Slow to start and difficult to keep the characters straight. Ending left a lot to be desired. The overall story was enjoyable. The side story about the best friend was not needed and I felt like it was just something to fill pages and was not at all relevant to the murmur plot.

Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.

I have only ever read one book by Jodi Picoult before so was not sure I would like this but it was a very clever and interesting story with a twist at the end. Also it had a lot of interesting information on elephants which has made me want to investigate them a bit more too.

The 7th and last book of the Rock Harbor Series. I am sad that I got to the end of the series. But loved reading about Rock Harbor and watching them learn and grow as people (characters). Dana, friend to Bree, is returning to Rock Harbor after her relationship hit the rocks. The past and the present come together. Love the Rock Harbor series and will try another series by this author.

I liked this book because now i know that I will be ready to move on to first grade. I liked learning of all of the fun things that I will get to do in first grade, like games to play outside, new yummy foods during lunch, and best of all, make new friends!

I really enjoyed this short, but intense, book! Summerwater presents a slice of life of several families vacationing at a remote Scottish lake: a variety of retirees and families, and a group that is labeled "foreign" by the others. The weather is terrible (even for Scotland!) and nerves are frayed. The chapters alternate point of view between the different characters and although it seems nothing much is happening, there is a sense of foreboding that propels you onward. I'd also recommend "Ghost Wall" by Moss, another slim, unsettling story.

This is a kind of mystical story set in Amsterdam. It is number one so I assume that we are going to meet the Miniaturist in future books. The story revolves around Petronella who is from the countryside and marries a rich Dutch merchant and moves into his home in Amsterdam. As a wedding gift he gives her a model of their home and she contacts the Miniaturist whom she never actually meets, to make items to go into it. What follows is an intriguing tale of the whole family and their relationships which somehow the Miniaturist seems to mysteriously know much more about than anyone else. It is rather a sad story and has quite a twist at the end.

I loved this book - juicy, edge-of-your-seat thriller was what I wanted and it delivered! I was nervous that I maybe wouldn't be able to sleep or something afterwards but it did not have that effect - just good, clean who-done-it. So happy I read it!

This work of fiction is both disturbing and uplifting at the same time. It follows the story of a child whose father was a meth dealer and whose mother was an addict and the family she made for herself outside of the traditional definitions of family.

Horror meets young adult in this book! I was glued to the pages and actually finished this book in one sitting (yes all 450+ pages). This should be on your next read if you are a horror fan; the ending was my favorite part of this book, so read it all!