Kara's Book Cravings: Room Service

 

Continuing with my binge read of Maren Stoffels backlist, after finishing her last book, I jumped right into ROOM SERVICE. 

This is another teen thriller, and yet another book that's contained within an enclosed setting. This time it's a hotel where the characters are celebrating a friend's birthday. 

The mystery in this book starts right from the first page with the main characters referencing something that happened a year ago, a friend getting injured or killed (it's not super clear, which I'm sure is the point, but the guilt they carry hints at something nefarious. 

There's one character in here that drove me crazy, and not in a good way. She was very annoying in a "why doesn't anyone like me" whiney sort of way. The overall mystery and thriller aspects, though, outweigh this one bad character. 

Like the rest of her books, this one ended with quite a twist! I really didn't see this one coming, which is always great, but I personally would've liked a tad more hints leading up to the big reveal. Overall, I enjoyed this book a bit more than the others, and it's a great addition to anyone who loves thrillers like I do. 

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Kara's Book Cravings: No Escape

 

My daughter found this book, and when she told me about, I asked to borrow it because it's a teen thriller, which is right up my alley. But what makes this even better is that it takes place in an escape room! I've been to a few of them myself (only ever gotten out once), and I've seen both of the movies. I'm lowkey fascinated by escape rooms and the possibility of getting stuck inside without anyone there to help you. I mean, the story options for this type of setting are limitless!

And so I took NO ESCAPE by Maren Stoffels with me to the gym one night and read while I walked on the treadmill. I read half the book without realizing it, (and spent over an hour on the treadmill) and then when I got home, I finished the book. So, yes, I read this in one day. 

The pacing is super fast, and there are quite a few twists and turns and reveals I hadn't expected. Despite being teens, each of the 4 main characters had very well-rounded and rich backstories that they were dealing with while trying to get out of the escape room. 

My only complaint is with the end. While the escape room aspect was resolved in if and how they get out, the reason behind everything was extremely confusing. A random character is introduced at the end who isn't given a name but has a narrative that's very mysterious. I don't know if there's another book planned or not, but the end left me scratching my head with confusion. 

I did, however, enjoy the author's style, and I'm now waiting for the rest of her backlist to arrive so I can read them, too. 

Kara's Book Cravings: Quarantine Series

I found the third book of this series at a local book sale. (Let's be honest, that's where I find so many of my books. Ha!) As soon as I saw the cover and read the blurb, I knew I needed the rest of the series. So, I went to Amazon and bought the rest. I mean, an end of the world event, an enclosed setting, teens fending for themselves? You betcha I was reading this!

THE QUARANTINE SERIES by Lex Thomas is actually 4 books: The Loners, The Saints, The Burnouts, and The Giant. I've only read the first three. Why? Because the fourth book is more of a spin-off that follows one of the side characters. I wasn't that invested in this character to want to read an entire book about him. I'm sure it's as good as the rest, but by the time I finished the third book, I was ready to move on to something else. 

This is a YA series that starts on the first day of school. Upon arriving, there's an explosion, and all the students are now trapped inside. At first, they expect a quick rescue, but that doesn't happen. Turns out, there's a virus on the loose that is carried by teens but kills adults. (Cool, right?) And so the world has decided to quarantine all kids and teenagers who aren't of age until they can figure this out.

There's a major Lord of the Flies feel to this series as the kids fight to survive and to become leaders. They quickly form gangs and an entire community that's full of fights and parties and, of course, a romance. There's a love triangle in this series, too -- sort of. This one is more a necessity of circumstances, but it's handled very well. There are some pretty graphic scenes of violence, but I never felt any of it was gratuitous. A character death near the end really pissed me off, thought that's my largest complaint about the series. 

Overall, if you like YA end of the world, dystopian, romance then you have to check out this series!

Kara's Book Cravings: The Ever Trilogy

 

Y'all know I'm a huge lover of anything teen paranormal, so when I saw THE EVER TRILOGY by Jessa Russo pop up in a recent promotion, I had to snag it. The series contains three books: Ever, Evade, and Entwined.

This is a YA paranormal romance unlike anything I've read before. It's not vampires, shifters, witches, dragons or anything like that. This has ghosts and Soul Collectors! Now, I'm sure this has been done before, but this was my first time reading about these types of beings, (soul collectors) and I was very intrigued. 

Each book is more like a novella, but despite the shorter length, each story is complete. Though, the first two do end in some wicked cliffhangers, so if you're going to take a chance on this, buy the boxed set so you can just read through all three at once. 

I enjoyed most of the characters -- there was one who I didn't like, but I know that was intentional on the author's part -- but overall, each of them were well rounded and likable. There was also a love triangle in this series, and I thought it was done very well, and like just about everything else in this series, there was a cool twist. So many twists and turns I never saw coming, and that really just makes this entire series that much better. 

Kara's Book Cravings: Lying in the Deep

 

Back in February, I took a cruise, and I had grand plans of reading while laying in the sun. Well, I did lay in the sun, but sadly, I didn't get much reading done. But that's okay. The trip was a blast! 

Anyway, I'd bought LYING IN THE DEEP by Diana Urban to take with me on my vacation. Why? Because it's a teen thriller / murder mystery set on a cruise ship, and I thought it would be cool to read that while on an actual cruise ship.

I'm sorry it took me so long to finally read this! It was so good. Definitely had lots of teen drama and complicated relationships. The lies and deceit were incredibly well written. The pacing is really fast, but the book itself and the characters are so deep and well-rounded. 

The mystery of the whodunit was complex and difficult to figure out as you were reading, but once you read the end you have that moment where you're like, "Oh yeah, it all makes sense now!" I love books that do this. 

I loved all the twists and turns, too. The reveal at the end made my jaw drop. Part of me was happy with it, but another part of me was a little bummed. I'd wanted something a little darker, I guess. I'm not sure. Either way, the book was fantastic, and I'll definitely be reading more by this author. 

Kara's Book Cravings: Killer Content

I am not a TikTok girl. I don't like making videos, and I don't understand the whole influencer thing -- yeah, yeah. I know. I'm showing my age. And that's what this book is mostly about: teen influencers living under one roof, competing for sponsors, views, followers, etc. So, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I bought it, but it was only $5.00, and I figured I'd give it a shot.  

I'm glad I did. 

KILLER CONTENT by Kiley Roache is a YA thriller / murder mystery. As I said above, a group of TikTok influencers live together in a house and are doing sponsored ads and collaborations, etc. While I don't fully understand that life, I found myself oddly invested in it. 

But then one of the housemates ends up dead, and everyone inside the house becomes a suspect. Each person had clear motive to kill, and so it really was a crazy ride trying to figure out who did it. 

And then the twist is revealed, and my jaw dropped! Now, I've seen this twist used before (I don't want to spoil anything, hence the vagueness), but never done as well as this was. What also shocked me was that the reveal of "whodunit" was done near the middle of the book, rather than closer to the end. I thought that would effect the overall pacing and my enjoyment of the book, but it really didn't. If anything, it kept me engaged even more because I needed to know what was going to happen next. I really do love books that make me feel that way :-)

It's safe to say that I really liked this book. I don't know if this author has written anything else, but I plan to find out!

What was the last book you read that really surprised you?

Kara's Book Cravings: The Girl From Widow Hills

 

Time for a book confession: I absolutely love reading (and writing) YA, and I tend to choose YA over adult books. But there are just some authors who write in both age categories, and I prefer their adult books over their YA books. Megan Miranda is this author for me. 

I prefer her adult books over her teen books. Why? Because of her writing style. Don't get me wrong -- I love her voice and overall style, but personally, I find her unique style to be better suited to adult books. She tends to write very densely, with quite a bit of exposition and character reflection. For me, that works in adult but not so much in YA. 

So, what led me to this realization and ultimate confession? This book did:

The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda is an adult mystery / thriller, and it is phenomenal! From the very first page, I was hooked, and I had a hard time putting this book down to go do all that adult stuff I have to do on a daily basis. 

This is a story about a woman who, when she was just a child, was swept away during a major storm and stuck in the town's drainage system for three days. Her ordeal became a national story, and her mother cashed in on that by writing a book about everything. On the anniversary of her rescue, the press comes out in droves to check in on "the girl from Widow Hills," when all she wants is to be left alone. Naturally, there's a lot more to this tale that meets the eye. 

The twists and turns combined with the intentional misdirection is just... wow! As a reader, I was impressed with how the story unfolded, and I know this one will stick with me, but as an author -- I strive to write as well as Megan Miranda, to be able to weave a tale that leads readers down one path and then shoves them in a completely different direction. 

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think? What other books have you read that left your jaw on the floor? Share in the comments!

Kara's Book Cravings: The Haunted

 A few years ago, I'd read Survive the Night by Danielle Vega. I think I'd found that at a local used bookshop, and I was intrigued enough to buy it. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about that book other than the ending was extremely confusing in a very creepy sort of way. But I didn't have any issues with the author's writing style, so when I found this gem at a local garage sale, I couldn't pass it up. 

The Haunted by Danielle Vega is a mix between a horror and a thriller, which is so my thing! And this book didn't disappoint. It was a quick read that was easy to follow. Parts of this were definitely high on the creepy meter, but I didn't find it particularly scary. Though, if this were made into a movie or TV show, I can easily see a lot of great jump scares. 

The only real complaint I have about this book is the romance subplot. It felt both forced and rushed. I thought for sure the main character was going to end up with one guy, and then BAM! She's in love with someone else. Didn't make much sense to me, but I also realize romance isn't the focus of this story, so... *shrug*

Overall, this was a quick, immersive read. The ending was unexpected, so that's always a bonus. I see there's a sequel, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to buy and read it (especially with how this first book ended). 

Anyone else read this book? Or anything else by this author? 

What're your thoughts? 

Kara's Book Cravings: The Shadow Sister

 

One day, I was scrolling through Twitter, as I often do when I'm procrastinating, and I saw a tweet with an absolutely STUNNING book cover. Even though, at the time, I wasn't following this author, the cover made me stop and take a closer look. It was the author's debut release day, and if the cover hadn't already snagged my attention, the tag line on the front certainly did. As I followed the links in the tweet, I read the back cover blurb, and I've never hit "buy now" so fast in my life! (Seriously, anyone who tells you Twitter doesn't sell books is a liar.) I mean, just look at this cover!!

Gorgeous, right? I'm sure that purple being one of my favorite colors helped my buying decision, too, but that's really not the point. Haha. 

The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade is a YA thriller, and I devoured this book so fast. I had no idea what was really going on until the very end, and I wasn't able to guess the twist, either. The author does a fantastic job of misdirecting the reader in a way that makes sense and fits within the story and the characters. I will say that neither of the sisters in this book are very endearing, but having raised 4 girls myself (all in various stages of teen years and young adulthood), the sibling relationship that's portrayed is accurate, based on my own experiences anyway. 

If you're a fan of twisty YA books, then this is definitely the book for you! I'm eagerly awaiting this author's next book. 

Has anyone else read this yet? Do you think you'll check it out? 

Kara's Book Cravings: Fragments of the Lost

 

Now that I've dug myself out of a reading rut, I'm dipping my toe back into my first love--teen fiction. Mainly thrillers. These are like crack to me. Seriously, I have sooo many of these types of books on my shelf, and I'm constantly buying more. But I digress...

A few years ago, a friend of mine suggested I read All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, which is an adult mystery / thriller. He raved about the unique story telling. (The author tells the story in reverse, which is just... *chef's kiss*) Anyway, I loved the book and have read it twice now. So when I was perusing a bookstore, I found that this author has written some YA books, too. Imagine my excitement!

And so I bought this one: Fragments of the Lost by Megan Miranda.

Like All the Missing Girls, this book is told in a unique way, too, in that it's jumping a lot from present to past. Not tense, but actual events. The premise is that a girl is doing a favor for her ex-boyfriend's mom in cleaning out his room after he died in a tragic accident. So each time she finds something in his room, it triggers a memory about them as a couple. It's really done very well and not at all confusing. 

However, I had trouble getting into this book. In fact, I started it and then walked away for a month or so before finally coming back to it. I'm one of those readers who has a real hard time DNF-ing a book, especially one I paid full price for. I was determined to get through this, and I'm glad I did. 

The pacing does eventually pick up (and once it did, I had a hard time putting this down), but for me, it took a little too long to get to the mystery / thriller part, which was what ultimately made this book for me.  I do have another of this author's YA books on my shelf, and I do plan to read it. I hope it doesn't start as slowly as this one. 

Overall, while this one didn't blow my mind quite like All the Missing Girls, if you're a fan of unique story telling methods, then definitely grab one of her books.

Has anyone else read any of Megan Miranda's books? What do you think? Do you have one you recommend I read? 

3 Tips to Dig Yourself Out of a Reading Rut

We've all heard of writer's block, and so many authors have written blogs and articles and essays and social media posts about how to overcome writer's block. But what happens when you're in a reading rut? When you can't seem to get into a book? And I don't mean a lack of reading materials, but the inability to get engrossed in a story or stick with a book longer than a few pages. 

I've been struggling with this recently. While I don't have a lack of books to read -- my TBR pile is out of control and grows steadily -- I haven't been able to really stick with anything. I start books and then quickly lose interest after a chapter or two. Normally, I read a couple of books a month, but for the past 4 or 5 months, I haven't read a single thing. Even my go-to favorite genres haven't been doing it for me. 

Being a writer myself, I draw a lot of inspiration and motivation from reading, so not being able to lose myself in books is almost as bad as not being able to write. I needed to find a way out of this rut. Here are 3 tips that helped me...

TIP #1: Don't stress about not reading. When you're trying to do something and you can't, you often obsess about it and stress about it and then that compounds the issue. At least, that's what happens with me. So, give yourself permission to not read. Occupy your mind and time doing something else you enjoy, and eventually, you'll get back to reading. 

TIP #2: Change how you read. If you normally read digital books or only read paperbacks, switch it up. Sometimes the feel of something different in your hands can make a huge difference. 

TIP #3: Change what you read. If you're normally a fan of YA or romance or fantasy, try reading something outside of your genre. This is probably the biggest thing that helped me. I love to read YA books of any genre, but even those hadn't been holding my attention. 

But then my husband bought these two books for my mom. She loves to read about the history of places, and still being fairly new to Michigan, she's eager to learn about her new home state. I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to read them when she was finished, and she told me to go ahead and read them first, if I wanted. So I did. 

Now, I almost never read non-fiction of any sort, but these books highlight unique places and stories throughout Michigan. They were short and set up so that each part / location was just a few pages. No long chapters. No complicated plot. No characters to keep track of. 

It was easy reading, and that's exactly what I needed. I read both of these books in a single day -- and now I'm waiting for the other 4 volumes to arrive so I can read those, too. Learning about places I've visited and finding new places to go has been so much fun. I'm excited to visit some of these places when my daughter visits next month. 

And then I found this gem at a yard sale for $0.50! Again, not a huge non-fiction reader, but this intrigued me because I'm a huge fan of anything spooky and scary. Written by a local author, I figured why not give it a shot -- and I'm so glad I did. This is essentially a collection of short stories about local Michigan areas and the ghost / haunted stories surrounding them. 

I don't think I'm quite ready to dive back into my trusted genres just yet, but I am going to keep reading non-fiction, and I think I might branch out into a few other genres I don't normally read. Like, I'm not a trend chaser. I rarely read books that are super-hyped, and if I ever do, it's usually years after the trend has died down. I never read Twilight until Breaking Dawn part 1 was in theaters. I've still never read the Harry Potter Series. Or Game of Thrones. Or Outlander. I've just never gotten into the hype around certain books. 

And that's exactly why I'm going to jump in feet first and read some of them. I'm going out of my comfort zone, and I'm going to reclaim my love of reading! Naturally, I'm going to blog about this little experiment, too, with a new feature I'm calling, "Is it Worth the Hype?" I'll read popular books and give my opinion on whether I think they warrant the hype they get. I'll also continue to read books that have little to no hype and see if they should be getting more love than they are. 

Stay tuned... and keep reading :)