ARC Review: #murderfunding (#murdertrending #2) by Gretchen McNeil

Book info:

Title:  #murderfunding
Author:  Gretchen McNeil
Series:  #murdertrending #2
Genre:  YA suspense/thriller
Release Date:  August 6th, 2019
Publisher:  Freeform
Source: ARC from publisher which did not influence my opinion
My rating:   5 stars

Synopsis:
WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PANIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don’t worry—no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears to let Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0’s most popular serial killers—Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom’s connection to Molly Mauler, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?


My Review:
I mentioned earlier this week about this being my favorite author and loving this series, and I have to say that this did not disappoint!  If you haven't read book 1, you can read my review of it HERE.


We got all the same crazy with the painiacs and even with the Postman being gone, he still seems to have someone working things.  Obviously no one is going to be okay with them actually doing the whole murdering thing again, and the president of the United States is in trouble for being in conjunction with the original reality tv show.  But there is also talk of the president having been treasonous and working with the Russians as well.  

The game show that isn't supposed to be real murder, just tryouts to be like the paniacs.  However, the actual auditions are a little weird, and end up with those who are chosen being taken away to find out what is really going on with the show.  Becca's character has a lot to learn, but in the end, she is able to grow and figure out how things happened, and what she should probably try to do to make things right.  In the end, we are left with a thought of hers that maybe she hasn't quite learned all the lesson she should.  I feel like this is the final book, but who knows with her final thoughts.

What I loved about this story is how it really can be a snapshot of current events, but does it without being so in your face as other stories might be.  It takes a good look at how online communities work, how reality tv isn't really reality, and also some realistic seeming behavior in relationships.  I also loved that I didn't see the twist of who the Postman's son really would be, even with all the guessing and clues I had throughout.  This author knows how to keep you on your toes, yet thinking all the way through on what she's giving you in details. 

Lisa's Looking Foward To #25 - August 6th, 2019

Back to joining up with the Waiting on Wednesday Posts, and the Can't Wait Wednesday posts hosted by Wishful Endings.  This week there are five on my list.

From my ARC list for August 6th:

I have an ARC of this one that I got through a trade a while back.  Need to get it read this week!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Shy in Avon-upon-Kynt. And for eighteen years, Emmaline Watkins has feared that her future held just that: nothing.

But when the head of the most admired fashion house in the country opens her prestigious design competition to girls from outside the stylish capital city, Emmy’s dreams seem closer than they ever have before.

As the first “country girl” to compete, Emmy knows she’ll encounter extra hurdles on her way to the top. But as she navigates the twisted world of high fashion she starts to wonder: will she be able to tailor herself to fit into this dark, corrupted race? And at what cost?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 
 

Now, I won't say I begged for this ARC, but I might have.  I love this author, and this series is good so far!  I'm a little sad I don't have a contact at Freeform/Disney any more, in case this series goes on!  I'll be reading my ARC of this sometime later this week. Might even be starting it as this post goes live!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PANIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don’t worry—no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears to let Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0’s most popular serial killers—Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom’s connection to Molly Mauler, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE.

This one sounds like a pretty deep story. 

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.

Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.

Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.

One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

I've been seeing this one around a lot on the blogosphere, and of course that cover is beautiful!  Plus, it seems to be a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses fairy tale, and I love that story!

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 

 
 This one just sounds really unique!  And once again, a beautiful cover.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.

100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

 Sound good?  Add to Goodreads HERE. 


Now, actually, I had two more in my planner, but neither seem to be actually coming out, as their lack of covers and any more info on Goodreads seem to say.  Both are Entangled Teen books, so I am hoping this means they are just putting the release off, but not too long.  When I hear more about them, I'll be sure to share, but they are Sky-Kissed by Pintip Dunn, sequel to  Star-Crossed, which I loved; and Immortal by Gennifer Albin, an author I've looked forward to reading more by!
  
Final Thoughts:
Have you read any of these yet?  Are they on your TBR?  And hey, while you're here, you should go try to win some of my ARCs from Cleaning Up My TBR Post HERE. The US only giveaway is open till Friday at midnight, there are even some 2019 ARCs that can be one of your two choices.

Review: #murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil #DRBC

Book info:

Title:  #murdertrending
Author:  Gretchen McNeil
Series: ????  Goodreads shows a sequel next year maybe?
Genre: YA contemporary thriller
Release Date:  August 7th, 2018
Publisher:  Freeform Books/Disney Publishing
Source:  ARC received from publisher which did not influence my opinion
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
WELCOME TO THE NEAR FUTURE, where good and honest 8/18 citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0.

When eighteen-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one?

Scream Queens meets The Hunger Games in #MURDERTRENDING (On Sale 8/8/18) by Gretchen McNeil. In this gruesome young adult novel, seventeen-year-old Dee Guerrera is wrongfully convicted and sent to a prison island where government-sanctioned killers hunt down convicts and stream their deaths on social media for "spikes.”

 

With its morbid, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and twisty, gasp-inducing mystery, this novel has already been optioned for development by television studio ABC Signature.

My Review:
This was an awesome book!  It totally feeds into how social media works today, as well as having a great mystery to be solved that keeps you guessing until the very end!  I totally agree with the synopsis about how it is similar to The Hunger Games, because I definitely got that feeling as I was reading about how the executions/murders were televised.  So much of this story had all of McNeil's perfect humor while fitting into what would make itself a great horror film, or as it also says in the synopsis above, a great TV series.    All of the characters were were interesting,  even the ones we didn't get very long to know since they ended up being on the cutting block, literally.  

The story had a lot of creative, unique bits to it, but also pulled in a lot of pop culture references.  What is funny to me about some of those references is that while the teens in the story basically understood what movie it was from, they didn't get all the specific details.  I loved that, because so often teens may know of a movie or singer, etc., but it wasn't actually something they'd watched themselves, so little details authors who are adults, like I am, might go over their heads.  Like the scene from Zoolander that one of the "Painiacs" as Dee's new friend Nyles has named them, is setting up for.  

Of course, then there were some things that I felt surely Dee should have figured out earlier.  Like the Postman, his identity, and how it could connect with her past.  Especially since we got the whole story of it, something that she would really have been pretty well aware of.  But then to make up for it, I also really like how the author was able to throw in feelings about current situations in the real world, without actually getting in there and naming specific people, which could alienate those who are possibly supporters of them. The way that she got those digs in was done in such a way that it reminds me of all the discussion I had in English classes about how that classic book has all those themes, that I always actually hated talking about.  I mean, I just want to read for the story, and when I do my own writing, whether it is any good or not, I don't know that I throw in hidden meanings or themes.  But McNeil has layered it into the story in such a way that it totally makes me want to apologize to any English teacher I had in school that I might have rolled my eyes at (not to their faces, I was a good student) or been totally bored with the talk of that.  

It was a page-turner, one that at certain points I had a lot of trouble putting down.  Even to the point where I had promised myself to start going to bed at a normal time to get ready for school to start again, instead of staying up late reading.  

The ending was superb, and definitely left it like a good horror movie would, open.  Although I didn't realize quite how open it was left until I saw a sequel posted on Goodreads as I was getting my review ready today.

Gretchen McNeil has been one of my favorite authors since I first read 3:59 and Ten.   I highly recommend her books if you haven't started yet!  Also, don't you love the cover of this one?  And #DRBC!!

Can't Wait Wednesday #39: #murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.  This week I'm featuring a book by one of my favorite authors.  It's a standalone, YA futuristic murder mystery story.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

WELCOME TO THE NEAR FUTURE, where good and honest 8/18 citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0.

When eighteen-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one?



What do you think?  Does it sound good to you?  Kinda reminds me of that movie Minority Report.  Have you read anything by this author?  I've read almost all of her other books, and they all grab me and keep me hostage when I pick them up, I can't put them down!  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  I picked another standalone this week, by another author that I really like.  While again it is more of a contemporary read than I normally like, I have read other contemporaries by this same author and enjoyed them.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Beatrice Maria Estrella Giovannini has life all figured out. She's starting senior year at the top of her class, she’s a shoo-in for a scholarship to M.I.T., and she’s got a new boyfriend she’s crazy about. The only problem: All through high school Bea and her best friends Spencer and Gabe have been the targets of horrific bullying.

So Bea uses her math skills to come up with The Formula, a 100% mathematically-guaranteed path to social happiness in high school. Now Gabe is on his way to becoming Student Body President, and Spencer is finally getting his art noticed. But when her boyfriend dumps her for Toile, the quirky new girl at school, Bea realizes it's time to use The Formula for herself. She'll be reinvented as the eccentric and lovable Trixie—a quintessential manic pixie dream girl—in order to win her boyfriend back and beat new-girl Toile at her own game.

Unfortunately, being a manic pixie dream girl isn't all it's cracked up to be, and “Trixie” is causing unexpected consequences for her friends. As The Formula begins to break down, can Bea find a way to reclaim her true identity, and fix everything she's messed up? Or will the casualties of her manic pixie experiment go far deeper than she could possibly imagine?

What do you think, does it sound good?  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Review: Relic by Gretchen McNeil

First, thanks to Epic Reads Impulse and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have been a huge fan of Gretchen McNeil's horror stories for quite a while.  And this one doesn't disappoint.  In fact it is one that I could seriously see being done as a movie.  It had all the perfect qualities of that.  The scenes and visual descriptions in her writing even made it seem like a movie playing in my head as I was reading it.  I'm also really glad that we were able to read this.  There was a time during one publisher closing its doors that it looked like this book would  not make it to the public.  So thanks again to Epic Reads Impulse for saving it for us to read.

The main character is Annie.  School is out for summer, and she and her friends have decided it will be an epic summer, where they will do the things they normally wouldn't do.  The first thing is going to camp on an island and explore an old abandoned mine.  She plans to maybe even take the next step with her boyfriend.  Making things a little more difficult is the fact that her boyfriend Jack's ex-girlfriend has been invited on the trip by one of Annie's friends who is interested in her.  But his ex really wants him back, and does whatever she can to come between Jack and Annie.  Along with those normal teen issues, there is a mystery around the mine.  Some people have disappeared into the mine and not been found.  Annie and her friends have a visit with some water patrol and cops shortly after they arrive, who also make very clear that they shouldn't be going to the mine. 

Another visitor that night is a man that they haven't seen, but who claims some really weird things.  When he runs off, they go looking for him, and can't find him anywhere.  They go to the mine the next day, but something weird happens after they just barely get inside.  All of a sudden they are all by themselves, and they have to find their way out of the mine.  When they all arrive back at the campsite, one after another, hours apart, they head home.  The cops just happen to find a mummified body outside the mine shortly after the group gets home.  And it turns out the body is the man they saw the night before.  Soon other things start happening.  People end up dead, they find a notebook of history about the mine and the area around it.  Soon one by one they will meet with danger, and only Annie and her friends that survive will be able to figure it out, using the clues in the scrapbook and what else they can figure out.  They don't know for sure if the killer is even one of their group. 

The ending was definitely a good one, like I said, would be a perfect end to a horror movie.  We get some mysterious history of the mine and I guess that is where the title comes in.  My only complaint in the story is that I kind of wanted a little more to the "relic" part of the story.  Would have maybe liked it to come into play earlier in the story somehow.  I'm not sure how, but overall it didn't really affect the story, as it still ended up being a good one.

I believe this story may only be available as an ebook at this time, but you can get it for a great deal of only $1.99, here are the links:

Barnes and Noble
 Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday: Relic by Gretchen McNeil

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've picked a standalone novel by one of my favorite authors, Gretchen McNeil.  It sounds like a really great horror story, and I can't wait to read it!  This is a genre that this author does such a great job on.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

From Gretchen McNeil, the author of Ten and Possess, comes this teen horror novel perfect for young fans of Stephen King, and Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer.

For Annie Kramer, the summer before college is bittersweet—both a last hurrah of freedom and the last days she'll spend with her boyfriend, Jack, before they head off to different colleges. So she and her friends plan one final adventure: a houseboating trip on Shasta Lake, complete with booze, romance . . . and an off-limits exploration of the notorious Bull Valley Mine.

The legends of mysterious lights and missing persons on Shasta Lake have been a staple of sleepovers and campouts since Annie was a kid. Full of decrepit bridges that lead to nowhere, railroad tunnels that disappear into the mountains, and terrifying stories of unexplained deaths and bodies that were never recovered, Bull Valley Mine is notorious and frightening—perfect for an epic conclusion to their high school lives.

The trip is fun and light—at first. But when a deranged stranger stumbles upon their campsite, spouting terrifying warnings and pleas for help, it's clear that everyone is in danger. And when their exploration of the mine goes horribly wrong, Annie and her friends quickly discover that the menace of Bull Valley Mine doesn't stay at Shasta Lake—it follows them home.

As one by one her friends fall victim to this mysterious and violent force, Annie must do whatever it takes to discover the ancient secrets of the mine and save her friends . . . if she's not already too late.

Doesn't this sound so good!  Can't wait to read it!  So, what book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Review: Get Dirty (Don't Get Mad #2) by Gretchen McNeil

First, thanks to Balzer and Bray and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an egalley of this title.  I love reading this author, and really liked the first book, Get Even.  So as soon as I saw this available I immediately requested it.  I don't know that I loved this one as much as I loved the first one, but it was definitely still very suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Our same characters are back from the first book.  Bree, who took the fall for everyone and ended up in Juvie.  Kitty, who is feeling bad for one of the first things DGM (Don't Get Mad) did, and wants to try to help fix something for that girl.  Olivia, the popular girl, who is trying to keep all of it a secret when around her mean girl friends.  And then there is Margot, who is in the hospital in a coma.  They've of course stopped doing all the pranks.  Not after the deaths and kind of being caught.  But there seems to be a new group or a copycat DGM now.  Starting with pranks on some of the more popular people, leading to new deaths.  They've had to swear in some of the guys who have been there to help, Ed the Head, Logan, and John.  Kitty's boyfriend Donte and best friend Mika seem to have a secret from her, and that is making her worried.  Olivia's mom seems to be getting worse, with some different medications that have shown up, and quitting her job to take an acting job that is just out of nowhere offered.  Bree is on house arrest, with her mother and a big Thor-like bodyguard named Olaf, and this also means no cell phone or internet to even try to figure out with her friends what is going on.  She even runs into another former DGM victim, and sees that while what they did in school was horrible, but they were coming from a horrible home life.  And still, there are manila envelopes showing up, leading them all to what may be a big finale.  We're given some hints into one of the new members that may either be clues to the new DGM, or maybe just clues to the real killer.

It was a bit of a switcheroo towards the end, the author set that up well.  A great story that also tells how sometimes bullies have reasons, not good ones, but reasons in their home life that may be what has led them to what they've done.  A great suspenseful read, another great mystery from McNeil, with great characters, ones that you can see both sides, and even root for those bullies when it might be the right thing to do. 

Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

First I must say thank you to Harper Collins and Balzer and Bray for allowing me to read an e-galley of this from Edelweiss.  Gretchen McNeil is an author that I heard lots of buzz about with her book Ten, before I even read any of her books.  So far 3:59 is my favorite of her books, but Get Even is a close 2nd!  At first as I was reading I though, oh, it's going to be a contemporary romance type of book.  But of course, it was more, and boy did it even get to be more than I'd expected. 

There are four main characters:  Kitty, Olivia, Bree, and Margot.  They aren't friends in "real" life, no one has ever really seen them together.  But ever since a project their 9th grade year, they decided to form a group called DGM for short, or Don't Get Mad.  All of them have dealt with bullying in some way in their past.  Margot used to be overweight, and was bullied, so badly that she tried to kill herself.  Kitty knew about it from a friend who got kicked off their volleyball team.  Olivia is one of the popular girls, and so is around friends who do it all the time.  And Bree's best friend is a boy named John, who gets teased a lot, because his last name could rhyme with a bad term for gay people.  They all go to a Catholic school where the bullying seems to be rampant, to the point that the adults often ignore name calling and even somewhat support the bullies at times.  DGM has a goal to stop the bullying.  They don't make stuff up, they only take what is already out there about these bullies and make it clear to everyone else.  The other students for the most part are fans of the DGM.   But not the administrator, Father Uberti, or F.U. as the girls call him snidely.  And also not one of the teachers, Coach Creed, who is really a big bully himself.

Something has changed now, someone is sending the four girls manila envelopes with pictures and other clues in them.  They are being led to a military school where the Coach used to be. And then one of their new students, a douche-bag type of guy named Ronny dies.  Right after DGM gets things to try to humiliate him for what he's done.  Some of the clues paint their fellow DGM members in a suspicious light, taking away what trust they have for each other.  Secrets start being kept from each other, while other secrets from the past start to get revealed.  The girls of DGM must decide if they can still trust each other to do what is right, the mission of DGM, or if the person behind all the secretive notes is one of them. 

Let me just say this ended on such a HUGE cliffhanger!  I had to go to the author's Facebook page and tell her that there was no way I'd be able to wait a whole year to know what happens next.  She said next summer is when the next book comes out, and that ARCs could be out as soon as December.  Believe you me, I'll be keeping my eyes wide open for it on both Netgalley and Edelweiss, as well as possibly researching to see who the publicity person is that I might be able to talk to so that I can make sure to get this read as soon as possible.  What a great mystery that totally kept me guessing, and with that ending, left me guessing still!

The Friday 56 #9

This week I'm going to participate once again in Friday 56, sponsored by Freda's Voice.  Here are the rules:

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

So here you go:

"Her eyes light up like miniature suns and I can hear Sam giggle in my head.  I take a quick breath against the raw pain it brings.  I can count on one hand the times I heard him make a happy noise like that.  Sanda walks to me, grips my hand in hers, and nods." 

While you're here, don't forget to enter my 5th Blogoversary Giveaway, just click on the picture below.

And I also have a sign up for a Blog Hop and my September is for Sequels Challenge for you to sign up for with the buttons below.

A to Z April - M: Mysteries

Today I'm going to talk about another genre of books, mysteries.  They are not my top type of books, but I do enjoy a good one.  I'm finding more YA ones that I'm even starting to become more interested in mysteries.  I'll share my top 5 mystery books/series below.


1. 

This is probably my favorite series, although the latest one is still sitting on my TBR shelf.  Must get to that!  The main character Goldy Bear is a caterer, and of course seems to come across murders all the time by accident.  I just love the characters, they're pretty funny/realistic seeming to me.  What is really neat is all the recipes that are shared, and though they sound delicious, I'm too lazy to possibly ever make them. But if you're a chef, and you like mysteries, you should definitely give these books a try.

2. 

  

Now this is a brand new, hot off the presses title.  It actually comes out today!  It is my first book by this author, and I was extremely impressed with it.  It is a YA mystery title, but a great one!

3.  

  

This is another YA mystery that is newer.  It is what I'd call a medical mystery.  I really enjoyed it.  I know that the author writes adult medical mystery/thrillers as well.

4.  

 

 

Another author that does great YA mystery.  This one is supposed to be based on the classic story Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie.

5. 

 

Now this is one that could be considered maybe more of a romance, but it has a bit of a mystery to it so I'm going to list it.  While it is an older book, not YA really, it is one that is a favorite of mine.  As I said before, I'm not really a mystery fan, so I had a little trouble coming up with 5 top books for sure, and I didn't want to go through my whole list of all I've read on Goodreads, so I decided to list this last.

So, are you a big mystery fan?  And if you have time, I'd love for you to go back to my J post and help me think of some questions to ask some authors I'll be meeting next month.

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this at the RT Convention back in May of 2013 when it was in my hometown of Kansas City.  I got to meet the author, and of course got the ARC autographed.  I've had it up by my jacuzzi tub, and have been reading it whenever I get a chance to take a nice relaxing bubble bath.  Once again I have to say that this book wasn't quite what I was expecting, but this time it kind of blew me away!  A really great story!
When it talks about being scared of the dark, it has to do with an alternate universe, one where in the dark there are creatures that kill.  Yet somehow they now seem to be in our main character, Josie's universe.  We start out and Josie's life is just going downhill.  Her dad has moved out, her mom seems to have changed a lot, almost a different person.  She's been so stressed about her parents that she'd not been spending as much time with her boyfriend.  Which leads to him breaking up with her.  And not just breaking up with her, but having been seeing her best friend all this time.  So now she's not only lost her boyfriend,  but her best friend.  And she's been made the laughingstock of the school.  She also loses her job, another reason that has kept her away from her boyfriend.  She's had trouble getting there on time, and this one day, as she gets stuck at the train track, she seems to fall asleep, and be woken up by an explosion, and all of a sudden it is much later than she remembered.  This little episode occurred at 3:59 pm.  That night she can't sleep, and notices as she looks into her mirror that she sees another room, like hers, but not exactly.  And she sees herself, kind of.  It turns out that the mirror is a link to this other world.  In this world it seems that her alternate self is still with her boyfriend, Nick.  And she still has her father living at home.  And it seems like a wealthier house, the furniture and decorations much more expensive looking.  Eventually she figures out how to communicate with her "self".  And they agree to switch places for just a day.  Only, when Josie tries to see Jo at the end of the day to switch back, after finding out things aren't quite as good as her twin, "Jo" made them out to be, the mirror is no longer facing her room.  It is facing a wall.  And Josie has no way to get home.  Now she is stuck in this alternate universe, and all she wants is to get back to her real world.  But she learns things here have affected her own universe, and she must do what she can to make things right here, in order to stop things from going wrong in her own universe.
This was a great story.  Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end.  I really enjoyed this story, and look forward to reading more of this author's books.

Horrible shot of me, but here I am with the author, Gretchen McNeil.

Here is the autograph in the book.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

I finally gave in and purchased this book at the RT Convention the first weekend of May.  I'm glad I did.  It was a good read, and definitely a good change from all the dystopian I've been reading lately.  This book reminded me a lot of RL Stine and Christopher Pike type of stories.  Which are good scary stories!  It also reminded me of the movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer.  Not quite the same thing, but definitely it could make a good horror movie.
The main character is Meg, she and her friend Minnie have been invited to a party at the island house of one of the most popular girls in school, that Minnie used to be friends with before Meg came along.  When they get to the island, Minnie's ex-boyfriend's best friend, TJ,  is there to greet them, along with a guy named Ben, who may be the popular girl's latest guy.  But Minnie doesn't seem to care, as she and Ben hit it off right away.  Part of this is because Minnie is trying to make TJ jealous.  See, she's always wanted TJ, even dated his best friend, Gunner, for a long time trying to get TJ's attention.  During that time Meg and TJ became pretty good friends, and Meg began to like TJ, as well as he seemed to like her as well.  But, because of Minnie's crush, Meg had to turn down an invitation to go to Homecoming with TJ.  It seems however as if TJ might still be interested though!.  They get to the house, after walking by another house which seemed to be having quite the party themselves!  There are 6 other people at the house, Vivian, Lori, Gunner, Kumiko - Gunner's new girlfriend, Nathan, and Kenny.  And when a raging storm kicks up, it seems they may be stuck there without the rest of the people coming.  They decide to watch a movie, but all the DVD cases are empty, but one, and it says "Do Not Watch".  Of course they have to watch it, and on it is a mysterious video, showing a countdown from 10-1, and confusing poetry and images, and a menacing message.  Then the power goes out.  The phones are also out because of that, and of course there is no cell phone service.  Meg thinks maybe the internet will work, and goes to test it, but just as she begins to get online, that goes out too.  At dinner, one of the boys, Ben, begins to choke they think, but then they find out it is an allergic reaction to some nuts that somehow made it into the salad.
Feeling spooked and worn out, and having nothing to do with the power out, they all go to bed early.  Meg and Minnie have got the really cool room up in the tower.  Meg thinks she hears someone running barefoot and it wakes her up, so she goes out and sees a body hanging from above.  It looks as if Lori has hung herself.  And there is a suicide note, but something seems off about it.  With no way to contact the police, or get off the island due to the intense storm, the rest of them are stuck in the house, where a wall now has a huge blood red slash.  As one more is found dead, and another, more slashes are added to the wall.  They now must figure out if it is one of them doing the killing, or if there is someone out there trying to exact revenge, and if so, what for?
As I said at the beginning, this was very good.  While I could kind of guess what might happen next, and figure out who the killer might be, (well why a person would do the killing, but not who it actually was), it was still done very well, and kept me thinking and trying to figure out with Meg all along what was going on.
If you're in the mood for a scary story, you should give this a try, if you haven't already!
And, because I must share, below is my picture with the author, Gretchen McNeil, from the RT Convention.