Get Lost in Literature

“It’s not your fault.” Kate Waters is a reporter, investigating the death of a baby found at a construction site. Angela becomes convinced the baby is her long lost infant, kidnapped from the maternity ward in the 70s. Emma is an emotionally fragile housewife following the case, even inserting herself into it, because she’s hiding dark secrets of her own. Jude, Emma’s mother, has a strained relationship with her daughter after throwing her out of the house when she was a teenager. The formatting of this book is unusual. The book blurb on the cover of my edition insists that Kate is the main character of the story, but Emma’s chapters are written in 1st person point of view which makes it seem as though she’s the most important person in the book. Kate, Angela and Jude all have chapters written in 3rd person POV which makes it seem like all three should take a backseat to Emma. I believe Kate does in fact have the most chapters dedicated to her investigation into how the three other wom...

  “It’s true, I want to understand. But more than that, I want you to understand." In part two of the Bloodstorm trilogy, Julia Malmros and Kim Ribbing are back with a new adventure, this time with Astrid Helander’s help. This time Julia isn’t just using Kim for companionship, she’s become infatuated with him.  To me, a love story feels like the natural progression of their relationship after they’ve survived the events of the last book but turns out to be deeply unfortunate for Julia as Kim’s a bit of a psychopath and appears to be incapable of reciprocating. Astrid Helander, troubled and angry and apparently left without a conscience after her parents’ murder, appoints herself as Kim’s partner in crime (literally). Julia, who feels insulted when a tv producer compares her mystery novels to fantasy, begins research on a new book, looking into a political party called the True Swedes, their affiliates the Apostates, and Project: Sweden. All I could think of was MAGA Extremist...

 Margaret and Steve Frawley return home from a party after a disturbing phone call from their babysitter to find their daughters Kelly and Kathy have become the victims of a kidnapping. The kidnapper, who calls himself the Pied Piper, and his two henchmen demand a ransom for the safe return of the girls. But the panicked parents can’t afford to pay the ransom on their own and so begins the descent into deceit. This is the first Mary Higgins Clark book I’ve read in a long time. The first book I ever read by her was about a woman who solves a crime, almost becomes the criminal’s next victim, and is saved by her love interest… I read two more books by her and was disappointed to find they followed the same formula. So imagine my surprise when I cracked this novel open and found a book that didn’t follow that formula. This is less of a mystery, the identities of the kidnappers are revealed pretty early on, and more of a thriller as the FBI attempts to track down the girls before someth...

 “All a seed truly needs to sprout is time.” Anastasia Miller insists her whole life that she is an alien here to kickstart the invasion of Earth by an alien species of plant people. She advertises it to everyone she meets almost as soon as she meets them. Of course nobody believes her, it’s outrageous and crazy. Her roommates Mandy and Lucas accept her for who she is, extraterrestrial or not, and her boyfriend Graham loves her unconditionally. But nobody really understands until an astronomer intercepts an alien signal from outer space and things begin to change. The first thing that really pops out of my head on the subject of Overgrowth is how when people realize the aliens have been among them the whole time, they turn on each other. People begin accusing neighbors and friends who are “a little out there” of being aliens, even attacking them. They’re rioting in the streets and looting. I don’t think this behavior is outside the realm of possibility of what would happen in a re...

  “A story,” said Rain, “is like a room. You enter it through a door like ‘Once upon a time’ or ‘Once there was a little girl’…” Rain, Cossy, and Iskinaary have escaped prison with the help of Flying Monkeys and are fleeing the city that’s come under naval attack. Lucickles has gone into hiding with his family at his mother-in-law’s farm, where they are besieged by refugees, eventually including the green-skinned teenager that ruined the world as he knew it. I love that this story (both books so far) wants to ask existential questions. The difference of life and death is a curiosity to be studied, more so by Cossy than Rain. They are both transfixed be the question of ‘who am I?’ as Rain tries to discover her lost memories and Cossy tries to discover herself with the loss of the brides and the only home she’s ever known. There’s also the subject of destiny… If you believe in that sort of thing, which Rain does not but some of the characters around her do. They believe it is her des...

“Shadows in the corridor loomed, only to scurry away. They seemed taller in the witching hour, dawn mere hours away.” In this sequel to One Dark Window , Nightmare has finally taken over Elspeth’s mind, leaving her imprisoned in the dark. Ravyn, who is desperate to save her and break the curse on Blunder, must find the last Providence card before time runs out. With Hauth on his deathbed, Elm finds himself becoming an unwilling heir to the throne. I loved the plot of this a little bit better than the first. I think maybe the first book was simply introducing the world… The second book is more of a quest as the future of Blunder hangs in the balance. There was no waffling about either, nothing extraneous included. RG knew where she wanted her characters to go and she sent them there. The romantasy elements were really fun. The story is passionate without being super smutty. Ravyn’s determined to save Elspeth even if it means allying himself with the monster that lives in her head, even ...

"It was downright uncanny, in a way that had nothing to do with ghosts and monsters. You could feel the weight of the stone pressing down overhead..." Before I summarize the story, let me express my surprise that Alex Easton is non-binary. In the first book I was convinced Alex was a he and in the second book I saw evidence that Alex was a she.  In this last book, I realized Alex is neither which is why gender is never emphasized. Three books into the  Sworn   Soldier series(trilogy?)  and it’s clear to see that I’m kind of slow on the uptake. Alex Easton is back in a new adventure. Kan (the pronouns Alex uses are ‘ka/kan’ originating from Galician) old friend Dr. James Denton has written to tell kan about an abandoned mine where his cousin Oscar has gone missing. Denton insists that Oscar was taken by something ‘other’ and that there’s the possibility he is still alive. Alex agrees to look into Oscar’s disappearance. While the original inspiration for this series wa...

"One sailor saw a dead eel in a barrel of vinegar. But it might not have been dead, because you know what eels are like." In 1628, Mayken and her nursemaid Imke set sail for Batavia on the Batavia.  Imke is taking Mayken to live with her father after her mother dies. During the journey Mayken learns of a monster that lives below deck and takes the form of a giant eel, Bullebak. Mayken comes to believe Bullebak is real when Imke's toe is bitten and begins her quest to capture the monster on board. In 1989, newly orphaned Gil is sent to live with his ill-tempered grandfather, Joss, on the island where his mother grew up. Once on the island, Gil is ostracized by the small community and left alone most of the day while his grandfather goes out fishing. Left to his own devices, he learns about a ghost that haunts the island and the ship that wrecked just offshore. I loved the tone of this book. While killing mothers in the opening act is nothing new - Disney has made a fortune...

"Betrayal lodges in my heart like a hot coal trapped behind the grate of the hearth." In this final installment of the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy, Grey has been chased from the Crystal Palace in Syhl Shallow and has returned to Ironrose in Emberfall, leaving his wife Queen Lia Mara to rule her country alone. Like with the first two novels, the continuation of Grey and Lia Mara's complicated love story is a delicious side plot to compliment the story of Tycho, Jax, Callyn, and Alek. Tycho, who promised he'd only be gone for a few days, returns to Emberfall after months away from Jax. Jax had spent his alone time making friends and a not-so-secret admirer. They both feel a little guilty; Tycho per usual looking to hide his emotions behind a wall of toxic masculinity, and Jax trying to hide his emotions with fake indifference. Both agonize over the distance growing between them, neither willing to yield. Callyn is living under the weight of her anxiety; Alek upon ...

"Revenge on everybody . That would fill her time. That would keep her busy." This is not going to be the greatest review of all time, seeing as I had some personal problems that required me to put the book down for a month and I was too preoccupied to take notes. This is the second book I read this year that involves a criminal main character in a dark fantasy novel. It's also my third dark fantasy this year (I think I read them in a straight row) and I'm not sure what called me to them when I was at the bookstore at the start of the summer. The main character, Charlie Hall was deeply likeable even though she claims she isn't. She's a criminal and conflicted about it. She's trying to go straight, but if it were that easy there'd be no story. When a friend asks her for a favor and her past starts to catch up to her, she has nothing but her talents as a thief and con-artist to rely on. I like that the setting takes place in the 'real world'. You ...

"The Prophet showed me a hooded figure with a shadow," Morette Yew's voice called above the clamor, stern and sure. "The shadow remained even when the light faded." A mist has settled over Blunder, a curse by a vengeful deity, it confuses and consumes. Meet Elspeth Spindle: resident of Blunder and survivor of an infection that grants its sufferers magic abilities. In a world where magic is punishable by death, Elspeth counts herself lucky that she can pass for normal. That no one knows she's infected. That no one knows that a monster, The Nightmare, lives inside her head. For eleven years she's kept these secrets but one fateful night and one chance meeting changes everything. Suddenly she's thrown into a conspiracy against the King, to break the curse, and to free herself. I normally start with my positive observations first and then my negative, but for whatever reason I'm doing my review in reverse today. I noticed some problems in the beginni...

' "Just trust me, Nina." "I wouldn't trust you to tie my shoes without stealing the laces, Kaz." ' This gritty fantasy opens with the introduction of six quirky characters. Kaz Brekker, only seventeen years old, is a hardened career criminal in a street gang known as the Dreggs. Jesper is an ex-farmboy turned sharpshooter with a gambling addiction. Inej, aka The Wraith, is indentured to the Dreggs but finds she has a talent for criminality; she's dangerous, fearless. She's the thief of secrets. Wylan was born to privilege and ran from it; he went from being a wealthy merchant's son, to being a demolitions expert for Kaz's gang. Matthias, Kaz's opposite; run by what he considers to be a moral high ground, is a soldier trained to hunt down witches and was convicted on false charges. And then there's Nina, a witch, or Grisha, who put Matthias in prison and is desperate to correct that wrong. These six teenagers hardened by their own ...

"The dream itself had faded a little now, but it had been a memory as much as a nightmare. Me as a child, walking toward the doorway to the small kitchen of the house I had grown up in." After the death of his wife, Tom Kennedy and his son Jake move to the small town of Featherbank. They're looking for a fresh start, but it soon becomes clear they won't find it. The locals call their new home "the scary house" and Jake's imaginary friends are becoming increasingly disturbing. A child goes missing, and as police race to find the boy they discover the clues point to someone who is already in prison. The first thing that stood out to me was that we're given a collection of imperfect characters all trying to overcome some sort of loss. There's Tom who's coping with his grief by writing about his wife, and as much as he loved her, some of what he writes isn't always pleasant. His son Jake is inventing imaginary friends and getting in trouble a...

  "This is how we sometimes lose people: not all at once, but little by little, like the wind blowing specks of pollen from a flower." The Land of Lost Things is the long-awaited sequel to The Book of Lost Things. The Book of Lost Things is one of my favorite books and is located on my Top Ten Books to Get Lost on a Deserted Island With list. Having never reviewed The Book of Lost Things , I feel compelled to tell you a little about it first. The Book of Lost Things is about a boy named David; his mother dies and his father remarries. Increasingly unhappy with his homelife, that now includes an infant half-brother, he falls deeper into the stories that bring him comfort... Until he accidentally opens the door to Elsewhere. In a world beyond his own, he finds fairytales and monsters reminiscent of The Brothers Grimm . I know certain adults have the compulsion for lumping all fantasy novels in with YA, but this book was not aimed at young adults. This book is a coming-of-age...

"Last March Zodiac had been writing industriously, casting his net wide; spreading his word southward." Zodiac Unmasked was the first book I read in 2025, I've managed to hold off posting the review for this specific day. Woohoo! I made it. It's also a first for me, the first true crime novel I've ever read. I originally wanted to get Zodiac by Robert Graysmith , you know the one with the infamous yellow cover. But it appears that wasn't available by e-book and I was too lazy to go to the store or library to look for a hardcopy. Zodiac Unmasked  is dedicated to exploring the theory that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac Killer, based on witness testimony and circumstantial and coincidental evidence. It also explores additional murders, assaults, and abductions during that time period that may have been perpetrated by the Zodiac. I found this book to be very well written and well researched, taking us through the crimes and how they relate to the timeline of ...

"Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped." This is the second year in a row that I have cheated with letter X and gone with 'Ex', but I bet I'm not the only one who has so maybe that's okay. Even 'Ex' was hard to find a book that suited my reading tastes. I considered Douglas Preston's  Extinction  but found the main character unlikable after the first few chapters, and there was Excavation  by James Rollins which I just wasn't in the mood for. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, chronicles Oskar Schell's search for answers. His father dies on 9/11 and Oskar is the last one to hear his father's voice leaving him feeling both guilty and grief stricken. He plays tambourine and keeps a scrapbook, makes up inventions and bruises himself when he feels bad. But when he finds a key hi...

 "I edged Hobb away from the side of the road, where a tangle of vines draped over a bare tree like spilled entrails." What Feast at Night by T.Kingfisher We're back for another story of Alex Easton, who is headed to her family lodge and is in for a surprise. Upon arrival she and Angus find the caretaker Codrin has died in their absence and the town talks of a demon of nightmares that stalks the grounds. T. Kingfisher was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. Now some people like Austin or Dickens, but I hold Poe to be one of the best classic writers of time. It all comes down to atmosphere. A good Gothic Horror should have a setting as ghostly as its monster and as much a character as its hero, and Kingfisher delivers. In the opening pages, it's implied that Alex is a she, which surprised me. (I'd been calling her he, up until she announced that her father had no sons.) She is an interesting character, war heroine, naive skeptic, and altogether force to be reckoned with w...

“Some roads go on and on,” the Kind One said. “And some roads end before their route. But no road goes on forever.” ― Simon Jimenez, The Vanished Birds This is perhaps one of my shortest reviews ever, written during a reviewing slump, but I read very few titles that start with V and this was the best book of the bunch. An intergalactically famous inventor charges a ship's captain with protecting a boy. The captain's crew become a family, but her story turns to tragedy. Despite the sadness, the story ends pleasantly with hope. This book was not what I expected. It was science-light science fiction. No long-winded explanations of tech and very little tech at all. There were no wildly fantastic space battles, just the practicality of life among the stars. The narrative was not quick, but a slow burn as the characters drove the story from past to present and across the universe.

  "It was unseasonably warm for June. The table was set as though for a banquet: Cornelius must know of her taste and refinement, that she honored him and would provide a gracious home." Asta Eicher is mother to three wonderful children: Annabelle precocious and imaginative, simple but sweet Grethe, and protective Hart. She takes care of her sick mother-in-law Lavinia, and is loved deeply by her on/off again boarder Charles. But Asta is a widowed artist who finds herself in debt, on the edge of losing everything she and her husband had worked so hard for... So she must find a new husband, one of means, and with room in his heart for her whole family.  Then the family goes missing. Our main characters disappear and are replaced with new ones, Emily Thornhill and William Malone. Emily is an investigative journalist charged with finding out the truth about what happened to the family. William Malone, a banker, is driven by guilt; he knew something was wrong and couldn't stop...

 "His first instinct was to leave without being seen, and this puzzled him. He was a federal agent with the full authority of the United States government. This meant people had to do what he said. Even nurses and doctors. They didn’t want him to leave? Tough shit." Special Agent Ethan Burke of the US Secret Service, wakes up in the woods outside of a quiet little town called Wayward Pines. He's been in an accident and he's having trouble with his memory. He knows he needs a hospital and somewhere to stay, but he can't find his wallet... or a working telephone. The longer Ethan stays in Wayward Pines, the more he realizes the town's got a secret, and the residents will kill to protect it. I know this book was big when it came out. I downloaded a sample from Amazon and passed judgement the same day; the writing was simple, and quick to the point. This was light reading dressed up as horror. There's nothing wrong with that, but at the time I'd wanted som...