretty good.  The drama overload just got to me after awhile and made this book less than pleasing to read.

Joint Review: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

by:  Marissa Meyer
published by:  Feiwal + Friends
publish date:  January 27, 2015

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Fairest is sort of a prequel in the Lunar Chronicles.  It tells the story of how Queen Levana comes to power.  Fortunately, a lot is explained in this book because frankly, so much time has passed since I've read some of these Lunar Chronicle books, I don't remember how all these characters relate.  This book did a good job of illustrating the family dynamics between Levana, Cinder and the new character Winter.   This is is a good book to tide the LC fans over until Winter come out.  I think you might be surprised at how sympathetic you might feel towards Levana after hearing her story.

I really enjoyed Fairest and thought is was a great addition to the series.  I am glad that the author wrote it, because it gives us a lot more history and how everyone relates to each other.  I wouldn't recommend reading this one first because things will be spoiled for you before reading the first three.

It's a shorter book, so it can be read quickly.  I admitted to Autumn in the beginning that I felt bad for Lavana and could see how she turned so evil.  But in the end, I decided that she was just basically crazy and not much would have saved her.  The book has the first three chapters of Winter (Book 4) as a teaser bonus. Neither one of us read them so we would be surprised.  I can't wait for Winter to come out this summer!