Category: Kate’s Reviews

Kate’s Review: “What’s Yours Is Mine”

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Book: “What’s Yours Is Mine” by Jennifer Jabaley

Publishing Info: Lake Union Publishing, August 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Determined daughters. Controlling mothers. There’s no such thing as friendly competition in a twisty novel of suspense about ambition, revenge, and unrealized dreams.

Valerie Yarnell is a hardworking single mother who’d do anything for her daughter, Kate. Kate is a dancer with dreams of stardom, just like her talented best friend, Colette. Despite Valerie’s sacrifices, it’s Colette’s mother, former prima ballerina Elise, whom Kate adores. And Colette has become like the practically perfect sister Kate never had. How can Valerie not feel frustrated, ineffectual, and a little jealous of the queen bee of dance moms? Not only has she hijacked her daughter, but Elise is married to the man Valerie pines for.

Rivalries are forming. Tension is mounting. In preparation for an elite dance competition, Kate outshines the more promising Colette onstage, and the pressure is on for Colette to keep her position in the spotlight—and especially to keep her demanding mother happy. Who could have foreseen the violent attack that sabotages everything? Anyone who’s been watching closely.

As ruthless and sinister ambitions are exposed, a media firestorm and an explosive town scandal erupt. Before it’s over, two mothers and two daughters will learn just how fierce and dangerous a rivalry can still get.

Review: Thank you to Sparkpoint Studio for sending me an ARC of this novel!

My kid is five years old and my husband signed her up for soccer this past Spring into Summer. I was talking to book club about this during our cabin weekend and how I’ve somehow been wrangled into the role of ‘soccer mom’ since his work schedule means that more often than not I was the one taking her, and probably will be in the future (as the kid LOVED it), and it was pointed out that at least soccer, comparatively, is cheaper than other popular sports and pastimes (we’re in the land of hockey, after all). One that came up was dance, and I kept thinking about that as I read “What’s Yours Is Mine” by Jennifer Jabaley, a new soapy thriller about teenage dance rivalries spilling into mother’s circles and running amok. It was either a stark reminder that it could always be worse, or a scrying glass into my future (hopefully without the extra drama and bodily harm).

As a thriller, it worked fairly well for me. The set up is simple: Kate and Colette are teenage dancers and best friends, Kate’s mother Valerie being a single mom who works a difficult and time consuming job, and Colette’s mother Elise being a former prima dancer turned powerful and put together housewife. Kate has ambition to be the best, while Elise has that same ambition for her daughter. When it becomes clear that Kate may be outshining Colette, and Kate starts to REALLY want to become the best, tensions rise between friends, and mothers and daughters, until Colette is injured in a suspicious accident. The crux of it is who wants to hurt Colette, and how far are some of these characters willing to go to get what they want? It’s simple, it’s straightforward, but it has a good amount of suspense with lots of suspects, clues, and misdirections to keep me guessing in general. Were all of the reveals surprising? It was a bit of a mixed bag. But the pacing was well done and the suspense was there.

And I mean it’s just so dramatic and soapy, and that is truly my catnip when it comes to domestic thrillers. We have best friends who are now fully competing with each other! We have class wars! We have a former dancer who wants her daughter to be a star no matter what! We have potential affairs! It has so many suds just spilling out of it that I was eating it up and reveling in the histrionics of it all, and I fully mean that in a complimentary kind of way. I liked jumping perspectives between characters so we could get an idea of what they were all thinking, but Jabaley was successful in keeping clues hidden away for the most part even when we were getting into each character’s head. A nice soapy vibe is usually going to be something I like and this book had it and then some.

As a whole I enjoyed “What’s Yours Is Mine”. It has some twists and turns and a lot of dramatics, and if you are still looking for easy poolside reading this summer, this is a good choice.

Rating 8: A tension filled domestic thriller about ambition, rivalry, and passion that kept me guessing and kept me invested. Also, VERY sudsy, which is always a plus.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What’s Yours Is Mine” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you like Megan Abbott this will surely be a good fit.

Kate’s Review: “Influencer”

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Book: “Influencer” by Adam Cesare

Publishing Info: Union Square & Co, October 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a finished copy at a panel at ALAAC25

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Aaron Fortin is new in town. He drives a brand-new Acura—a gift from his parents for uprooting him in the middle of senior year. Showing up on his first day at the local public school in that nice of a car? He knows he’ll never blend in, and he doesn’t care to try. The car, the new kid mystique, he can use all that…

Crystal Giordano carpools to the same school in her friend Trevor’s beat-up van. In the van along with Crystal and Trevor are Paul, Harmony, and Gayle. Crystal’s technically part of their misfit group, but most of the time, she feels like she’s the only one who doesn’t fit.

When Aaron Fortin sits at their lunch table, Crystal can see he’s not who he says he is. But how big of a fraud is Aaron Fortin? Crystal clumsily exposes Aaron and becomes his target, falling victim to his insidious campaign to erase her. Only then does she discover who he truly is—and it’s so much worse than she thought.

As her friends begin to follow him one by one, Crystal wonders if she can protect them or if his influence is just too strong.

Review: Thank you to Union Square & Co for giving me a finished copy of this novel at ALAAC25!

So here is a story that perfectly reflects the fates of some of my ARCs. During the ALA Annual Conference in 2024, I picked up an ARC of the book “Influencer” by Adam Cesare. I grabbed it because 1) I have enjoyed other books by Adam Cesare and was happy to see he had a new one, and 2) I just love a thriller or horror story that uses social media influencers as a sticking point in their plots. Fast forward to the ALA Annual Conference in 2025, where I find myself attending a panel that has Adam Cesare, and he is talking about his 2024 “Influencer”…. A book that I wholly left by the wayside the year before. As I listened to him talk I thought to myself ‘ah shit, I really should have read “Influencer” by now, it sounds great’. Well good news! I got a new copy at ALAAC25, and I DID READ IT THIS TIME!

Hooray! (source)

I had a lot of fun with this book! Once it hooked me in the very first chapter (which was a start that had QUITE a shocking bang I must say!), I had a really hard time putting it down. It’s a very readable thriller with a well done narrative structure of two narrators, one being our psychopathic ‘influencer’ Aaron and the other being awkward but observant Crystal. Through both of their perspectives we see the making of a cat and mouse game as Aaron slowly dismantles Crystal’s life and isolates her from her friends, and as Crystal tries to figure out a way to expose him for the dangerous villain he is. We can slowly start to tell what Aaron is plotting on one hand, but on the other we can see Crystal coming up with her own counter moves, and the tension of seeing who ends up on top propels the story. And as someone who used to have an unfortunate hyperfocus on serial killers, I definitely picked up on a lot of what Cesare was referencing. It’s also just a wicked take on how social media stars and influencers build upon parasocial relationships to create a profit, whether that’s money in our world or Manson-like control and violence mongering to make oneself feel powerful in the story at hand. Cesare isn’t afraid to really go balls to the wall in disturbing content in this book, but it makes his point (also, note that this book has instances of animal abuse, sexual assault, and many murders including that of a pregnant person, just to put some content warnings out there. Also, the book has a page of content warnings to refer to). It’s just a thriller that really worked for me.

But my favorite part of this book was the character of Crystal, our protagonist who can see right through Aaron due to her incredible intuition and pattern recognition. Crystal is very observant and perceptive, but she is also riddled with anxiety and awkwardness and constant worries about the status of her friendships and how her friends perceive her. If we’re being honest, Crystal was a LOT like me in high school, never quite feeling like she totally fit in with her peers and even her friends outside of perhaps one or two exceptions, and I thought that she was very, very endearing because of it. In fact, I also really enjoyed (as much as one can, I suppose as a villain’s perspective!) Aaron’s POV chapters as we see his manipulations, his deviousness, and his absolute sociopathy. It’s a shocking contrast between the two main POVs, and I thought that Cesare nailed both of them pretty well. Some of our supporting characters could have used a bit more oomph, specifically Harmony and Paul, as I felt like I didn’t know them well enough to know if I believed their quite heel turns as happy lapdogs to Aaron’s plots and plans no matter how crazed and violent, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief a bit just because I enjoyed so many other things about the book.

Me finally getting to “Influencer” took some time, but I’m thrilled I finally got the kick in the pants I needed to pick it up. If you are looking for some more fast and fun reads as the summer winds down, check this one out for sure!

Rating 8: Fast paced, twisted as hell, and suspenseful until the end, “Influencer” is a darker tale from star on the rise author Adam Cesare!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Influencer” is included on the Goodreads list “Fiction About Influencers”.

Kate’s Review: “The Between”

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Book: “The Between” by Tananarive Due

Publishing Info: Harper Perennial, October 2021 (originally published 1995)

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: When Hilton was a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. 

When Hilton’s wife, the only elected African American judge in Dade County, Florida, begins to receive racist hate mail from a man she once prosecuted, Hilton becomes obsessed with protecting his family. The demons lurking outside are matched by his internal terrors—macabre nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are these bizarre dreams the dark imaginings of a man losing his hold on sanity—or are they harbingers of terrible events to come? 

As Hilton battles both the sociopath threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep, the line between reality and fantasy dissolves . . . 

Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between is the haunting story of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves as he slowly loses himself. 

Review: Back in 2024 when I read Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory”, I told myself that once I had processed the absolute magnificence of that book I would need to start reading her back catalog. And it admittedly took me awhile, probably not just because I was processing (out of sight, out of mind is basically how I function, unfortunately). But I finally kicked myself in the pants and told myself READ MORE TANANARIVE DUE, and I decided to go back to her debut novel “The Between”. Staring at the beginning is a very good place to start after all! It helped that it had been re-released a few years ago, and my local library had a copy ready to to! So as I read the story of Hilton James, a Black man who nearly drowned as a child but was saved by his grandmother, and who is now married and having horrifying nightmares AND dealing with racist threats on his family, I could tell from the jump that starting here was the right choice.

My initial thought was, as an elder Millennial horror fan, that this has similar vibes to “Final Destination”, but this came out long before that first movie made its grand entrance into the zeitgeist. So it goes to show that Due was ahead of the curve! I really enjoyed the weird and ever building tension as Hilton starts to have weirder and more distressing dreams, just as his wife (and the entire family really) is getting death threats from a stalker with a racist hatred for the family. It makes for some good muddling of the waters, in that it’s not fully clear if Hilton is really experiencing premonitions or harbingers of doom due to something supernatural, or if it’s because of a very real threat of racist violence against his family. Due taps into both the worldly and otherworldly, and I found myself just completely wound up as Hilton spirals more and more and alienates himself from those he loves as things become more and more out of control for him.

But what really stood out to me, and what I have greatly appreciated in Due’s other work, is her take on American racism and the harm it has caused and continues to cause. Setting aside the strange dreams and setting aside the lapses in memory and setting aside Hilton’s history and his potential outrunning of Death when he wasn’t supposed to, the letters and threats that he and Dede and their children receive are terrifying, vile, and, unfortunately still all too real even in the decades after this book was first published. Hilton has a lot of trauma that has been passed down through the generations as well, and the themes of grief, loss, trauma, and race all come together in ways that are incredibly powerful and absolutely heartwrenching. It’s really terrible that so few things have changed in this country since it was first published in 1995.

“The Between” was a stellar debut from a horror author that I really, really enjoy. I’m glad I went back to Tananarive Due’s first novel, as now I am going to work my way through the rest!

Rating 8: Haunting and incredibly tense, “The Between” is a strong debut from a now legendary horror author.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Between” is included on the Goodreads list “BELLETRIST”.

Kate’s Review: “Not Quite Dead Yet”

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Book: “Not Quite Dead Yet” by Holly Jackson

Publishing Info: Bantam, July 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.

Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.

Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.

She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.

Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.

She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:

Jet is going to solve her own murder.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

I’ve been on the Holly Jackson hype train for a few years now, having read most of her books and enjoying all of them to varying degrees. But imagine how surprised and excited I was when I found out that she had written a new thriller for an adult audience instead of the expected YA crowd. “Not Quite Dead” yet is her adult debut, and boy does it have a banger of a premise: a woman named Jet is brutally attacked, leaving her with a brain aneurysm that is going to eventually kill her in a few days time, and she decides to use her final days to figure out who killed her. If that doesn’t grab ya, I don’t know what will. And WOW. I absolutely loved this book.

No doubt in my mind this is going to be on my Top 10 list of this year. (source)

As a mystery and thriller, I was pretty much hooked on this book from the moment I picked it up until the moment I finished. Jackson has crafted well done mysteries in the past, but this one, for me, is her at her best. I think that perhaps because it’s for adults this time around she has a little more freedom to explore the darker tendencies, and in “Not Quite Dead Yet” explore she does. I thought that the mystery about who attacked/will ultimately kill Jet was well done, with a town full of secrets, a family full of problems, and a very plucky but addled amateur detective at the forefront. The idea of having to solve one’s own murder is horrifying, and we have lots of clues, lots of suspects, and some well done misdirections and some well done reveals as well. While I could call a few things here and there, I was mostly kept in the dark, and Jackson really keeps things tight lipped and well hidden until she’s ready to start explaining. Jet and her friend Billy follow leads, find suspects, and look for clues, all while her health continues to deteriorate, and the very enjoyable mystery mixed with a building dread of her about to die at any moment made for a LOT of suspense as I read.

But the heart and soul of this story is Jet and the ever present reality of her imminent mortality as she races the clock to solve her eventual murder. Jackson has always had a knack for writing witty dialogue and interesting and well rounded protagonists, but she really takes the cake with Jet, who is snarky and steely and a pain in the ass while also being incredibly vulnerable and easy to care about. The messy family dynamics, her chronic illness and the way it affects her relationships with those around her, the way she has to peel back really dark and upsetting truths about people and things she thought she knew, it’s an amazing emotional journey, and the fact that she is going to die soon and knows it makes it all the more emotional. Her relationship with childhood best friend Billy was also one of the strongest pillars of this story, as her rough around the edges personality combined with his gentle soul as they desperately search for answers makes for a wonderful duo. Sometimes with foregone conclusions when it comes to characters stories I don’t find myself getting too attached, but Jet? Good lord did I absolutely adore Jet, and that made all the emotional beats resonate all the more.

“Not Quite Dead Yet” is a fantastic mystery with a deep emotional well it pulls from. I absolutely loved it. I hope that Holly Jackson writes more adult thrillers because this one was tops.

Rating 10: A suspenseful mystery with some perfect twists, and enjoyable main character, and a deeply emotional core, “Not Quite Dead Yet” is a fantastic adult debut for Holly Jackson.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Not Quite Dead Yet” is included on the Goodreads list “Mystery & Thriller 2025”.

Kate’s Review: “It Was Her House First”

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Book: “It Was Her House First” by Cherie Priest

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, July 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Ronnie doesn’t know it yet, but her fate rests in the hands of the dead. 

Silent film star Venita Rost’s malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that’s claimed countless unlucky souls. And she’s not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan—her eternal nemesis—watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita’s unrelenting wrath.

Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it’s Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house’s blood-soaked history. But her arrival has stirred up more than just dust and decay. In the shadows, unseen eyes watch. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a thinly veiled jealousy, as well as a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence.

Venita’s fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds.

Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie’s skepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn’t as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita’s house, survival might be just an illusion.

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!

I’ve read a few titles from the sub-genre so far this year, but MAN I love a haunted house horror story. It’s a gift that keeps on giving for me, as I love ghosts, I love strange occurrences in a new home, and I love the way that horror authors can pull out truly unsettling and scary things from the trope but in so many different ways. I was definitely interested to read “It Was Her House First” by Cherie Priest, because it promised not only a haunted house but also the ghost of Venita, a glamorous Hollywood starlet who now haunts her mansion and brings woe to anyone who moves in. All of this was top notch in theory, and I dove in hoping for a creepy read.

I think that a truly strong haunted house narrative needs to have hauntees that you can engage with and root for, and we definitely got that in protagonist Ronnie. She’s the kind of main character that has some rough edges but still shines brightly, and I found her very enjoyable. Her motivation for buying this house without even seeing it first was believable (she’s mourning, she had an unexpected inheritance, she needs SOMETHING to distract her AND she’s handy!), and seeing her and her friend Katie work through their shared grief of losing Ronnie’s brother to cancer made for bittersweet moments, especially as we learn more about Ronnie’s feelings of guilt. I really liked her, and therefore was invested when this house started messing with her and she started realizing that things weren’t as they seem, whether it was because of strange occurrences in the house or the strange man who has started visiting, claiming a family connection to Bartholomew Sloane, who died on the property. Ronnie having to unravel the history of the home and this man’s motivations were compelling and suspenseful story beats. Especially after she finds the diary of tragic starlet Venita, whose angry spirit is said to haunt the house and bring death to anyone who moves in.

And what of the ghosts themselves? It was a little of a mixed bag. I do think that Venita wasn’t as fury filled as I had hoped she would be, which kind of cut down on the scares. But on the flip side of that, I thought that getting into her thought process through her diary did a good job of peeling back her motivations, and perhaps I didn’t find her as scary as I thought I would because I kind of felt like she was correct and justified about a lot of the things that made her such an angry and unwilling to leave spirit. I did, however, enjoy some of the eerie descriptions of the way that the hauntings would make themselves known, be it furniture moving about or the POV of the other ghost in the home Bartholomew Sloan, who has a connection to Venita and has a lot of guilt associated with that connection as they lead separate afterlives within the halls of the house.

I did enjoy a lot about “It Was Her House First”. It had a pretty stellar main character and some well executed shifts between POVs, and a creepy haunted house with a lot of tragedy attached to it. Ultimately, that’s what I look for in a story like this.

Rating 7: A mysterious haunted house story with an engaging main character bolstered this up, though I admittedly anticipated more scares. But that said, I found “It Was Her House First” enjoyable!

Reader’s Advisory:

“It Was Her House First” is included on the Goodreads list “2025 Horror I Can’t Wait For”.

Kate’s Review: “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Publishing Info: Minotaur Books, July 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, proprietor of a soul food café.

When Savvy Summers first opened Essie’s soul food café, she never expected her customer-favorite sweet potato pie to become the center of a murder investigation. But when Grandy Jaspers, the 75-year-old neighborhood womanizer, drops dead at table two, she suddenly has more to worry about than just maintaining Essie’s reputation for the finest soul food in the Chicagoland area.

Even as the police deem Grandy’s death an accident, Savvy quickly finds herself—and her beloved café—in the middle of an entire city’s worth of bad press. Desperate to clear her name and keep her business afloat, Savvy and her snooping assistant manager, Penny Lopés, take it upon themselves to find who really killed Grandy.

But with a slimy investor harassing her to sell her name and business, customers avoiding her sweet potato pie like the plague, and her police sergeant ex-husband suddenly back in the picture, will Savvy be able to clear the café’s name and solve Grandy’s murder before it all falls apart?

After all, while Savvy always said her sweet potato pie was to die for, she never meant literally.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

I am kind of at the point where I am seriously asking myself if I just add the ‘cozy mystery’ sub-genre to my rotation of review topics, because I keep having my attention caught by books that fit that description. I’ve already committed to reading the “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries”, and when I saw the book “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” by Sandra Jackson-Opoku on one of my general NetGalley browses I really wanted to read it. So hey, maybe we are at the start of a new coverage point for me. Because, much like the “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen” series, I could see this one being pretty fun to follow judging from the debut.

The mystery itself is what I usually expect from the cozy mystery sub-genre. It’s easy to follow, has a clear group of suspects who all have pretty believable motives, and it doesn’t go too hard or get too messy when it comes to the casualties that are inevitable. I wasn’t terribly shocked by any of the twists and turns, and didn’t find myself in any particular suspense, but it was palatable and easy to read, and I was definitely entertained as I was going. I wasn’t really surprised by the final reveal, but the journey getting there was a ride I didn’t mind taking.

Because that’s kind of the thing with me and cozy mysteries; I’m not really looking for a plot that keeps me guessing and keeps me on my toes. I’m almost always looking for a cast of characters I like to follow and an enjoyable time and place, and I felt like Jackson-Opoku achieved that in this book. I enjoyed Savvy as our amateur detective, as not only is she a Black woman who owns a soul food restaurant, she is also older than I usually read when I pick up a mystery, being well into middle age. She has seen and experienced things that make her less impetuous and more prudent, and I liked having her perspective and her history in place as we were introduced and as we followed her on her first mystery. I also liked our supporting characters who will surely show up as the books continue, whether it’s her friend/colleague Penny, or her ex-husband Falon (who, it seems to me, may be being set up to be a romantic interest as they are still quite close, and I wouldn’t be mad about it). I also just really enjoyed how Jackson-Opoku brings the Southside of Chicago to life, as I could see the people and see the neighborhoods as she was establishing the time and place.

And of course, the food based elements really spoke to me. It’s always fun having a story based around food, cooking, and the community and culture that comes with it, and it’s even better when it comes with recipes (and this one does!). I just really liked reading about the different foods that Savvy was creating in her restaurant and how it connects her to her family history, loved ones that she has had to say goodbye to, and to the community and culture of Chicago’s Southside and the Black population that calls it home. And I do love some sweet potato pie every now and again. You know, so long as it isn’t poisoned.

“Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” is a fun and easy going cozy mystery that will surely please those who like the genre.

Rating 7: A solid debut cozy mystery with a fun main character and a cast filled with potential, “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” is a promising beginning to a new series.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes” is included on the Goodreads list “Cozy Mysteries Published by African-Americans in Decade: 2020s”.

Kate’s Review: “Everyone Is Lying To You”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Everyone Is Lying To You” by Jo Piazza

Publishing Info: Dutton, July 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC at ALAAC25.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Lizzie and Bex were best friends in college. After graduation, Bex vanished, leaving Lizzie confused and devastated.

Fifteen years later, Bex is now Rebecca Sommers, a “traditional” Instagram influencer with millions of followers who salivate over her perfect life on her ranch with her five children and handsome husband, Gray. Lizzie is a struggling magazine writer, watching reels while her young children demand her attention.

One night out of the blue, Bex calls Lizzie with a career-making proposition—an exclusive interview with her about her multimillion-dollar business venture and an invitation to MomBomb, the high-profile influencing conference.

At the conference, Bex goes missing and Gray is found brutally murdered on their ranch. Lizzie finds herself plunged into the dark side of the cutthroat world of social media that includes jealousy, sordid affairs, swingers, and backstabbing. She must learn who her old friend has become and who she has double-crossed to try to find her, clear her name, and maybe even save her life.

Piazza’s master storytelling and razor-sharp insight into the world of social media brings us a pulpy, juicy, and cleverly plotted read that will have you guessing all the way through and leave you gasping for more.

Review: Thank you to Dutton for giving me an ARC at ALAAC25!

In recent years we have seen an uptick in ‘tradwife’ content online. For those unaware, tradwife influencers generally create content surrounding traditional family values, homemaking, motherhood, and pushing a conservative (and oftentimes far-right) agenda. It’s interesting seeing it play out as our societal Overton Window in the U.S. has shifted further right, making these influencers centerpieces of aspirational ‘and you can be an ideal traditional housewife and mother too!’ content, even though by being incredibly successful (and certainly monetized) influencers they are already not following the ‘be a submissive homemaker’ ideal they are pushing but being the actual breadwinner who supports their families with their content creation more than many of their husbands do. This kind of stuff fascinates and unsettles me, and when I heard that Jo Piazza had a tradwife centered murder mystery coming out called “Everyone Is Lying To You” I knew that I HAD to read it. And man, it was great.

At the heart of “Everyone Is Lying To You” are two women, who are both wives and mothers and who were best friends in college but lost touch for years. We have Lizzie, a determined journalist who works for a women’s publication, but has been struggling to adjust to working passion and becoming a mother to two children with a newly unemployed husband (who is supportive and great but a little aimless). The other is Rebecca, formerly Bex, who is a very popular family influencer who shows off her perfect marriage on a sprawling ranch while she raises six kids and homesteads with her traditional and conservative husband Gray. Rebecca reaches out to Lizzie promising her a juicy story if she attends the biggest female/family centered influencer convention, and while they are there Bex disappears and Gray is murdered on the ranch. We follow Lizzie’s perspective as she tries to figure out if her friend is a murderer whilst also fending off gossipy and perhaps cutthroat influencers, finding pieces of the puzzle and hoping to clear Bex while also wondering if she is actually a murderer. Piazza has some solid pacing, some really well done reveals and twists, and has so many misdirects and suspects that I really was kept guessing for most of the story. Hell, it was so well done that I didn’t even roll my eyes at any of the more out there reveals, as the story itself was so strong that it was easily forgivable.

The mystery of a murder and tradwife influencers is great, and I was already fully in, but it’s the two women we are following that really made this story a true knockout for me. I found Lizzie to be incredibly relatable, as a woman who never really took to the motherly instincts that we are told we all have, and who feels frazzled and sometimes overwhelmed by her family and the expectations that come with being a mom even if she really really loves every bit of her kids and her husband. But it was Rebecca/Bex that really shined, as we slowly learn her story through her perspective chapters and how she has ended up incredibly famous, while hiding so many of the darker aspects of her life because it would hurt the brand she has built around herself, and because she doesn’t want the world to know what her husband is really like. It was pretty clear to me that a lot of the inspiration for her was from Hannah Neeleman, aka Ballerina Farm (if you want a summary of the really insidious undertones of Hannah and her creepy husband’s vision, Jordan and McKay have a GREAT breakdown as former Mormons who have a lot of insight, or a REALLY deep dive from Fundie Fridays that postulates it’s pure Christian Nationalist propaganda), and Piazza makes Rebecca incredibly easy to root for while also making it hard to know if she could be capable of murder. I loved Rebecca’s chapters and wanted the best for her, even when I didn’t know if she was a killer or not.

In instances like this I’m down to support women’s rights AND wrongs. (source)

And finally, Piazza clearly knows her stuff when it comes to influencers and tradwife Internet/media content, because she knows all the ins, outs, controversies, and hypocrisies and finds ways to showcase them front and center. Whether it’s women who peddle wellness lifestyles while doing not so healthy things off camera, or mommy influencers who hide their nannies from the camera, or women who feel like they have to promote really exploitative things, usually at their children’s expense, for clicks and engagement, this book tackles a LOT and makes it snappy, cutting, and incredibly engaging. It’s such a great deconstruction of all the hypocritical and damaging things that tradwife content promotes as ideal, and I savored every bit of it.

“Everyone Is Lying To You” is a fast and addictive thriller with a bit of satirical bite to it. It’s a surefire winner for summer reading, and I really, really loved it.

Rating 9: I mean this book was basically written for me and all of my special interests and I was totally absorbed by all of it. PERFECT summer reading.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Everyone Is Lying To You” is included on the Goodreads list “Fiction About Influencers”.

Kate’s Review: “Bad Dreams in the Night”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Bad Dreams in the Night” by Adam Ellis

Publishing Info: Andrews McMeel Publishing, April 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Like a graphic novel version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark , this collection of original horror tales is packed with urban legends, terrifying twists, and delightfully haunted stories by one of the biggest stars in webcomics. Each story will make you scream for more!

A new take on a classic format, Bad Dreams in the Night is an updated, illustrated take on the horror anthologies the author grew up with as a kid, such as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and In a Dark, Dark Room . These self-contained stories grew rapidly in popularity among the author’s online audience, and even inspired production of a motion picture from Buzzfeed Studios and Lionsgate Films. Filled with spine-tingling, pulse-increasing tales of mystery and supernatural occurrences, this book of never-before-seen comics will be the perfect gift for people who love  Black Mirror  and  Stranger Things  and listened to podcasts like  Welcome to Nightvale  and  Rabbits. 

Review: I’m sure that if you have spent at least some time on the Internet you have stumbled upon something by Adam Ellis. He is a cartoonist whose works have gone viral more than once, and have become memes in some cases. I think that what I was most familiar with him from was his long form Twitter ghost story “Dear David”, where he recorded and shared a ‘haunting’ of his apartment by a child ghost with a caved in head. I thought it was very creative and a really fun way to tell a story and create folklore. I actually hadn’t heard of his horror story collection “Bad Dreams in the Night” until very recently, but once I had I really wanted to read it because I found “Dear David” to be a hoot. Clearly I needed to see what else he could do.

Like most short story collections, I will highlight my three favorite tales, and then address it as a complete product.

“Evangeline”: This book started off with a bang, as ‘Evangeline” really grabbed my attention and went places that I kind of expected, but still found poignant. Ellis reminisces about visiting his grandparents house and watching from the TV recorded horror movies on many VHS tapes, but there was one film that he hasn’t been able to find anywhere else. In the film a farmer has a strange alien land on his property, and he calls her Evangeline and they fall in love, though their love is doomed. Ellis searches far and wide but can’t find this movie anywhere. Perhaps for a reason. Was it easy to see wehre this was going? Yeah, a little, but I still loved the journey and found it to be rather bittersweet and beautiful, in a way.

“Little House in the Sea”: I thought that this was probably the most unique story in the book, and wasn’t so much scary as it was haunting and dreamy. A girl is raised alone on a small island with her mother. She always asks her mom if they can leave, but her mother is a steadfast ‘no’. The girl wonders what is beyond the sea. As a mother whose only child is a daughter this one felt especially emotional, even as the more speculative and odd aspects started to reveal themselves, and it just felt ethereal in its strangeness. This was a favorite based on vibes, I suppose, but man the vibes were great for me.

“Viola Bloom”: Is this pretty much a reimagining of a fairly common creepypasta trope that has been around for many, many years (the cursed chain letter/media situation)? Yes. But I still really, really enjoyed “Viola Bloom”, as even if it’s been done before, Ellis still made it unsettling and scary for me. Framed as autobiographical, Ellis receives a strange card in the mail with the name ‘Viola Bloom’ on it, and shortly thereafter a strange, unearthly woman is stalking him outside of his home, unwilling to leave and merely standing, and staring. But what worked the most for me was the inspiration, as Ellis has had to deal with some really scary real life stalking incidents, mostly from the alt-Right and internet trolls that target him for his identity. By channelling that fear into a story about being stalked by a seemingly unending force it makes for a tale that’s all the more resonant and scary.

As a whole, the stories generally worked for me. Some felt a little more shallow than others (“Butter Corn Ramen” was pretty predictable, and “Murder Party” says the same arguments against the true crime genre that pretty much everyone is saying and didn’t feel interesting beyond being a scold, even if I generally agree with the sentiments), but as a whole I found them all entertaining, and I devoured the collection in one night. I also enjoyed the Millennial nostalgia of some of these tales, whether referencing classic scary tales from our youths or the old comfortable formulas of a sitcom’s narrative design.

“Bad Dreams in the Night” is a quick and creepy read, and given that Ellis has a new collection of horror graphics are coming out, it has put him on my radar as a horror author. Excited to see what else he will do in the future!

Rating 8: A quick paced and creepy collection of scary stories from a creator whose horror chops had promise even before this, “Bad Dreams in the Night” is an devilishly fun ride by Adam Ellis.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bad Dreams in the Night” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Graphic Novels of 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “With A Vengeance”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “With A Vengeance” by Riley Sager

Publishing Info: Dutton, June 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: One train. No stops. A deadly game of survival and revenge.

In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution.

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.

But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge—and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead.

With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them—even though it means putting her own life at risk.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

For me, summer has some guarantees that I can always count on, and one of those things is a new Riley Sager book. I’ve been reading a Riley Sager book every summer for the past eight years, starting with “Final Girls” and going with a new book every year from there. It’s just a staple of the season to me. And because of this it was obvious that I was going to read his newest novel “With A Vengeance”. It’s just what summer brings. I know that Sager has his fans and his detractors, but I haven’t had a bad experience with any of his books, finding all of them at the very least entertaining and ultimately good reads. That is, until now.

Hey, eight out of nine ain’t bad, right? (source)

But first the good. I an always respect and author who wants to switch things up in their writing, and “With A Vengeance” is a huge tone shift for Sager, as the sub-genre is an Agatha Christie-esque locked door mystery and the time period if post-WWII 1950s America. It’s a huge shift from his previous works, and I definitely applaud him taking this risk. I also think that he has the bare bone foundation of a solid locked room mystery, with a dubious cast of characters who could all be suspects, and with a pretty well thought out motivation at the heart of Anna wanting revenge for her brother’s and father’s deaths and her ruined life, as well as having pretty clear reasons for many of the conspirators that sought to take her father down. Sager has a solid set up here, I can’t deny that.

But the execution was off. There were so many twists and turns that were supposed to be interesting and scandalous, but they were either predictable, or they just felt like they were too many things going on at once. We’d have one solution, only to have another new solution, only to backtrack on ANOTHER solution, with a few obvious red herrings thrown in that didn’t really work. By the time we got to the third or fourth shocking twist, I was pretty much over it, and I was just ready for the train to pull into the station so that it could all be over and done with. On top of that, while I thought that the characters had believable motivations to want to set up Anna’s father to take a pretty horrendous fall, I didn’t feel like I got to know ANY of them beyond their villainy (with one possible exception I won’t spoil here, but their reasoning was at least humanizing to the character which made them a bit more interesting), or their need for revenge in Anna’s case. Anna also didn’t do much for mer, as her rage and desire to get her vengeance was understandble, but there wasn’t much else to her, which made her less interesting and made her less likable because of it. I know that Sager can be pretty hit or miss for lots of people when it comes to his protagonists, but this was the first time I just really didn’t care about a main character in one of his books. I really and truly wanted more and it just sputtered out.

“With A Vengeance” had so much potential but never quite reached it. I’m not giving up on Sager after one misstep, but as someone who has been a staunch defender of him in the past, it was a disappointment to be sure.

Rating 5: While I appreciate Sager experimenting with other sub-genres of thrillers, “With A Vengeance” was too muddled and didn’t have enough well developed characters to really endear me to the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“With a Vengeance” is included on the Goodreads list “Haunting Books For A Stormy Night”.

Kate’s Review: “Wearing the Lion”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Wearing the Lion” by John Wiswell

Publishing Info: DAW, June 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: This second novel from Nebula Award-winning John Wiswell brings a humanizing, redemptive touch to the Hercules story in this mythological fantasy for fans of Jennifer Saint and Elodie Harper.

Heracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to Hera, goddess of family. Heracles’ mother raised him to revere Hera, as her attempt to avoid the goddess’ wrath. Unbeknownst to Heracles, he is yet another child Hera’s husband, Zeus, had out of wedlock.

Hera loathes every minute of Heracles’ devotion. She finally snaps and sends the Furies to make Heracles kill himself. But the moment Heracles goes mad, his children playfully ambush him, and he slays them instead. When the madness fades, Heracles’s wife, Megara, convinces him to seek revenge. Together they’ll hunt the Furies and learn which god did this.

Believing Hera is the only god he can still trust, Heracles prays to Hera, who is wracked with guilt over killing his children. To mislead Heracles, Hera sends him on monster-slaying quests, but he is too traumatized to enact more violence. Instead, Heracles cares for the Nemean lion, cures the illness of the Lernaean hydra, and bonds with Crete’s giant bull.

Hera struggles with her role in Heracles life as Heracles begins to heal psychologically by connecting with the monsters—while also amassing an army that could lay siege to Olympos.

Nebula Award-winning author John Wiswell brings his signature humanizing touch to the Hercules story, forever changing the way we understand the man behind the myth—and the goddess reluctantly bound to him.

Review: Thank you to Wunderkind PR for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Even though fantasy isn’t REALLY my wheelhouse on the blog, Serena actually suggested that I take a look at the book “Wearing the Lion” by John Wiswell, as I have been doing the “Lore Olympus” reviews on the blog. I read the description, and decided ‘why not?’, as Greek Mythology has been a huge thing in my life since I was a kid, and since I was doing the “Lore Olympus” read this would be a fun addendum. I’ve read a few other re-imaginings of Greek Myths beyond “Lore”, as we did “Circe” for book club, and I have read a few others as well. And “Wearing the Lion” was a bit of a median between the darker ones I’ve read and the more vibrant and optimistic ones.

“Wearing the Lion” essentially asks ‘what if instead of completing his tasks of killing the various creatures, Heracles instead finds atonement and redemption by taking them in? And what if Hera has a bit of reluctant guilt over her jealousy causing so much harm to Heracles and his family (as she sent a Fury to kill him but his children were killed instead, by his own hand). The Heracles story has never been a favorite of mine, but I do love a found family trope and this book is definitely all about that. We get our perspectives from both Heracles and Hera, seeing their inner most thoughts and their emotional journeys as they both strive for redemption in their own ways, and it has a lot of poignancy behind it. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about recent retelling of these myths is that authors try to find more empathy or insight into these beings that have been in the minds of humans for millennia, and have become almost untouchable because of it. Heracles has never really connected with me probably because he is so larger than life, but Wiswell delves deep into his grief, trauma, and guilt, and finds interesting motivation that taps into an empathy that this strongman doesn’t get a lot of the time. I loved seeing him befriend the Nemean Lion, and the Hydra, and the Hind, but REALLY loved the twist that Wiswell put on Boar. It’s all so creative and charming while also bittersweet as a man who was manipulated into killing his children seeks to find solace and atonement.

But I also liked how Wiswell portrays Hera. She isn’t to the level of ‘Queen Shit’ that I love seeing, but she has a lot of complexities and her own baggage that he acknowledges while not excusing it. Yes, Hera commanded that a dear friend murder Heracles only for it to go so wrong, and we see the way that Hera is unwilling to acknowledge it at first. But we also see her when she is at her best, when she is helping women in childbirth, when she is trying to help find the strength in herself to take accountability for her terrible mistake. Hera’s anger and resentment towards Heracles is always portrayed as such, but as a reader you do have an understanding as to why she would be so, so upset with the very idea of him, as Zeus is SUCH a jerk to her by flaunting all of his children from his flings and humiliating her over and over again. While I enjoyed the found family angles of Heracles’s path, it was Hera’s story that really resonated.

“Wearing the Lion” is a bittersweet spin on a myth that so many people know. I think that if you are like me and like seeing what present days authors can do with a classical story you should check it out.

Rating 8: A poignant retelling of a classic myth, “Wearing the Lion” is about grief, guilt, and found family.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Wearing the Lion” is included on the Goodreads list “Greek Mythology Retellings”.