Genre: Crime

ARC REVIEW + GIVEAWAY (US ONLY): We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott

December 28, 2018 2 Comments Regina

Have you ever seen the COMPLETELY ABSORBING AND BRILLIANT film starring Guy Pearce called Memento (2000)? (If not, you should get right on that because you’re a couple of decades behind.) Victoria Scott brings the same kind of mind-boggling magic to her upcoming novel from Entangled Teen. From what I gather via social media buzz in the book world, We Told Six Lies is hands-down one of the most anticipated upcoming releases in young adult […]

Requiem: A Netflix series review because OMG, this show is AMAZING.

May 11, 2018 3 Comments Regina

I experience an urge to be scared witless from a book or film twice a year, usually in October and during the summer. It’s not quite summer, but I couldn’t resist checking out the new Netflix series Requiem. Long story short: this show was a gripping piece of art infused with suspense, psychological terror, Welsh mythology, and muted horror. I highly recommend adding it to your queue/watching it right away. My abbreviated plot synopsis: The […]

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

August 10, 2017 0 Comments Regina

PLEASE DO NOT GO INTO THIS BOOK THINKING IT IS COMPARABLE TO PRETTY LITTLE LIARS LIKE THE BLURB SUGGESTS. IT IS SOOOO NOT. I had a love/hate relationship with PLL, mostly after things started to get old and predictable, after the fourth season. But I still watched it, and I was still highly entertained until the last episode. I read The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas, and I liked it. I was intrigued by it, […]

Blog Tour: With Malice by Eileen Cook + GIVEAWAY!!!

May 31, 2016 5 Comments Regina

A read about a teenage girl who wakes up in a hospital bed and cannot remember the last six weeks of her life, including the accident that killed her best friend– only what if the accident wasn’t an accident? (REMEMBER TO SCROLL TO THE END FOR THE AWESOME GIVEAWAY! US ONLY.) About the Book Title: WITH MALICE Author: Eileen Cook Pub. Date: June 7, 2016 Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook Find it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads Eighteen-year- old […]

Blog Tour: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

April 5, 2016 0 Comments Regina

GIVE IN TO THE BIIIIIINGE! The Darkest Corners is a gripping psychological thriller. Once you read the first few pages of this book, be ready to give in to the binge-reading urge that will overcome you. Once-upon-a-time there was some television-crack called the O.J. Simpson trial, the Casey Anthony trial, and most recently, Making A Murderer. The dark and addictive pull of these trials has been wonderfully crystallized in The Darkest Corners. This book could […]

Blog Tour: The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters Review + GIVEAWAY!

March 11, 2016 0 Comments Regina

Cat Winters takes a brave look into the under belly of the post WWI cultural climate in America and teaches you about all of the things you never learned in history class. History buffs and Shakespeare fanatics will want to add a “Cat Winters Collection” space to their bookshelves. Title: THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY Author: Cat Winters Pub. Date: March 8, 2016 Publisher: Amulet Books Format: Hardcover, eBook Find it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare’ […]

ARC Review: The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas

November 10, 2015 0 Comments Regina

The Last Midwife was the most scandalous Western Mystery I have ever read. I LOVED it. By the late 19th century, women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were making a name for themselves in the first Women’s Suffrage movement and Gynecology had just been professionalized. Where women’s care and the delivery of their babies had previously been left up to midwives, the culture was changing as men crowned themselves Gynecologists and cursed […]

Dark Metropolis (Dark Metropolis #1) by Jaclyn Dolamore

August 24, 2015 0 Comments Regina

“Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare-a haunting magical thriller set in a riveting 1930s-esque world.” When I was 16, there was this movie that came out called Dark City. The trailer looked so nouveau-weird and mysterious. It looked like the coolest kind of psychological thriller. I went to see the movie and felt more than a little confused but still thought the film was a cool concept. That’s what Dark Metropolis reminded me of. Both have the […]

Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets ( A Jazz Age Mystery #2) by Ellen Mansoor Collier

August 19, 2015 2 Comments Regina

You can check out my review of the first book in this series, Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play HERE. “”Boardwalk Empire” meets “Miss Universe” in 1927 Galveston, Texas-the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who wants to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties.” Here’s a fun alternate […]

Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play ( A Jazz Age Mystery #1) by Ellen Mansoor Collier

August 3, 2015 1 Comment Regina

I discovered Ellen Mansoor Collier’s Jazz Age Mystery series while doing some Historical research of my own, and by God, I feel like I struck gold, babies! GOLD! We’ve all read the 1920s Historical Fiction set in New York, Chicago, Paris, New Orléans, but I never would have thought about experiencing the Jazz Age via Galveston, Texas until I read Flappers Flasks, and Foul Play. To be honest (I admit with my head hung […]

Once Upon A Crime: A Brothers Grimm Mystery by P.J. Brackston

July 15, 2015 0 Comments Regina

You can find my other reviews of Paula Brackston’s novels HERE. I was sent a copy of Once Upon A Crime from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, so I have not had the pleasure of reading the first book in this series. In fact, I didn’t even know this series existed until the publisher emailed me. I’m going to have to start stalking Paula Brackston so I can stay in the loop […]

Dangerous Deceptions ( Palace of Spies #2) by Sarah Zettel

July 6, 2015 0 Comments Regina

You can check out my review of the first book in this series, Palace of Spies #1 HERE. (I love this series. HARD.) I love Historical Fiction and Non-Fiction and read quite a bit of both, so I wouldn’t say I’m easily impressed. There’s just something so clever about Sarah Zettel’s characters/dialogue, and something so sneaky-educational about her writing. I’ve never learned so much about the time period and customs of King George I’s […]

Every Breath (Every #1) by Ellie Marney

February 3, 2015 3 Comments Regina

This book was gifted to me from my lovely friend, Kristen over at My Friends Are Fiction. I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own or even heard about it if it weren’t for her. That being said, the experience of reading this book was like a mental tug of war. There were parts of it that I was in love with, and then aspects of the story that left me a […]

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel

January 25, 2015 2 Comments Regina

Let’s start with the AWESOME book trailer, shall we? Fans of Etiquette and Espionage will (should) love Palace of Spies. I try to refrain from doing this- but after reading the book and giving it five stars on Goodreads, I scanned some of the less than stellar reviews of the novel. One reviewer commented that the book had ”casual racism” in it and I was a little perplexed by this. There were no instances […]

Push and Shove (Ghost Bird Series #6): World Cup Edition+GIVEAWAY!

July 13, 2014 10 Comments Regina

You can find my previous Academy posts and reviews here. Sometimes you’re hot because you’ve been playing futbol in Brazil in tropical temperatures. And sometimes you’re hot because you’ve been reading a C.L. Stone book. C.L. Stone is a dominatrix with her pen in Push and Shove, whipping out the hot and heavy in full force. You can’t blame a girl for playing the field and that’s exactly what Sang does in this latest installment […]

Mister Black: A Billionaire SEAL Story (In the Shadows, Part 1) by P.T. Michelle

June 30, 2014 11 Comments Regina

When I was a kid I had a favorite sugar cereal called Count Chocola. Now, as an adult, I have a favorite steamy serial and it’s called Mister Black. Appearances can be deceiving but the eyes never lie. When 19 year-old Talia attends a masquerade party in the Hamptons intent on getting the scoop on a big story for her school newspaper, she never imagined she would run into someone from […]

Book Review: The Professional by Kresley Cole

June 30, 2014 1 Comment Erin

I’ve read a lot of not-so-good reviews for this book but I don’t care…. This book was SMOKIN’ HOT and very entertaining. It’s giving me hot flashes just remembering back to when I read it last month. Holy hell. Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan puts Christian Grey and his Red Room to shame. Grad Student, Natalie Porter, and her search to find out about her Birth Parents leads her in to the Russian Mafiya. All The […]

Great by Sara Benincasa

June 18, 2014 1 Comment Regina

Part of me wishes I had spent the money I blew on this book on some US Weekly or OK! gossip mags instead. I never understood what was so great about The Great Gatsby. I read and analysed it my junior year of high-school just like everyone else, and I read it with great expectations because of the reputation that proceeded it. The story just never hit the mark for me, even when I reread […]

ARC Review: The Lovely and The Lost (The Dispossessed #2) by Page Morgan

May 21, 2014 0 Comments Regina

I REALLY HATE to admit this, but…….. TheLovelyandTheLostisEVENBETTERthanTheBeautifulandTheCursed!!$!!#! THIS. BOOK. Ohmawgawd. Okay, calming myself down now. Time to review like the civilized bibliophile that I am. *coughs* You can check out my review of TB&TC (The Dispossessed #1) and Marco’s Story (The Dispossessed #.5) here and here. This review will be SPOILER FREE for those who have not been lucky enough to read The Beautiful and The Cursed yet. I’m glad I read […]

Mafia Girl by Deborah Blumenthal

March 22, 2014 0 Comments Regina

I’m like a Sofia Coppola film. I love pop music, pop culture, trendy clothes, and glittery, sparkly, never-ending-shimmery things. On sunny days you can find me driving to work with my sun roof open, jamming Britney Spears and admiring how my freshly painted nails contrast with my gold steering wheel cover. The truth is, I LOVE bubble gum pink, Chanel lipstick, and pretty things. So does Gia. Sounds superficial, right? But zoom in on the […]

The Academy: Thief (Scarab Beetle Series #1) C.L. Stone

March 17, 2014 1 Comment Regina

You can check out my reviews for the other books in The Academy Series here and a spotlight on C.L. Stone here. You might want to steal away for a day to read this book. Dun, dun, DAA DAA, dun, dun, DAA DAA, dun DUN! The first chapter of Thief reminded me of the Mission Impossible theme song. It was clever, exciting, and perfect. I found myself imagining certain scenes of Thief set to this music […]