mystery – Page 5 – Amy Leigh Reads

Such a Quiet Place Review

October 24, 2022November 23, 2022by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Hollow’s Edge use to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.

Harper honestly kind of got on my nerves for the majority of the book. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just confront Ruby and ask her why she came back. She just let this supposed murderer waltz back into her house and use all of her stuff, it was frustrating to read. She let this girl come back after being released from prison with no explanation and offered to buy her some new clothes? Harper didn’t really have a backbone and just let everyone walk all over throughout the course of the book that I just wanted to shake her and tell her to snap out of it.

Ruby’s character was an interesting one for sure. Immediately you just knew that she was back for revenge on this community for essentially being the ones who cemented her guilty verdict. If it wasn’t for the group chat and everyone’s wariness for outsiders and non home owners then Ruby would never of even been a suspect. So I completely understand her motivations for coming back to Hollow’s Edge and causing a stir. But I kind of wanted her to do more in her time back. There wasn’t really any big dramatic scenes with her until it came to the pool party and even then it was a tad anticlimactic until we find out what happens.

I was a bit confused when we find out that Ruby dies. On one hand I was very shocked and surprised and on the other I just thought what was the point of her coming back just to die. It really turned the story on it’s head though and shifted the narrative to a place I wasn’t expecting it to go which did ultimately keep me engaged. Trying to put together all of the little clues and finding out more about Harper’s involvement in the original investigation was interesting and quite entertaining.

⭐️3/5 stars Not the best but full of juicy drama and neighborhood secrets

Reviews

Just Like Home Review

August 19, 2022August 17, 2022by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there. Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

Vera’s character was definitely an interesting one. She keeps a lot of her secrets close to the chest and you really get a gauge for just how affected she is being back at Crowder House with her mother by how unhinged she becomes as the story progresses.

I liked the dual timelines and how they each gave us insight into what actually happened that has caused this massive rift between Vera and her mother as well as why her father killed all those people. Just the fact that Vera always reminisces about her father and talks about him in such a positive way in spite of what he did to all those men did give me pause.

The way Vera keeps emphasizing that her father built Crowder House with his own hands and she feels this sense of ownership and familiarity with it should of tipped me off to just how much of a character the actual house was but alas I was surprised. I really didn’t think that this supernatural element right at the end was necessary. I think just the horrors of what her father was doing accompanied by Vera’s warped perspective on the matter would of been enough. I think the book did a good job of leading up to that twist that if it wasn’t actually in there I would of been content anyways.

⭐️3/5 stars A little too slow paced for me!

Reviews

The It Girl Review

August 12, 2022August 12, 2022by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

I enjoyed Hannah as our main perspective. I found her to be pretty relatable in both the before and after settings and I liked the fact that her love for her friend but also her compassion for John Neville is what drives her to find out the truth. Had I have been in her situation I think I would of reacted exactly the same.

I also really enjoyed the rest of the friend group as well. At the start it was a little difficult to differentiate between them but as the story progressed I thought they were all easily distinguishable. April obviously isn’t a very likeable person but I can see how her lifestyle and energy would overwhelm Hannah and skew her perception of who April is. She is always making excuses for her and explaining away her pranks and is devastated that April’s personality has faded away from the notoriety.

I just thought Will’s reaction to everything was really weird and not explained enough for me. He kept trying to get Hannah to drop everything and even though his requests were reasonable he would just act strangely. When Hannah finally comes straight out and asks I don’t understand why he acted the way he did. He had to have known that she would come to that conclusion eventually so why would he just laugh?

The dual timelines definitely kept me engaged throughout the course of the book and the overarching mystery surrounding who did it had me turning the pages and eager to see what actually happened to April that night!

⭐️3/5 stars wasn’t anything spectacular but it was entertaining!

Reviews

The House Across the Lake Review

July 11, 2022July 25, 2022by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

Casey was a little frustrating as a character. I had a feeling she wasn’t telling the whole story in regards to what happened with her husband so in the end when that twist was revealed I wasn’t that shocked. I was just overall confused as to why she was so adamant in finding out what happened to Katherine. She had only just met this woman and had maybe two interactions with her before her disappearance and she is just soo invested in figuring out this mystery.

Boone I was wary of at the start, I usually always mistrust all the characters in mystery/thriller book but Boone seemed a little too good to be true which is kind of an obvious sign that he’s a red herring. I liked the fact that he has his own secrets and we get to learn quite a bit about character and how he ended up at Lake Green. I would of liked a few more interactions and nights of surveillance between him and Casey to build up a little more of a rapport.

Tom and Katherine honestly were kind of bland. We don’t have enough context about them, their relationship and their mannerisms before that night Katherine disappeared. We weren’t shown any of the conflicts between them we sort of just have to take Katherine’s word and believe a drunk Casey that she’s seeing what she thinks she’s seeing. They just weren’t interesting enough for this whole book to be centered around them.

There were some pretty interesting twists and turns throughout the majority of this book, I was surprised a few times and I liked the format of the book with the dual timelines. I just think the supernatural element came out of nowhere and was a bit of a cop out. There was nothing in the book before then that indicated that there was any otherworldly phenomenon happening to it was hard for me to take it seriously, I was kind of just like wtf…

⭐️2/5 stars a little too unbelievable

TBR, Top Ten Tuesdays

❄️Winter TBR❄️

June 28, 2022June 25, 2022by amyleighreads11 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is the books I plan to read this Winter! I’m in the mood for a lot of mystery/thriller books this Winter so that is what I am going to try and pick up over the next couple of months and these are the 10 at the top of my TBR!