Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss: The Escape Game

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/236226582-the-escape-game

This story starts several seasons into a popular reality TV game show competition where teenagers work in teams to solve escape rooms and compete against several other teams.  While filming the season four finale tragedy strikes when a beautiful and popular contestant Alicia Angelos is found in one of the props dead... but who could have done it?  

Even with the tragedy from last season in their minds the show continues to gather cast members for season 5 including Beck who creates their own escape rooms at home and has a bit of a family secret, Adi the handsome son of a woman who used to be a celebrity and will do anything to get back in the lime light... even if it means getting there thru her son; Carter a math whiz and influencer (but only thru a character she's created as her alter ego... she's shy and awkward in person) and last but certainly not least Siera Angelos sister of Alicia --> everyone knows that she didn't get along with her sister and even though they were not able to prove her guilt they believe she is the culprit... but it does make for higher ratings with this "surprise" return contestant.

Sierra while she has a tough girl image and wants to keep that appearance she's not just there to play this season she wants answers... she didn't hurt her sister no matter what anyone else believes and she knows if she gets a chance she can help solve her sisters case since the police clearly have focused on the wrong person this whole time.

What started out as fun and games this season quickly becomes dangerous as the team has to learn to work together and trust each other to escape these rooms and as they begin to uncover more clues and get closer to solving the mystery of what happened to Alicia... the more they have to worry about being next.  

*Young Adult  *Mystery *Murder mystery *escape room *puzzles *2026  *ARC NetGalley

*game show  *Reality TV  *State Challenge:  California  *multiple POV  

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the premise of this book a mystery inside of an escape room game show.  The authors did a good job explaining the puzzles and the outcomes but at times it almost felt like reading a play with the sets and puzzles being maybe too detailed leading to it being a bit slower in places and since I wasn't actually in the room with them I had a harder time following the puzzles they were trying to solve.  

I enjoyed the multiple POV aspect and watching all of the kids get to know each other better and come together as a cohesive team by the end of the book.  

While I know I'm not the target audience for this book (it's definately YA) I had a really hard time with the fact that these were teenagers and felt the book would have made a bit more sense if the kids in the book were even 18+... these kids were sent to stay by themselves in a villa that the show put them up at I highly doubt that the parents would not come with these underage kids while filming this show and I really don't think they would be ok with letting them stay to continue after it appeared they could truly be in danger... I don't even think the show would keep going at that point considering it would be a huge liability.

Going on with that line of thinking I had a hard time suspending my disbelief I don't see how the show was brought back for a 5th season given that season 4 ended up with the death of a contestant with law enforcement no closer to finding who did it... and people think it was the sister and they bring her back to the show!!?  What??

There were twists, turns, betrayals and sabotage who can you trust in this game?  Can you even trust your team mates?  Some of the twists I could predict and some I couldn't mainly because it kind of comes out of Left field and the motive felt pretty flimsy at best. 

I did find the book entertaining enough to keep me turning pages and I do plan to read the next in the series.  

Thank you netgalley and the authors for letting me read an advance copy of the book! 

Daniel Georgiev: Sun Catchers

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237781424-sun-catchers

This book starts in an unknown time period where the world our characters are living in has frozen over all survivors are now living in a tower like structure with an elevator leading to different levels, the top most layers have the most resources and the highest chance of survival, bottom layers get limited resources including coveted sunlight which produces power for the level.

Sol lives in layer 5 this is now the bottom most layer as all layers below have become too cold to inhabit and/or the top most layers have "Discontinued" the layers to protect the upper most layers.  Sol Gathers sunlight in his Suncatcher to bring back to his level only recently the higher levels have not been approving the gathering... in fact there are concerns that level 5 might be discontinued soon... will the population of this level be relocated to remain safe?  

Sol and his team from level 5 often go on missions to scavenge resources from lower levels... and at times put themselves at greater risk trying to get to the top of the tower... with patrols out frequently trying to cut them off from all supplies, time and hope are dwindling at level 5.

One of the missions leads to a possible new source of power... but learning to control this could turn into a problem.  Clare (Sol's girlfriend) finds that this new power has given her new abilities... she doesn't understand them fully and is not sure if she will be able to control her new found power... this could be a blessing but it could also create more chaos.  

With time running out, friends turning into enemies, and losing even more precious resources maybe the answer isn't going up towards the sun... but going down towards the unknown.  

*Indie Author  *Dystopian World  *multiple POV  *Ruined world  *Scarcity of Resources  

*high tech gadgets  *Found family *heirarchy in the tower *light romance *2026

Thoughts:

This is another time where I'm branching out from my usual romance reads, I found this book from an indie author post and the plot sounded interesting Dystopian world coming to the end of resources and in need of some changes in order to help with survival, if anyone liked the Movie or Show Snowpiercer you will like this book.

The book was action packed and sometimes harder to follow but I was rooting for all of the level five population to make it to the end even when the upper levels have left them on their own basically to just "make it" as long as they can and every day or any mission taken could be their last prior to missions the team members create what they call a "fiver" that they want printed in rememberance of them if they do not return.

The author does a great job with world building and I could see the landscapes of the levels as described as I was reading the book, I loved the found family feel and had anxiety right along with them that the higher levels were cutting them off and they were running out of time to save their level.  

I enjoyed this read there were twists and it ended in a bit of a cliffhanger would be interested to see what happens next in this world.  With dystopian reads there are plenty of hard times and heartache as tough decisions are made and life as they know it will never be the same.  

Jennifer Hartmann: Still Beating

Cora out for the night celebrating her sisters birthday party declines leaving with her sister and her sister's irritating fiance Dean... seriously what does she even see in that guy?  She maybe has a few too many drinks and finds herself in need of a ride home but her wallet has been stolen, making a few phone calls the only one to answer is the last person she should have called to begin with... Dean.  

Surprisingly Dean shows up for her when she needs him the most getting her away from some creep who stepped up next to her offering her a ride home... no thanks her ride has arrived.  Only neither of them gets home safely that night they wake up the next morning locked to pipes in a madman's basement... the last person Cora ever wanted to have to see on a daily basis is now her only hope of surviving this horrible situation.  

Against all odds they both make it out of the basement alive after 3 weeks of being in a nightmare situation... but in that 3 weeks their whole lives have changed they survived something no one should ever have to go through and they did it together, they were each other's life lines in the darkest days of their lives and no one understands what they are going through or who they are now a the end of this horrible situation... in many ways they are still in that basement clinging to each other for light, hope, and the will to live when other options might seem easier.

They are drawn to each other in ways that feel so natural, but it shouldn't be like this them being together would hurt everyone around them... especially Cora's sister.  What can they do when they at this point feel like they need each other like they need air?  

*2026   *enemies --> more  *sister's fiance  (Taboo)  *Spice  *horror  *dual POV *

*Trigger warnings --> check these before reading  *Trauma  *PTSD  *survivors  *very dark themes 

Thoughts: 

This started off like a horror movie or an investigation discovery episode, it's truly scary that there are people out there who have done these types of horrible things and I'm sure that the survivors are never the same after.  That being said I usually wouldn't be a fan of this type of relationship in a book due to the fact that our MMC has been in a long term relationship (15 years) and is currently engaged to the FMC's sister but the fact that they went through this situation together and had such an intense experience it really changes the dynamic.

This was a really emotional read they are both torn knowing that they need each other so badly after returning to civilization but can never truly be together because they know how much pain it would cause the sister.  I was at times really upset with the sister (Mandy) she made statements throughout the book like she was trying to be "supportive" and "give them time" but she was actually forcing them into things quicker than they wanted at one point she was bringing her sister out on a double date with her and Dean to the same place that they were at the night they got taken, a few times she mentions to Dean that she doesn't understand how he could "change so much" he was just down there in the basement for "3 weeks"... that's 3 weeks longer than anyone should be there and you can't rush this healing process it takes time and a lot of mental health support.  

Cora said she hated Dean but through flash backs you see that there was always a kind of "flirty" vibes before hand through that it always felt there was something more there and I did feel that part was kind of unfair to the sister long term since they were both dismissing those potential feelings for years leaving it seem like perhaps Dean should have asked Cora out to begin with instead of her sister.  

Cora frustrated me at times because she was stuck on pranks played on her in high school by Dean so much so that when she woke up locked in a basement with him she wanted to continue to hold this grudge... like girl set that aside immediately he's your partner to get out of this place... worst escape room ever!  

I did enjoy this book over all it was darker than I usually read but my heart went out to Cora and Dean and I did root for them to have a happy ever after they needed it after what they went through.  

Liz McCoy Hamilton: Frailty of Fact

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245205014-frailty-of-fact

Blurb:

SOME FAMILIES KEEP SECRETS. HERS TRIED TO BURY HER WITH THEM.Elodie Winters wakes in the family lake house with blood on her hands and no memory of how it got there.

Her sister is in the ICU. Her brother is fighting for his life. And everyone believes Elodie finally snapped.

But Elodie knows the her siblings have been trying to kill her for months—revenge for the testimony that sent their father to prison twenty years ago. The severed brake lines. The pillow over her face. The poison in her coffee.

Now, with no evidence, a "mental history" her family manufactured, and memories she can't fully trust, she must prove she's not the monster they've spent decades creating.

In a family built on lies, the most dangerous thing isn't what they did.

It's what she can't remember.

For fans of Verity and The Woman in the Window

*2026  *Psychological Thriller *unreliable narrator  *Gaslighting  *Isolation *Memory Loss *Toxic family *descent into madness  *Trigger warnings  *Paranoia  *Indie Author

Thoughts:

I usually read romance but occasionally branch out to a few other genre's I recently asked for Indie author recommendations and this author recommended their book to me right away the blurb was intriguing and I put it on my TBR I finally got a chance to read it and I'm so glad I did I was hooked from the very beginning of the book.

Elodie wakes up in her family’s lake house covered in blood with her brother and sister both have very clearly been attacked but she has no memory of what happened with her brother and sister now in the hospital in critical condition due to her mental state she finds herself in the hospital pending a psychiatric evaluation.

The book then works its way throughout Elodie's life as she's recalling her childhood and most recently her side of the story where she believes that her brother and sister have been trying to end her life in the way of discussing her story with a psychiatrist.  Throughout the book as the reader, I was torn between believing that Elodie was really going through these terrible life events and wondering if some of these events were part of her mental health conditions as additional information from her past is introduced and we learn that she has had memory lapses in the past and may be an unreliable historian.

Elodie presents her family as manipulative and cruel starting with everyone (mom, dad, brother & sister) blaming her for her father's eventual trial and imprisonment years earlier... instead of the family supporting her as a young child every member of her family (especially her mother) turned their backs on her and between gaslighting her and taunting her she feels isolated in her own home and now even as an adult continues to hope against all odds that her family will give her some scrap of kindness which is how you see her story weaving around multiple encounters with her devious family when she should change her phone number move and never contact them again.

I was up late reading this as I had to know what was truly happening with Elodie and her family, I truly enjoyed this book and how well the author did with making every fact given hard to know to be true or if it was part of Elodie's paranoid mind set.  If you enjoy Thrillers that make you question everything that has happened check this one out.  

Rebecka Cole: Legacy & Lace

Hazel left her family, friends and everything she knew behind her (family, friends, the family ranch) in Montana after her father's death she sets up her new life in Colorado and hasn't been back since... Until now when she hears through the grapevine that her aunt is struggling more with a recent injury than she's letting on in her weekly phone calls she doesn't hesitate to come home to help... it's just temporary.

Eli Dawson had been Hazel's best friend since childhood, he's a handsome, steady cowboy and at this point no longer waiting for Hazel to change her mind... he stayed while she left maybe it was bad timing on his part but he's always loved Hazel and the time he decides to just tell her she leaves before he wakes up the next morning... now she's breezing back in town expecting everyone to thank her for coming things have been tough for awhile she just didn't hang out long enough to see that he's been helping hold together the ranch with limited resources.  

When Hazel returns to the ranch in many ways she has a lot to catch up on but in others it feels like she never left the closer it gets to having to make a decision as to whether to go back to her life she's been building in Colorado or stay and help in Montana she finds herself torn between two tough choices... but maybe it's just a bit harder this time since Eli has dug his way a bit deeper in her heart.

With the ranch being in a dire financial situation there are big choices to make... and a shady neighbor keeps popping up... go away Cole!  

*ARC Read *2026 *State Challenge Montana *slow burn *Second chance romance  *cowboy 

*Ranch life  *Brooding MMC  *Grief  *Loss of parent (FMC) *long term pining *small town  *Indie Author

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book right away you can see how grief is clouding everything in Hazel's life she loved her dad and the ranch and everything in Montana but couldn't see herself able to stay after his passing how could she go on in her dad's world without him there with her? 

Coming back to town after so long there is big tension between Eli and Hazel he's still bitter and upset (reasonably so) after they had a night to remember and then she left him without a word, even with his heart shattered and his girl out of the state he continued to help on his own ranch and help Hazel's Aunt out on her Ranch but he knows the lay of the land and that the financial situation isn't what it used to be, without Hazel's dad there to run the place the extra income opportunities left and word spreads fast in a small town.

Hazel is back but for how long?  I liked that Eli didn't let her off the hook immediately after so long he was guarded, grumpy and doesn't let up on harder questions like How long are you staying?  He wanted answers and while he gave up waiting around for her to come back he makes it known that her leaving wrecked him.

This has amazing slow burn tension even when he's grumpy and guarded you know that Eli still feels the same way and since she's back Hazel is finally facing that she might feel that way too but what is she supposed to do?  Her life is in Colorado now she only has so many weeks out of work to help and she is getting questioned by her boss when is she returning?... But what if she is seeing her future now in Montana?

To be honest Eli had my heart from the beginning... if you ever find someone who loves you as much as Eli loves Hazel... don't run off in the middle of the night to a different state without talking to them you keep them and hold on tight so someone else doesn't grab them up.  I did find myself getting irritated with Hazel at times because she was so set on not making any decisions about staying but and I didn't want to see her break Eli's heart again!  

This is an emotional read that will have you rooting for both of our leads to find their way back to each other... and for Hazel to finally face and make big decisions.  

Rina Kent: Vicious Prince

Teal Van Doren has been adopted into a wealthy family along with her brother (Knox) after surviving terrible childhood abuse and running from their mother rather than spend another night with her and what she has left them to deal with.  Now years later Teal is 18 has made a choice she has decided to accept an arranged marriage in place of her foster sister Elsa.

Ronan is an Earl's son and with that comes certain responsibilities... including apparently the old fashioned tradition of an arranged marriage, he doesn't want to be married any time soon he wants to continue to party and do what he pleases with many woman... sometimes multiple in the same night he has been able to get all of the ladies thrown at him to break off the engagement... until Teal.

Ronan thinks that he can make Teal call it off after catching her in a compromising situation but she refuses as she has reasons of her own to keep the engagement on and even goes out of her way to be kind to his mother who he loves but she is in fragile health.  

The longer they are engaged the more time they spend together and maybe they aren't as different as they originally thought while Teal is a loner by choice and has some rumors being spread about her life outside of school she just doesn't care enough about being popular to notice... in fact she has walls up at all times and doesn't really show emotions.. until Ronan breaks through her walls and she struggles to put them back in place.  

Ronan is the life of every party but behind his confidence and image he portrays he has his own hidden demons... Teal is the first person he has found that can sooth his inner turmoil... just maybe he doesn't want to break off their marriage after all... but when he finds out what she's really up to will that break them both?  
 

*high school bully  *sports romance (football/soccer)  *rich heir MMC  *Arranged marriage *opposites attract

*FMC Grumpy/ Sunshine MMC  *spice *possessive MMC  *morraly grey MMC  *Dual POV *Spice *Emo FMC *Enemies --> more 

*Mental health (PTSD, past trauma) 

*Check your trigger warnings 

Thoughts:  

I'm going to talk about this for every book in this series but the characters are written as if they are way older than they are... I did like Ronan he's the party boy but I could tell even in the previous books that I'm sure that he was putting on an act.  

Again just with the previous books my heart goes out to the lead characters no one should have to go through what they did and they are both survivors trying to cope with things in their own ways... are the ways the healthiest ways to deal with things, probably not if you decide to read this read your trigger warnings as there are plenty with really hard scenes to get through (past memories).  

I don't think this book will be for everyone and I would probably advise not to read it if you have any history of SA.  

On a lighter note Ronan has named his junk Ron Astor II this actually made me LOL because it was so obnoxious and ridiculous.  

I did enjoy seeing Ronan go from the golden retriever, womanizing party boy to a one woman man by the end of the book and Teal start to explore her past trauma by opening up more and letting herself feel the emotions instead of shutting them out.  

If you've read a Rina Kent book you probably have an idea that it's going to have darker elements, this one was just ok for me took me a bit of time to like the FMC since in the first part of the book her inner monologues read more like she was shutting down and robotic once you get to know more of her back story I did feel more for her.  I liked the MMC from previous books but you did see his "Darker" side come out a bit when he was trying to bully Teal into asking to drop the marriage arrangement.  

Rina Kent: Black Knight

 Book 4 

I've been interested in reading this story since I began reading the first book in this series Xander and Kimberly were best friends once as children he was there for her on her worst day (when her grandmother passed away) and she was there for him on his when his mother left without even looking back... they made promises to each other but sometimes people don't keep their promises.

While Xander went on to be one of the most popular guys in school Kimberly struggled with being bullied and wanted to just be invisible... unfortunately she couldn't escape the bullying at home either since her mother is toxic mostly in her own world with her artistic talents she hides away while ignoring her children Kim's father works out of the country and is rarely home thankfully she finds purpose with taking care of her younger brother.

Unfortunately for Kim her younger brother looks up to Xander who lives across the street from them and has been her bully all this time... Why can't he forgive her for what happened years ago?  

Throughout this book you are seeing that maybe there is more to Xander and Kimberly's past than what Kim think's happened but since there is some miscommunication/no communication going on it takes a bit to get to the truth... but once the truth comes out will they ever be the same?  

*2026  *friends --> enemies --> more  *high school bully *dual pov  *Spice  *slow burn *family secrets

*family drama  *miscommunication/no communication *touch her and 💀 *young adult  *teenagers

*morally gray MMC  *flashbacks in book

*mental health trigger warnings (eating disorder, self harm, SI, alcohol addiction, abandonment) 

*part of a series but can be read on it's own (there were some spoilers for the series before it in the book so I would recommend not reading out of order like I did if you don't want the spoilers) 

Thoughts:

From the first book I read a few weeks ago I knew that Xander and Kimberly's story would be emotional since you could see how hard Kim was struggling with no longer having Xander as a friend and she was harboring guilt and grief of no longer having his friendship in her life and whatever happened between them must have been big.  From Xander's side you could tell that he was still struggling with it too since even when he was her bully his friends were getting to her by even being near her.

My heart went out to both of our leads and I wanted to give both of them a big hug Xander at a young age ran after his mom as she left without saying goodbye Kim was right there with him and didn't leave even when he told her to go... when you have that kind of friendship it's devastating to lose it especially at a young age and even more so when you don't know why he can't get over the past incident.

I did struggle with Xander for his treatment of Kimberly over the years she was a beautiful young lady who had a huge heart and for an unknown (to her) reason he allowed her to be bullied when he told her he would be her "Knight" and protector.  I was so mad at her mother for treating her so horrible.  

Kimberly being fat shamed and bullied at home and at school ends up leaning towards innappropriate coping mechanisms to cope with her internal struggles, feeling alone and not wanting to bother anyone she internalized a lot of her emotions bottling them up and hiding secrets of her own.  Xander is hot and cold with Kim which doesn't help with her spiraling emotions.

Both of our leads were battling their own demons but once they come together again it was like the missing piece of a puzzle fitting back together... only when family drama comes back to haunt them and big family secrets are exposed will their brittle renewed friendship be able to survive the truth?

As with the other books in this series that I did struggle with the characters acting like possessive adults when they were still teenagers in highschool.  This had a lot of twists and turns and I was here for it, I loved how they were both flawed but eventually owned it and worked on self improvements together.  

Mental health is important:  https://988lifeline.org/