RANT: The Exes’ Revenge – Jo Jakeman

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

The Exes’ Revenge by Jo Jakeman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Published: September 11th, 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
Recommended Age: 14+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Adult, Psychological, Thriller? Suspense? Female Empowerment? MEH.

BLURB:

Divorces are often messy, and Imogen’s is no exception. Phillip Rochester is controlling, abusive, and determined to make things as difficult as possible. When he shows up without warning demanding that Imogen move out of their house by the end of the month or he’ll sue for sole custody of their young son, Imogen is ready to snap. In a moment of madness, Imogen does something unthinkable–something that puts her in control for the first time in years. She’s desperate to protect her son and to claim authority over her own life. But she wasn’t expecting both Phillip’s ex-wife and new girlfriend to get tangled up in her plans. These three very different women–and unlikely allies–reluctantly team up to take revenge against a man who has wronged them all. Continue reading →

Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Published: June 12th, 2018
Publisher: B\D\W\Y
Recommended Age: 16+
Pacing: Slow
Genres & Themes: Adult, Mystery, Crime, Family, Small Towns, Creepy, Psychological

BLURB:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. Continue reading →

Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

28815474 The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Received: Random House Canada
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2016
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 14+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Adult, Psychological Thriller, Mystery

BLURB:

How well do you know the couple next door? Or your husband? Or even—yourself?

People are capable of almost anything. . .
Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they’ve kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist. Continue reading →

Review: The Stranger by Albert Camus

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

49552 The Stranger by Albert Camus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: 1942
Publisher: Vintage International
Point of View: 1st Person & Masculine
Recommended Age: 16+
Genres & Themes: Adulr, Classic, Life, Psychological

BLURB:

Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.”
Continue reading →

Review: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholk

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: March 22nd 2016
Publisher: Dial Books
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Psychological, Love Triangle

BLURB:

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.

Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.

What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying. Continue reading →

Review: Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Publication Date: July 2nd 2015
Publisher: Orion
Point of View: 1st Person, Feminine & Alternative
Recommended Age: 14+
Genres & Themes: Adult, Contemporary, Psychological, Mystery

BLURB:

An enthralling portrait of two haunted young women, this remarkable debut novel explores the very nature of survival.

Everyone thought we were dead.

We were missing for nearly two months; we were twelve. What else could they think?

They were glad to have us back, of course. But nothing was the same. It was as if we had returned from the dead, as if we were tainted somehow. We were not the same.

And it was true, though not in the way they thought.

Lois and Carly-May are just twelve years old when they’re abducted and imprisoned for two months. That summer, under the watchful gaze of their kidnapper, they form a bond which will never be broken… Decades later, both Lois and Carly-May have built new lives and identities for themselves.

Lois and Carly-May are drawn together again to face the truth of their beautiful, terrible story. Continue reading →

Review: In These Words, Volume 1

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

In These Words, Volume 1 by Kichiku Neko

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: June 12th 2012
Publisher: Media, Inc
Point of View: Masculine
Genres & Themes: Adult, Manga, Yaoi, BDSM, Dark, Thriller, Psychological, Death

BLURB:

Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to provide a profile through the victims’ data. Based on Asano’s profile and recommendation, an elaborate plan is put into place to lure the serial killer out – a plan that bore successful results Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is finally in police custody. Shinohara has promised a thorough confession, however, on the absolute terms that Asano has to be the one to receive it. Besides the curious request by the killer whom Asano was only familiar with on paper, disturbing nightmares begin to plague him as soon as he’s given the case… Continue reading →

Review: The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Publication Date: March 3rd 2015
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Point of View: 1st Person & Masculine
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Psychological, Love, Life

Goodreads | Amazon.ca | Indigo

BLURB:

This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full time insomniac and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in. Billy will be the first to tell you it doesn’t always work— not when your twin sister, Dorie, has died, not when your unhappy parents are at war with one another, not when frazzled soccer moms in two ton SUVs are more dangerous than atom bombs, and not when your guidance counselor keeps asking why you haven’t applied to college.

Billy’s life changes when two people enter his life. Twom Twomey is a charismatic renegade who believes that truly living means going a little outlaw. Twom and Billy become one another’s mutual benefactor and friend. At the same time, Billy is reintroduced to Gretchen Quinn, an old and adored friend of Dorie’s. It is Gretchen who suggests to Billy that the world can be transformed by　creative acts of the soul.

With Twom, Billy visits the dark side. And with Gretchen, Billy experiences possibilities.Billy knows that one path is leading him toward disaster and the other toward happiness. The problem is—Billy doesn’t trust happiness. It’s the age he’s at. The tragic age.

Stephen Metcalfe’s brilliant, debut coming-of-age novel, The Tragic Age, will teach you to learn to love, trust and truly be alive in an absurd world. Continue reading →