“The ghosts, she had sobbed. The ghosts wouldn’t like it.” – 3.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: poisonous plants, smart houses, dusty attics, stolen necklaces, disobedient kids, doll heads, baby monitors, job interviews, dead crows and turning keys.

I have weird mixed feelings.

Since The Turn of the Key is a book everyone under the sun is recommending, I finally decided to give it a go! When I finally picked it up a few days ago, I was fully immersed in the story, I was scared most of the time and – because of the power of any good mystery novel – I was intrigued to know how it was all going to end. There’s definitely something nerve racking about the house history, and the poison garden and the previous family. Even the Happy application was kind of creepy sometimes!

The problem is, when I finally reached the end I was disappointed. What made me so interested in the story is the fact that there was so much build-up and backstory and twists throughout the book… but then you get to the conclusion, and the explanation is week and rushed.

I try to keep my expectations low, but it’s difficult when everyone seems to love this book. I mean, I get it. I have to admit it was really entertaining and for the most part it’s still a good thriller/mystery. The final explanation was what ruined it for me!

xoxo, Neide

“It all happened so slowly, yet so extraordinarily quickly, the change to our parents, to our home, to our lives after they arrived. But that first night, when Birdie appeared on our front step with two large suitcases and a cat in a wicker box, we could never have guessed the impact she would have, the other people she would bring into our lives, that it would all end the way it did.
We thought she had just come to stay for the weekend.” – 4.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: black robes, fake passports, herbs, fancy apartments, fiddles, music videos, hippies and a rabbit’s foot.

My first Lisa Jewell book – and the first of many, I hope!

I actually enjoyed this a lot! I have to admit the storyline is a little weird and creepy, but it’s engaging and it will make you hooked from the start.

I’m going to try to keep this very vague because, of course, it’s a mystery novel. In this book, our main character Libby, who just turned 25 years old, inherits an old mansion from her biological family. She was adopted when she was only a few months old and she doesn’t know much about her biological family, but she then discovers through some newspaper articles that her biological parents died in a very weird way, inside of the house she’s inheriting. And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot!

The story occurs in two timelines, past and present, and there are three points of view from which we don’t know much about until the story develops and converges. The plot itself is very complex and overall well made, and the mystery is layered so you discover something new in each chapter, making it easy to keep the interest in the story. I would describe this as a lighter thriller, stronger on the mystery aspect.

I personally really liked the ending and how disturbing it was. I wouldn’t consider it an open-ending, but there isn’t a solid conclusion to the story. I will say it’s not an ambiguous ending in the sense that the story feels incomplete, so I didn’t have a problem with that.I liked this a lot! If you like thrillers/mysteries that involve dysfunctional, weird families, this is a good one to pick up.

xoxo, Neide

“Aren’t we all drawn to friends in the beginning by trifling things? True bonds develop afterward, when character is revealed.” – 4.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: unique clothes, boxing matches, flowers, skinny dipping, picnics, red roses, cute dogs, daggers, hair dye, bandits, gloves and shadows.

Tricia Levenseller may become one of my favorite authors – I just need to read Warrior of the Wild first to confirm it!

I read The Daughter of the Pirate King duology last year and it became easily one of my favorite book series of all time. I decided I would pick up her books whenever I could, and I was not disappointed when I picked this!

There is something about her characters that grip me to the story. She writes the best, fierce female main characters, and that is only one of the motives for why I love her books so much. In this case, I loved Alessandra and how devious, unapologetic, strong and sure of herself she was. And her perfect match, Kallias, was also an amazing male lead and love interest. If you like slow burning romances with some contact here and there, this is a great one!

The setting for the story was also one of my favorite things about this book. I have a thing for dark books and strong romances, so this was a treat! The story is fantastic and complex, and there is a small mystery with a plot twist in the end.

One thing I struggled with in this book was the amount of fancy names. It was kind of difficult to keep track with who was who, especially because of the amount of side characters! But eventually I figured it out.

I would also say this is a subtle feminist book, which I wasn’t expecting and really enjoyed! Alessandra wants to be queen not only to rule and give orders, but also to give women the opportunity to have the same rights men have. 

This is marketed as young adult, but be aware that sex is mentioned frequently – not in a specific and detailed way, but be aware of that!The book is amazing and if you can, you should definitely pick this up. I would also highly recommend her duology The Daughter of the Pirate King. She is so underrated!

xoxo, Neide

“It’s weird, how you have no idea how far you’ve come until suddenly you can’t find the way back.” – 3/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: monster cake, hashtags, swimming practice, Mean Girls, grilled cheese sandwiches, freckles, the Met steps and a Twitter war.

It was okay. The romance was okay, the characters were okay, the story was okay. For most of the things the story offers, I don’t have strong opinions:

1. The romance was cute and cheesy, but I didn’t care much about it;
2. The New York setting didn’t do much for me;
3. The characters were likeable, but not very memorable and special in my opinion;
4. I’m not the biggest fan of social media books, so… there’s also that.

I will say I liked how the story was developing and how complex it was – regarding the food and recipes – and stories like these make great books to read at the beach because of how light they are.

It’s still a cute romance, but I dare to say it is kind of an over-hyped book. I just didn’t connect and feel invested in it like I would like to be. Not a bad book, just okay.

xoxo, Neide

“Relationships are a lot like houses: without a good foundation, they’ll crumble.” – 2.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: Fires, book signings, interviews, engineering, tweets, toxic marriages and home improvement.

I’m so bored.

I appreciate how the book is honoring people who work in the background, but other than that there’s not much to say about this story. The romance and the characters were boring, the story is slow and nothing exciting happens. To add to the mix, I’m not the biggest fan of famous people and social media all together, so that didn’t work in my favor to love this book as well.

Well, it’s not terrible, just boring and bland. Maybe Christina Lauren’s books are not for me?

xoxo, Neide

“What was dark but the absence of light?” – 3.75/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: Lakes, wetsuits, graffitis, rafts, indoor pools, floating dresses, green canoes, pepper shakers and open doors.

What a weird little book.

This book was recommended by three Booktubers – yes, Booktube made me do it… again – and all three of them rated it 5 stars. Needless to say, I was intrigued and I wanted to find out why.

This story follows two teenagers that go canoeing at the lake for their first date. Everything is going well until they discover a house at the bottom of the lake. As you can probably tell, it gets pretty creepy from that point on.

Let me start by saying I completely understand why people love this book. It’s a very mysterious book that makes you constantly think about what is going on and why. Not only that but the writing is amazing, the story is very original and inspired and you will probably be terrified the entire time – if you like that, of course. There is something so eerie about this story that it gives you a feeling of constant unsettlement. I wouldn’t say it’s a heavy horror story, but it’s still pretty creepy in my opinion.

I personally don’t love ambiguous stories and unanswered questions drive me nuts, so I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book. But I have to recognize that it’s still amazing. 

You honestly can’t forget a story like this, even if you try.

xoxo, Neide

“The wonderful thing about reality is that it is highly flexible. One minute, all is doom; the next, everything is abloom with possibility.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: marble watches, old paintings, domes, lakes, storms, moving toes, secret passages, lost diaries, dynamite and a hand on the wall.

I was waiting for this book to come out for a very long time and I was not disappointed with the outcome! I instantly fell in love with this series when I read the first book – Truly Devious – and fortunately, the third book is just as amazing as the previous ones.

What took me by surprise is how the Alice kidnapping still had a lot of secrets to unveil. You would think that after discovering who kidnapped Alice in the second book the mystery was finally solved. Well, it’s not over yet! There were still a lot of secrets and information that were revealed in this book that were needed to understand the whole picture.

The writing is super good and I love that there were so many references to other mystery novels like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None! I personally was not a fan of every single character – especially David who I forgot was super annoying and a complete douchebag – but Stevie will forever have a place in my heart.

I would say the main mystery is definitely the coolest part of this series. Every detail is carefully layered so that when you think you know everything, the author drops another bomb and you will question everything again.

I am very sad that this series is over, but I have to admit the conclusion was very good and very well planned. If you like mystery and YA books, this is definitely a treat. It’s fun, it’s young and the mystery will knock your socks off! It’s completely worth it.

xoxo, Neide

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: masks, lakes, small islands, Slurpees, old trucks, dead siblings, challenges, fears, apple cider and swimming awards.

Oops, she did it again: Kasie West stole my heart with one of her books! Is anyone even surprised? I honestly can’t get enough of her contemporary romances.

The story is super cute! It follows a teenage girl who takes her swimming lessons very seriously so she can get a scholarship to college. But at one of her swimming competitions a masked boy appears and messes up with her head leaving her angry and unfocused. She loses the competition and quickly decides that she is going to figure out his identity with her best friend! Not only that but her parents are grieving a brother she never met and are constantly putting him and his memories above her.

I have to say how impressed I am by the mystery! First I thought it was obvious who the masked Heath Hall was, but I was very surprised to see how everything turned out. I thought it was original and very well planned, I never would have guessed it!

This particular book is part of a set of companion novels with crossover characters. The other books that are part of this set and are already published are Love, Life and The List and Fame, Fate and the First Kiss. Originally this book was going to be named The Sun, the Moon and the Truth, but unfortunately for reasons related to the editor the book ended up being named Moment of Truth. I wish the title wouldn’t change so it would match the set, but I digress!

The thing I really love about this is how it reminds me of her older books, which are my favorite! Even though I like her new releases as well, there is still a very noticeable difference between her older and newer work. Then I discovered this was actually an older story that she picked up recently and I couldn’t be happier that this story wasn’t left behind.

Kasie writes my favorite YA soft romances, so I would definitely recommend her books for anyone looking for a light summery read – especially her older books!

xoxo, Neide