Review: Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney

Bodies and Battlements (A Ravensea Castle Mystery, #1)

by Elizabeth Penney

Release Date: March 27, 2025

2025 Minotaur Books

Ebook Version; 288 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250270051

ASIN:  ‎ B0DCTNBQ59

Genre: Fiction / Cozy Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Herbalist Nora Asquith is delighted to welcome Ravensea Castle’s first guests to the picturesque village of Monkwell, Yorkshire. After a thousand years of ownership, her family has decided to convert the castle into a bed and breakfast. But when Hilda Dibble, a self-appointed local luminary, is found dead in the knot garden the next morning, Nora’s business is not only at risk—she’s a prime suspect.

Hilda had opposed the hotel plan every step of the way, and although she didn’t succeed in stopping the venture, her disagreements with Nora seem to only further her motive.

 

 Nora and her actress sister Tamsyn decide to investigate for themselves. They look into the entangled dealings of their newly arrived guests, while also getting hints from Sir Percival, one of the castle ghosts. As they learn, Sir Percival’s tragic death centuries ago sheds light on present-day crimes. Surely they can get to the bottom of this mystery while keeping their new business afloat . . .

 

My Thoughts

Bodies and Battlements is the first entry in a new cozy mystery series for this author, and while I did find the plot to be somewhat straight-forward and predictable, I really enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the relationships that were being built and this is definitely what defines a cozy mystery for me.

 

It is always difficult to develop characters in the first book of a series as you have to ensure you don't give too much away about them, but at the same time you don't want them to seem one-dimensional. I thought the author did a great job with the characters in this book as I felt connected to them and enjoyed their different viewpoints with regards to the bed and breakfast being created  and its connection to the long history of the building and the lands. Nora was hard-working, loyal to her family and her family history, but when push came to shove, she knew exactly when to stick up for what she believed and when it was necessary to give a little.  I liked that she was also an apothecary, grew her own herbs on the land, and sold her items around the neighbourhood as well. There seems to be a lot of possibility with that avenue to exploit in the future.

 

Nora's sister Tamsyn, and their father were also fun characters to round out the main characters. Tamsyn is quite different from her sister and I really liked her spirit. I liked how steadfast Nora's father was and how he liked to research his family history when things started to happen. But then, I would have been all over those papers if I had access to a thousand years of my own family's history.  Just think of it!!  

 

The plot moved along rather quickly, and I did find it to be somewhat predictable, but I liked the added 'pararnormal' twist of the resident ghosts. A place as old as this has to have at least one or two ghosts!!  There is a bit of an actual police investigation, but this is a cozy mystery so most of the action comes from Nora and Tamsyn as they investigate. I did appreciate that they didn't do anything silly and told the police whatever they knew though, as I dislike it intensely when characters keep things to themselves just to move a plot point forward.  This didn't reduce the tension when things did happen however, so it was fun to see how they got out scrapes and what they would discover in such an old place.  

 

Verdict

Bodies and Battlements was an enjoyable read, and the fact that I figured out the ending didn't lesson my enjoyment at all. I really needed a cozy read at the moment as I have been reading some heavy hitters and this one fit the bill perfectly.  Both the characters and the plot were fun and I enjoyed the historical aspect to the story as much as learning about the local area that will probably feature in future books. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries, and I am now off to read the second book in this series.  

 

Review: True Crime by Patricia Cornwell

True Crime: A Memoir

by Patricia Cornwell

Release Date: May 5, 2026

2026 Grand Central Publishing

Hard Cover ARC; 464 Pages

ISBN: 978-1538778449

ASIN: B0FTWDWQ47

Audiobook: B0FY85VMQ5

Genre: Non-Fiction / Memoir

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalised twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalisation and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.

 

My Thoughts

True Crime is one of those memoirs to which I was looking forward because I had a vested interest in the Kay Scarpetta series when they were first published.  My interest has since waned for a variety of reasons, but I still remember those early days and having a female Chief Medical Examiner as a lead in a murder mystery series was exciting and interesting. Patricia Cornwell has definitely had a very interesting life, one that has been fairly unstable, full of abuse and trauma, and I am not really here to rate that aspect of the book, but the overall way in which she shares her story was somewhat rambling and a bit annoying and this is what I am reviewing.

 

By the first half of the book, the author is barely out of high school with a full memory of things that have happened to her.  I am not questioning the trauma, the abuse, the neglect, etc..., and she certainly shares a lot of traumatic episodes with us, but I do sort of question the level of detail, although her journals may have helped with that.  What I can't recall is when she actually started keeping journals as I don't remember her mentioning them when she was younger, only as she grew older and developed bulimia. 

 

For a writer with as many awards for her books as she has, I would have expected this memoir to be more concise and less rambling than it was, but it was all over the place, jumping from topic to topic constantly. She also seemed to jump quite quickly past topics where she should have taken more responsibility for her actions, but seemed to gloss right over those as if they just happened, she got lucky she wasn't charged, and just moved on to the next thing which sort of a left a bad taste in my mouth.  It made it seem like she felt more lucky and didn't really seem to acknowledge the risks and danger she put others in.  Comments like 'Everyone used to to this' just don't really fly when you should be responsible for your actions.   

 

I did think the work she did for in a medical examiner's office was interesting and I did find it fascinating to learn about some of the things she did as research for her books.  But even some of that comes off as bragging as she has this tendency to gloss over some of the more interesting things to name drop, discuss her house or car purchases, etc..., and because this happens repeatedly, it got old, fast.  There were some really amazing things that happened, some important ones, but those were just mentioned in passing; however, we did get to read two pages about the great car she purchased and was grateful she wasn't driving the night she crashed because she was drunk. And even then she blamed her actions on the medication she was taking. Um, when you drink, what do you think could happen?  

 

Verdict

True Crime definitely had some very interesting aspects to it and I appreciated how much research she did while writing her novels. She worked in a morgue, volunteered with the local police force and ambulance, spent time at the Body Farm, learned how to fly helicopters, and a lot of other interesting things. But I really felt like she was being very guarded with regards to this memoir and didn't really share much about what she has been doing these last years as most of it was spent on her childhood.  By the end of the book, while I can empathize with the trauma and abuse she suffered as a child, I still am not sure how that fueled her writing.  She did say that authors are very jealous of each other so maybe she didn't want to share that aspect for this reason, but in the end, I don't feel like I really got to know her, what she really likes to do other than play tennis, and all of it is superficial. Again, authors can reveal as much as they want, but I would have expected something a bit tighter in its writing and this one rambled too much, glossing over things that seemed important.   

 

Review: Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Pretty Dead Things

by Kelsey Cox

Release Date: July 7, 2026

2026 Minotaur Books

Ebook ARC; 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250378842

ASIN: B0FLYPRSWV

Audiobook: B0FP48M1Q9

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The annual Lone Star Princess Pageant looms, bringing long-standing grudges to the surface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

 

My Thoughts

Pretty Dead Things had an interesting description and I liked the idea of former beauty pageants preparing their daughters for the same pageant in which they competed twenty-five years earlier. I thought there would be a lot more intrigue and a lot more of the toxicity that the book earlier implied, but it seemed a bit meh to me as far as that went. While the writing style had a way of drawing me into the story and definitely had its moments, I did find it predictable and thought the characters were pretty one-dimensional.

 

The story was told through multiple POV and I didn't feel like I really got to know any of them except on a superficial level.  In hindsight, I think I connected with Cat the most because I empathized with her situation and how it must feel to always have people second-guessing your sobriety and relating your current situation to anything you did in the past. I didn't empathize as much with Sarah Lynn and Melanie although I think I was supposed to feel more sympathy for Melanie and be annoyed by Sarah Lynn. Melanie just annoyed the crap out of me and I wanted to know more about Sarah Lynn as I found her interesting. Yes, she was toxic as hell, but she seemed to have the most personality out of all of them.  In any case, none of them were developed above a superficial level and I didn't really care about most of them. 

 

The book takes place in a small Texas town where the Princess Pageant is the highlight of these young girls lives and can change their lives. I did find the dialogue surrounding the pageant to be quite interesting and I would have liked more discussion around the actual pageant and its toxicity, especially when they were discussing the prize package. Where I live, pageants aren't a thing so I do find the pageant scene to be quite fascinating. I liked how the discussions evolved from simple makeup to makeup tutorials to expensive dresses to plastic surgery. Considering one of the prizes in the prize package was a trip to a plastic surgeon, it brings up a great topic of beauty and acceptance with regards to young adults and beauty influencers.  

 

The mystery itself wasn't bad, but I did find it somewhat predictable based on characters who did things that were predictable. It really wasn't that hard to figure out who the culprit was and I sort of wished it had gone in a different direction, but there you have it.  The set-up is pretty stereotypical as well as you have a power outage, an impending storm, things occurring to pageant members, and a room full of mothers and daughters who want desperately to win. There was a lot of foreshadowing included in this book that didn't quite work the way the author intended and left me feeling somewhat disappointed. 

 

Verdict

Dead Pretty Things was an interesting read, but I don't think it quite worked for me.  There were a lot of threads and plot lines in this book and I felt like the author wasn't sure which thread to have stand out or which one to pull the tightest.  I did like the discussion surrounding pageants, grudges, toxicity, etc... and there was a lot of unpack in terms of themes, but overall, the ending was unsatisfying and I thought the overall character development was weak.   

 

Review: Half City by Kate Golden

Half City (Harker Academy, #1)

by Kate Golden

Release Date: February 17, 2026

2026 Ace

Audiobook & Ebook ARC; 496 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593953433

ASIN:  ‎ B0F88X3LP9

Audiobook: B0FBH51228

Genre: Fiction / Urban Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval. She just also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father's murder, she's been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider. . . . Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she'll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv's father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

 

My Thoughts

Half City is one of those books that took me a little while to really get into, but now I'm fully invested. I think part of the problem is that I couldn't warm up to Viv at all, but I liked the world-building and the other characters enough to continue so when things really started to get interesting, I was in it for them and not necessarily for Viv. There were plenty of twists and turns and while some of them were a bit predictable, there were enough of them that caught me off guard to keep this story interesting.

 

First of all, let's start with Viv as a main character. While she eventually did grow on me somewhat, and I do understand why she is the way she is, there is something about how she looks down on others that is a bit condescending, as if her powers and how she has been fighting demons for her entire life grants her the right to be that way. When things go sideways later on in the book because of some bad decisions on her part, I was glad to see some redemptive arcs in her character development so I am hopeful the author created her this way on purpose and we will see how grow throughout the series.  For now, that is enough and while I can't empathize with her at the moment, I understand her a bit better by the end of the book and am glad to see the author is not neglecting character development.  

 

I did however, really enjoy the secondary characters in this book, and one character really caught me off guard as I did not guess what was happening there at all, so I am looking forward to learning more about them and seeing them grow and develop along with Viv.  For me, the secondary characters made up for Viv and her attitude.  And Deacon? Probably one of the best characters in this book so far, so mysterious and...I don't know what else to say about him at this point. But can't wait to find out more.

 

The plot actually moved a bit slowly at the beginning as it was focused on world-building and Viv's background, but when it picked up, it definitely picked up and I had to put the book down to think about all the little side plots that were going on. I liked the concept of the demon hunter academy and while I know the concept is not new and is quite tropy, it was still fun as all get out.  I did think the weakest point of the book was the 'romance', not because I am opposed to romance in this book, but because I didn't quite feel it yet. Don't get me wrong, I want some zap and some zing between Reid and Viv, nand while it was fun, I'm not fully feeling it. And I have some theories about our Reid and his role in this book.  And about Deacon. Should be some interesting times ahead for our characters. 

 

Verdict

Half City was an engaging read, and I enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit. While it did start a bit more slowly as it spent some time world-building and introducing characters, it built up to quite a crescendo in the end where I couldn't stop listening.  I enjoyed the overall investigation as well as the attacks on the school and thought the training was interesting, but I liked that kind of thing which is why I gravitate towards LitRPG because there are so many books with that trope.  I am glad to see the author put a lot of emphasis on character development as well as plot development and yet, there is still a lot of room for our characters to grow. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy and I am looking to my ARC read of book two.  

 

Review: In Case I Go Missing by R.N. Swann

In Case I Go Missing

by R.N. Swann

Release Date: May 26, 2026

2026 Viking Books for Young Readers

Ebook ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593695333

ASIN:  ‎ B0FNVY6N8V

Audiobook: B0GR8CP6MK

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Fenny Allen has been Sarah Vincenty's sidekick for as long as she can remember, ever since the two of them solved the mystery of the stolen library books back in elementary school. Over the years, Sarah has ruffled a few feathers in their small town, building a reputation as both an amateur detective and a vigilante who has dispensed her own form of justice.

Now Sarah is missing. The police have written her off as yet another teen runaway, but Fenny is convinced that something more sinister has happened. When she discovers a binder Sarah left behind entitled In Case I Go Missing, Fenny learns that at the time of her disappearance, Sarah was investigating her biggest case yet.

Fenny knows that it's up to her to finish what Sarah had begun. As she and her friend Sam piece together the clues that Sarah left for them, they find themselves up against a decades-old mystery—one that links to the town's dark history. But is this binder a guide to finding Sarah—or are Fenny and Sam already too late?

 

My Thoughts

In Case I Go Missing was an intriguing YA mystery that focused on the disappearance of a friend as the other two friends in their friend group learn she was secretly investigating a case on her own. This book had quite a few twists and turns, but what intrigued me the most was the effect Sarah's disappearance had on the friendship of the two left behind and how it affected them going forward. Yes, there were a lot of secrets exposed in the town and the investigation was interesting, but I really enjoyed the human element behind Sarah's disappearance and how everyone reacted to it.

 

The story is told from Fenny's POV, but this is one time I wish we also had Sam's POV as I found his character to be quite as interesting as Fenny's and would have loved knowing his thoughts and insights. Fenny was quite capable and very determined to find out what happened to her friend, but I also loved how she wasn't reckless or stupid in her investigation, knowing when to keep her counsel, when to get the police involved and not keep clues to herself, and being smart. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fenny and Sam and am so, so, so glad the author didn't make their relationship a romantic one, but stuck to a platonic one as it would have felt so out of context for the story.  Both of them had major struggles going on and I am glad the author didn't ignore those struggles and took the time to focus on them and intertwine them with Sarah's investigation.

 

I became quite invested in this investigation and I have to credit the author's writing style for that. It was definitely a suspenseful murder mystery, but it was so much more than that as the clues Sarah left behind for Sam and Fenny allowed the author to reflect on the power of friendship and how well friends can really know each other.  This shone through the events and gave Fenny and Sam purpose as they found clues that only they would recognize and understood that Sarah was not necessarily ignoring them, but protecting them.  I did suspect quite early on what had happened, but that was okay. The author kept the tension high from pretty much the first page of the book and didn't let you relax until the last page and managed to pull all the different threads floating around into one interesting ending. It might seem a bit chaotic at times, but upon reflection, there was purpose behind everything in this book. There were multiple themes running through this book; loyalty, friendship, the unraveling of family legacy and secrets, neglect, murder, trust, the conflict between justice and revenge, loneliness, death, and the list goes on.  

 

Verdict

In Case I Go Missing was an unpredictable book and I was not sure in which direction it was going for most of it, but at the same time this was an accessible book and definitely written with the YA audience in mind.  Both the plot and character development were good, and the tension never really let up right from the first page. Yes, naturally there were some cliche moments and there were some tropes used, but they didn't interfere with the scope of the story nor did they interfere with the twists and turns of the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a tension-filled mystery and I am looking forward to reading more works by this author.

 

Review: One Second Away by Rick Mofina

One Second Away

by Rick Mofina

Release Date: April 28, 2026

2026 Doubleday Canada

Softcover ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0385701983

ASIN: B0FJ7YXY96

Audiobook: B0FJBDDJGZ

Genre: Fiction / Thriller

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.75 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

One sunny day in California, Jessie is hugging her nine-year-old son, Dylan, goodbye at the airport. He's travelling by himself, all the way across the country, to visit his father, Jessie's soon-to-be ex-husband, and his grandparents. Several hours later, Jessie gets a frantic call from Dylan's grandmother in New York. Dylan is missing.

In a second, Jessie's world turns upside down. The AirTag she'd stuck in his backpack says he's still at LAX. The airline insists that he was picked up at JFK by an elderly couple claiming to be his grandparents—but Jessie's in-laws insist they haven't seen him. Dylan has disappeared into thin air.

At the same moment, miles away, in Toronto, a train operator loses control of a subway train, and the fiery crash injures dozens of passengers. Jessie doesn’t know it yet, but this crash is inextricably linked to Dylan's disappearance. She has to find out how—and where her son is.

 

My Thoughts

One Second Away is one of those books that I read with a lot of trepidation as it took several of my fears and put them into one book: one, the fear of losing a child; two, the fear of being in train/plane collision; and three, having no control over any of it. This author grabbed your attention with a train crash right at the beginning of the book and pretty much never let up on the tension from that point on. 

 

While I enjoyed this quite a bit, I did struggle with Jessie as a main character.  I could certainly forgive her abrasiveness when wanting to know more information from the police about her missing child, but it irks me to no end when a person thinks they have a right to know everything and even barges in on a scene that is being criminally investigated and could compromise evidence. This was Jessie. Don't be Jessie. While brilliant when it comes to computers (something I'll come back to in a moment), she was not very good with personal relationships. While I understood her being abrasive with the police as they thought she was a suspect, she was like that with her friends as well. And for such a brilliant computer coder/designer, she spent most of her time running around the country like a chicken with her head cut off rather than doing any of her brilliant computer stuff. I know she had a team to help her, but why wouldn't she help them too? Why wouldn't she at least try to take some of the information herself and try to figure it out? She kept hinting at how it could be personal, so why share everything she had with others when they may not be trustworthy? I just didn't get it. 

 

Where this book really shines however, is the plot. This is not a character-driven story by any means, so the fast, tension-filled plot redeems the lack of character development. This is one of those books I kept picturing as a movie as it moved pretty quickly and the tension never let up. And I kept thinking of the movie Speed, how fun it was, but how silly some of the scenes were because you had to suspend belief for a lot of the movie. This is exactly the way it was in this book. Great action scenes, but you just had to go with it. I didn't find it difficult to figure out the culprit(s) in this book, but as I mentioned the character development was one-dimensional, at best.

 

Verdict

One Second Away was a fun, propulsive thriller that was heavy on tension and plot, but light on character and character development. You had to suspend belief quite a few times and just go with it, but that was okay, although I am sure those with more technological know-how might have different thoughts about this. I liked how the author managed to pull all the threads together even if I thought the reason was flimsy in the end. If you like fast-paced thrillers, this one might be for you. 

 

Review: Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World by Patrick Wyman

Lost Worlds: How Humans Tries, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World

by Patrick Wyman

Release Date: May 5, 2026

2026 Harper

Ebook ARC; 464 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063256484

ASIN: B0FP9C8WB4

Audiobook: B0FPRNDH6J

Genre: Non-fiction / History / Anthropology

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

There’s a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity’s deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age—the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.

In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn’t always replace foraging, villages didn’t automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn’t necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn’t inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.

 

My Thoughts

Lost Worlds is one of those books that I found quite interesting, both from the anthropological perspective as well as the archaeological perspective. When I took archaeology classes in university, I was one of those people that never accepted the linear development of a civilization as absolute as humans are far too complex for that to exist everywhere and in every society.  I sort of liken it to child development where there are many different paths to how a child learns to walk and not every child takes the same path. The grown of civilization is much more complex and spread around the world, so it just didn't make sense to me that societies would develop along the same pathways. This book takes a look a complex political and social organizations and how human progress wasn't linear and didn't necessarily follow identical paths from foraging to villages to cities. 

 

It follows a 10000-year span from the end of the Ice Age to the decline of the Bronze Age and because of the scope of the work as well as the amount of civilizations involved, the author focuses on different societies for each chapter. This suited me quite well, but one must remain cognizant of the choices as well as they would support the reasoning for the book. Similar societies could have been chosen which would have supported a counter-argument, but the scope for that would have required a much longer book than this one. 

 

While I know quite a bit about Neolithic and Bronze Age Societies, there were some that were chosen with which I was not as familiar so I enjoyed learning about how they developed and how their societies functioned. Because the book focused on the agriculture side of the development, the author did spend a lot of time discussing the importance of foraging and producing enough food for the people of these developments, some of which turned to agriculture while others simply moved locations when the food sources dried up. I found it fascinating and did learn quite a bit about how societies survived. This was not a book about battles, kings and queens, emperors, etc..., but about how a civilization survived and the complex hierarchies and societies developed to ensure survival.  It was also a book that speculated as to the reasons why some societies turned more towards farming while others, just as complex, never developed beyond foraging. The author mentioned quite often it was a mistake to think these societies that didn't develop along the same lines weren't as complex as those that did and provided ample proof for his statements.

 

The anthropological and archaeological studies used to determine how these complex societies functioned ran through all the explanations given in this book and I enjoyed learning about a lot of the processes being used today, so different from my studies over thirty years ago.  Scientists have this ability to analyze information that was not previously available through new techniques and they are developed even newer ones all the time.  I found it fascinating when I read about how much information they could get off a single frozen body that was over 5000 years old just by analyzing DNA in the bones or from the stomach contents. And that was just the simpler stuff.  Bodies can give us cause of death, injuries sustained during a lifetime, illnesses sustained during a lifetime, where they grew up, where they traveled, and the list just goes on and on. And I have always know how much information one can get from a trash pit, but with the new techniques it must be mind-boggling today.  

 

Verdict

Lost Worlds was definitely an enjoyable read and I personally thought gave the reader a clearer picture into some complex societies of the past. It was not a book about individual people, battles, dominance, etc..., but more about how different societies developed differently from others, but still made it work. It was also to show that complex societies and hierarchies didn't grow linearly, but grew according to local needs and necessities.  Naturally, some societies were closer to others and would have had an impact on each other, but others were quite far away and developed at the same time, but still had different approaches and results. This is what I found particularly interesting with regards to this book. While there were some parts that were a bit repetitive, and I did feel as if the author was struggling with his reader audience, a struggle between the more rigorous scientific approach or a more layman's approach, and this could be seen in the book, there was still quite a lot to absorb and think about. I have not listened to this author's podcasts at this point, but I am probably going to start as I found his book quite interesting.  

 

Review: Rune Seeker by J.M. Clarke and C.J. Thompson

Rune Seeker (Rune Seeker, #1)

by J.M. Clarke, Carter J. Thompson

Release Date: March 24, 2026 

2026 Atheon: Vault (Previously published independently by author)

Hardcover ARC & Ebook Editions; 704 Pages

ISBN: 978-1638493242

ASIN: B0CBSQZMW4

Audiobook: B0CDMVD1YM

Genre: Fiction / LitRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4.25 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Hiral is the Everfail, the weakest person on the flying island of Fallen Reach. He trains harder than any warrior. Studies longer than any scholar.

But all his people are born with magic powered by the sun, flowing through tattoos on their bodies. Despite having enormous energy within, Hiral is the only one who can’t channel it; his hard work is worth nothing.

Until it isn’t.

In a moment of danger, Hiral unlocks an achievement with a special Access a Dungeon to receive a Class-Specific Reward.

It’s his first—and maybe last—chance for real power. Just one all dungeons lay in the wilderness below the flying islands that humanity lives on, and there lay secrets and dangers that no one has survived.

 

My Thoughts

Rune Seeker is the first book in the Rune Seeker series and it's one of those series I've been meaning to read, but just haven't had the time to start, so when the publisher reached out and offered me copies of the first three books when they are available, I jumped at the chance.  This book probably dropped on my lap at the right time as I found it addictive and I had trouble putting it down, but still found the character development to be somewhat one-dimensional.  The pacing however, kept me entertained and I really enjoyed the dungeon elements quite a bit.

 

Hiral is the main character and the story is told from his viewpoint. Hiral struggled growing up as he seemed to have a lot of potential, but simply could not unlock it despite the efforts of his parents and the intense training regimen he put himself through.  Because of his struggles, he developed relationship issues with his mother, something I feel will be addressed in future books, but I hope the author doesn't make Hiral accept anything from her simply because he has unlocked his powers. I am always amazed when parents don't support their children because they don't turn out the way they want them to be.  As a result of his issues growing up, he has trouble trusting himself in situations as well as trusting others. While he could come across as sulky at times because of this, I think it does ring true to his character and the issues he had growing up. 

 

The secondary characters were actually quite interesting, but weren't fully developed in this book.  I am looking forward to learning more about them as the story progresses. 

 

The plot and the pacing are two of the reasons why character development was sort of shunted to the background as both of these were relentless in this book.  As soon as something happened, then was resolved, something else came up almost immediately.  I didn't mind this too much as the 'battles' were actually quite creative and used the leveling up system as well as the magical system in an interesting way.  There were a couple of things that weren't fully explained however, and I do have questions, questions that I hope will be answered in future books.  I love dungeon-based reads, but I love it when there are big mysteries and ancient secrets much more, and this one hints at the discovery of some of those ancient mysteries in the future.  And the sword inked in Hiral's back. Can't wait to discover how that one plays out. 

 

Verdict

Rune Seeker was a fun read and I enjoyed it tremendously. There was an issue with character development and I did feel like the authors glossed over some things that happened or did not take the time to explain them when they occurred perhaps knowing the issue will come up in future books or thinking the reader would not notice.  In any case, the pace was relentless and very action-heavy, but I didn't mind.  Because I am anal and have to read to the end of any chapter, that posed a problem in this book as the end of each chapter was written in a way that made you want to read the next chapter, something I did often until the wee hours of the morning.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

 

Review: The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub

The Fourth Girl (Haven Cliff, #1)

by Wendy Corsi Staub

Release Date: March 25, 2025

2025 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook Edition; 396 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662523809

ASIN: B0D9W5256F

Audiobook: B0DK3XZRNK

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise—even when it shatters lifelong friendships.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly, and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline—and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen.

 

 

 

My Thoughts

The Fourth Girl is the first book in the Haven Cliff series, and this one focuses on the friendship between four girls as they navigate high school and then reunite twenty-five years later hoping to reunite with one of the four who disappeared all those years ago.  Told through multiple POVs, we get a somewhat mish-mash story of one girl's life and her desperate need to get away, but something goes terribly wrong. 

 

First of all, what I really did enjoy was the friendship between the four girls.  There was a lot of drama and intrigue and I like how the story was told through each girl's perspective, both from the present and the past.  As forty years olds, we can definitely look back upon things that happened from a different perspective from when we were fifteen and see things we may have missed due to naivety and innocence even when the signs were there.  The friendships were definitely relatable and I really enjoyed the 90s nostalgia; it made me think about my own high school years and my own friend groups, things I hadn't really thought about in years.  There were a lot of secrets and a lot of things happened that were told through quite a nuanced story line that the reader would pick up on but that a teenager may not really grasp. It actually added to the tension in the story as you wondered what was really happening behind closed doors and how bad did things really get that were only hinted at but never really fully explained. I will mention here though that I never really understood the purpose of Gordy in the story line as it didn't make sense at all especially the way Caroline's character was being described.  

 

The plot itself actually moved along rather quickly, but it was quite predictable and I was able to figure out what was happening quite early on in the book. And honestly, the author's writing style was still stellar as I found myself flipping through the pages with a high level of tension wondering exactly what I would discover, but at the same time feeling like I had already read this type of story a dozen times.  And I didn't really care that this was slow, but in reality, the actual investigation when the murder did occur, was shunted to the background and the drama between the women/girls was always in the forefront, something that did affect the overall feel to the book in the end as I was left feeling underwhelmed. I realize this is the first book of a planned series, so maybe I will get some answers in future book?

 

Verdict

The Fourth Girl did have its moments and there were a lot of themes running through the story, but the character development was very one-dimensional which made it difficult to invest any energy in any of them. I didn't mind the slower plot, but did feel like the investigation took a backseat to the drama that engulfed the girls and was more of an afterthought.  There was enough in this book however, that I will be continuing the series to see what happens next.  

 

 

 

Review: The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton

by Jennifer N. Brown

Release Date: April 14, 2026

2026 St. Martin's Press

Ebook ARC; 320 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250383594

ASIN: B0F5PCC13S

Audiobook: B0G5HK7F63

Genre: Fiction / Historical / Tudor England

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Historian Alison Sage has made a groundbreaking archival discovery―she found a manuscript containing the prophecies of a 16th century nun, Elizabeth Barton. Barton’s prophecy condemning Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn led to her execution and the destruction of all copies of her prophecies―or so the world believed.

With Alison’s discovery, she is catapulted to academic superstardom and scores an invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium, a week of research among a select handful of fellow historians at a crumbling manor in England, located next to the ruins of the priory where Elizabeth herself once lived.

Alison’s cutthroat world of academia is almost as dangerous as Elizabeth Barton’s sixteenth-century England, where heretics are beheaded, visions can kill, and knowing who to trust is a deadly art. The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is a thrilling novel, crackling with the voices of the past and propelled by a mystery that will leave readers in suspense until the very last page.

 

My Thoughts

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton features the story of Elizabeth Barton who was a 16th century prophet who was eventually hanged at the age of 28 due to her conflict with King Henry VIII.  This book blends historical fiction, a mystery, a thriller, and a typed of locked-room thriller told through two distinct time lines, but I definitely felt like Elizabeth's voice was not really heard in her time line and couldn't really connect with her character.  

 

The first time line deals with Elizabeth Barton, from her life of servitude when she had her first vision to her eventual torture and death.  Told through a couple of POVs, I thought Elizabeth's was actually the weakest as she came across as confused half the time and although I think the author was trying to showcase how the men around her manipulated her into saying and doing things they wanted her to say and do, I don't think it came across very well, especially in the second half of the book.  Considering these men had to deal with King Henry VIII on a regular basis, I think they would have been far more subtle in their dealings with Elizabeth as they would know the end game if they were not careful.  Taking into account Elizabeth's lack of education, something that was mentioned a multitude of times, it is entirely possible she didn't listen to advice, especially as her fame grew, and she thought she would be protected by that, something that didn't really come through the pages very well.  There was a hint of her recklessness at times, and I did think that was more realistic, but I don't think it was because she wasn't counseled otherwise. Considering the circle who surrounded her, she would have been aware of the beheadings as well as the powerful people who had fallen under Henry VIII's axe by this point. She would have been cautioned to be careful and this wasn't highlighted enough.  I do believe she was manipulated and used politically as the events surrounding Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn were quite politically charged and the men surrounding the throne would have used whatever they could to either support or destroy the throne. Because she didn't grow up around the court, she didn't have the wisdom or the wiles to manoeuvre and play such dangerous games.

 

The second time line dealt with the present when the MC finds a journal supposedly written by Elizabeth Barton (no such thing has currently been found BTW), and embellished her advisor Edward Bocking (another real-life person from Elizabeth's circle). I enjoyed this time line for perhaps the first half of the book until it descended into a silly romance-type thing in the second half.  I am not a fan of romance, but can handle it if it's subtle and done well, but this was so annoying and I couldn't help rolling my eyes.  And while I also love mysteries and read a lot of them, this also descended into silliness.  I didn't enjoy the connection to Elizabeth Barton and the abbey and wished the author had just focused on that mystery as that was quite enjoyable.  While I don't mind the blending of multiple genres in a novel, they didn't quite work in this book and it ended up being distracting, to the point where something I was enjoying reading became something I just wanted to finish.  And that ending? Oh, yeah, there wasn't really one as it just ended.

 

Verdict

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton had some enjoyable moments to it and I did enjoy the mystery for the first half of the book.  It did lose me completely in the second half of the book as it descended into a murder mystery that really felt like it was pushing the boundaries of credibility. I did enjoy Elizabeth's story much more and wish the author had fleshed out Elizabeth's character quite beyond the one-dimensional person we saw in these pages and really showed the manipulation and political struggles that would have gone on during this time period as tensions were extremely high and things were quite dangerous.  The book was well-researched however, and I think readers will enjoy the descriptions of both time periods.  

 

Review: Advent by Seth Ring

Advent (The Exlian Syndrome, #1)

by Seth Ring

Release Date: March 4, 2025

2025 Blackstone Publishing, Inc

Ebook ARC; 384 Pages

ISBN: 979-8874692575

ASIN: B0D2LVCKZ2

Audiobook: B0D33TT8QP

Genre: Fiction / LITRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from author through publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

All his life, Mark Fields has dreamed of joining the Defense Force to fight the vicious, alien Exlian, just like the rest of his renowned family. But so far, he’s … a dishwasher, trapped in a dead-end job with no powers, no money, and even fewer friends.

But an encounter with a dying woman changes everything—granting him the abilities he needs to join the training camps—and his life finally feels like it’s turning around, faster than a movie martial-arts montage (just ignore the weird cat).

But the Exlian are voracious and myriad, and there’s more to Mark’s new powers than just leveling up. With the pressure mounting, it doesn’t take him long to realize the Exlian aren’t the only sinister threat lurking within the city …

 

My Thoughts

Advent is the first book in The Exlian Syndrome Series, and it was quite an enjoyable book.  I really enjoyed the world building, and while I didn't learn as much as I would have liked about the 'enemy', I thought the leveling system was interesting and I especially enjoyed how Mark tried to manipulate the system to benefit himself. I read a lot of LitRPG and was looking for something a bit different from my usual and this fit the bill quite nicely.

 

The world-building is probably the strength of this book as we delve into a world that has been shattered by a war with an alien species, a world that is on the brink of being destroyed, and we only catch glimpses of the political aspects to this world and the factions that are involved.  While I love the political aspects to these stories, I also know there are six books in this series and need to be patient for everything to be revealed.  There were hints here and there of the political factions as Mark invariably gets involved in things and needs to be rescued, but only hints. We get the sense there is something much deeper going on, but the author only doles out bits and pieces at a time through the action and through character interactions. It sounds like it would be frustrating, but it really isn't as the plot moves along rather quickly and the author is good at giving you tidbits just at those points where it could get frustrating. 

 

The plot moves quite quickly and motivations are quite clear.  The book is shorter than normal, so we don't get the depth that I think is necessary in such a novel, but that could just be me wanting more as I enjoy the political aspects to novels.  Through Mark's training, you learn the seriousness of what is happening, but at the same time, wonder if much more is going on than meets the eye, especially after what happens to Mark's brother Joe.

 

And character development is sort of the weakest part of this book.  While Mark was nicely developed, there was an aspect of him being overdeveloped, something that doesn't always appeal to me.  I like my main characters to struggle a bit more, not always be rescued in this way.  And I did think the secondary characters were more one-dimensional although I did see a bit more depth to Noah than I first thought there would be and he is fast becoming one of my favourite characters. The author also seems to be positioning Noah to be caught in the middle of some serious stuff in the future which will be quite interesting, hopefully. And then there is that darn cat. Should I mention I love cats? This is not Donut however, but this cat has adopted Mark and is always around.  I'm not mentioning anything more, but I love that cat.

 

Verdict

Advent was a fun read, but I definitely enjoyed the world-building more than the character development in this one.  There are plenty of twists and turns, with some side quests, an interesting set of characters, and some themes that I hope the author develops more fully. I really enjoyed how Mark and his brother Joe interacted and am looking forward to seeing how their separate paths develop and perhaps conflict in future books.  While the themes and the tropes have been covered before, this still works and is worth reading. 

 

Review: The Replacement by Matt Brolly

The Replacement (DS Liam Kilshaw, #2)

by Matt Brolly

Release Date: February 10, 2026

2026 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook ARC; 297 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662520433

ASIN: B0DXG631T4

Audiobook: B0FFNJ6F2X

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

When a mutilated body washes up on Sennen Beach, DS Liam Kilshaw is plunged into a case as dark and unforgiving as the Cornish winter. With the victim’s face so severely disfigured that identification is impossible, whispers of a local superstition begin to surface—the killing bears a chilling resemblance to the legend of Bucca Dhu, a vengeful sea demon said to demand human sacrifice.

But myths don’t murder people. When a second body is discovered just above the high-tide line, Kilshaw knows he’s racing against time. A missing crew member, a lost shipping container and a trail of cryptic clues all point to something far more sinister.

 

My Thoughts

The Replacement is the second book in the DS Liam Kilshaw series and I really enjoyed this one as it blended local myth with an interesting mystery.  When DS Kilshaw is called down to a scene of crime, he discovers a gruesome sight when the body seems to mimic a local legend and the face of the victim is grossly misfigured leaving it difficult to identify the victim. 

 

Liam is one of those characters that you just can't help feeling sympathetic towards as he suffers from PTSD from his work as a marine volunteer and former Special Boat Service Member. One one of his previous missions, he almost drowned and is suffering from the affects of that mission as he has developed a fear of water, something that he had previously loved.  As a form of therapy, he volunteers for the local boat rescue team hoping to cope with his fears.  I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel as I like it when an author shows the stress the job has on its people and how they cope with it on a daily basis. In some series, it just goes away and that devalues the experience while this author blends the difficulties of the job with the demands of the job.  Despite all of this, Liam is relentless in his pursuit of the truth which sometimes puts his relationships with others at risk as he tends to keep others at a distance, one of the reasons why he is divorced.  

 

The prologue in this book actually gave me the creeps, not because it was bloody or anything like that, but because it was chilling.  When you catch a glimpse of how a local legend can be twisted for personal use to torment children as they are growing up, it simply sends chills down your back and you wonder what will happen in the future.  Well, we got it in this book and the details are creepy.  I really have to commend the author for blending the local folklore into this book and there were quite a few twists and turns, some predictable, some surprising.  There are quite a few themes in this book that could be explored as well: isolation, loneliness, mental health, PTSD, abuse, legends and folklore, misplaced loyalty, friendship, and relationships. I really enjoyed the hunt for clues as I like the procedural aspect of these novels and this one did a bang up job. 

 

Verdict

The Replacement had a lot of great things going for it and I enjoyed both the mystery and the character development of the main character.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the secondary characters, but as this seems to be setting up to be longer running series, there should be room for those secondary characters to grow.  The mystery was interesting and while some parts were a bit predictable, there was enough that was surprising that it kept me flying through the pages and interested in what was happening.  I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of this book and loved how the folklore blended into the mystery.  Looking forward to the next one in this series.  

 

Review: Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online by Fortesa Latifi

Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online

by Fortesa Latifi

Release Date: April 7, 2026

2026 Gallery Books

Ebook ARC; 288 Pages

ISBN: 978-1668080504

ASIN: B0FCG5TL3B

Audiobook: B0FP5VD7J1

Genre: Non-Fiction / Social Media / Parenting

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Journalist Fortesa Latifi dives into the lives of children whose parents mine their everyday activities for monetizable content, exposing issues like privacy violations, financial abuse, and the absence of child labor protections. Through expert interviews with psychologists, labor scientists, and even former child influencers and family vloggers, she uncovers the pressures, trauma, and consequences for children thrust into the spotlight.

This timely and eye-opening book doesn’t just reveal the harm of toxic social media it also provides a roadmap to better regulating influencer families, safeguarding children, and questioning the role of audiences in perpetuating these cycles of exploitation.

 

My Thoughts

Like, Follow, Subscribe focuses on mom vloggers who become full-time social media influencers exposing the lives of their families for monetizable content.  Meant to be an exploration of the issues surrounding these influencers including things like privacy violations, financial abuse, trauma, pressure, family, abuse, neglect, etc..., the author attempts to dive into the popularity of these sites to explain why this is this case.  While I don't think this was quite successful as I don't feel like the author went deep enough, there were still some things that make you think and question and wonder about why these sites are so popular.

 

This book is about how these moms film and monetise their content, but in reality, a lot of it is built on lies.  It is also about the immense amount of money they make which seems to justify the reasoning behind why they do it in the first place.  I did enjoy the way the author discussed the evolution of blogging to the way families are portrayed today on TikTok and Youtube as I remember some of the early blogs from when I started blogging myself.  However, I was never a follower of the mom blogs, I just remember some of the advertisements for workshops in Toronto in the early days about them and how you could start your own blog and make money.  I also liked how the author shared a number of different types of vlogs, from the more exploitative ones to the ones who don't share any information about their kids online at all.

 

While I didn't mind the writing style of this book, I did feel it was very shallow, like she was afraid to offend any of the mom vloggers she interviewed.  And anytime she got personal in her book, especially with regards to her daughter, she was very hesitant as if she was afraid to give her full opinion about how she felt so a lot of it felt wishy washy. Either go personal or stay objective. Straddling the line isn't good writing. For example, the chapter with regards to legislation the author spent a great deal of time examining the laws passed by several states, but relied on other people to give their opinion with how effective it would be, and those people who gave their opinion were not even law experts. Why not actually interview kids who tried to sue their parents, tried to stop their parents, or got the law involved? There was little of this in the book to take the book to a deeper level.  However, the author did talk to Kevin Franke to get his views on what happened. WTF? And there wasn't anyone else she could have spoken to? 

 

To be fair, I think I was looking for more from this book.  I was looking for a more researched book rather than something that was more about other people's research and other people's conclusions.  And I know I may get some flack for this, but the author actually got on my nerves some of the time, whining about how difficult it is to be a mom.  Yes, I get it, but she has a part-time nanny, for crying out loud.  And a full support system. I would have loved a part-time nanny.  And this is the part that kept me away from all of the mom blogs over the years, the falseness of it all.  I just wish these mom vloggers would admit to what they do behind the scenes in order to make their videos.   

 

Verdict

Like, Follow, Subscribe is one of those books where the content definitely needs to be discussed and more conversations need to be had with regards to child exploitation.  The issue is complex and there are many factors involved with regards to this issue.  How do we ensure children are kept safe from parents who wish to exploit their children for money especially when the working conditions are in their own homes? How do we ensure kids are safe from online predators? How do we put a system in place to monitor abuse? I would have liked more research into the responsibility of tech companies into this issue as I do feel they play a role in this issue, something the author dismisses. This book was definitely thought-provoking, but while it highlighted a lot of issues, it definitely didn't go deep enough into them nor was there enough research done in the right areas. If you are looking for a lighter read on this topic, this book may be for you, but if you are looking for a deeper explanation I would recommend research articles, not this book. 

 

Review: The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

The Escape Game 

by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

Release Date: April 7, 2026

2026 G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Ebook ARC; 416 Pages

ISBN: 978-8217006120

ASIN: B0FCSQHF88

Audiobook: B0FD4BNMQX

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Six months ago, season four of The Escape Game ended in horror when contestant Alicia Angelos was found murdered on set.

Now season five is underway, and new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test solving the show's trickiest escape rooms. There's Adi, the cryptographer; Carter, the math whiz; Beck, the wannabe game master, and . . . Sierra Angelos, the girl who got away with her sister’s murder. Or so everyone believes.

But Sierra’s not just here to win. She’s here for justice.

When the contestants begin uncovering clues that hint at the identity of Alicia’s true killer, it becomes clear that the stakes aren’t high in this competition, they’re deadly. If these teens want to win—and survive—the game, they must solve the biggest mystery of who killed Alicia Angelos?

 

My Thoughts

The Escape Game was actually a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed the twists and turns quite a bit even if some of them were on the predictable side.  I liked the competition format of the story and I definitely enjoyed the escape rooms and how they were solved as that is something that I really enjoy.  I mean, puzzles are my thing.  While the character development was mostly one-dimensional, I still had a good time with the plot and enjoyed the overall story.

 

The plot mainly followed four contestants, Sierra, Adi, Carter, and Beck, who were one of five teams competing for the cash prize on the show.  All of them were there for very different reasons, but I enjoyed seeing them come together and become friends as the story progressed, as they learned to trust each other and rely on their strength and weaknesses to see them through difficulties.  While I did think the character development was the weakest part of the book, it didn't really affect the overall story as I still felt empathy for each of the characters for very different reasons and wanted them to succeed.  I also felt like each of them had a very distinct voice, a distinct personality, and the author used that to good effect.   

 

I thought the plot moved along rather quickly with a lot of twists and turns; even if a lot of the twists were fairly predictable, it didn't take away from the fun of the story or from reading about it because I enjoyed the dialogue and banter between the characters as things were happening.  Some of these characters did have some serious trauma going on with them and I would have liked to have seen a bit more exploration with regards to that as I thought it was fairly shallow and not explored at all within the context of the story.  However, I will acknowledge that the contestants didn't really know each other at first, so it would be difficult to unload stuff onto people you barely know so as the story progressed I did see a bit more exploration into some of the themes, but only at surface level.  I did figure out one of the twists at the end; I also thought the characters' comments about what was going at the end were hilarious. I liked that aspect as I liked the exploration of incredulity when you learn the lengths to which someone will go to for something so silly. If that sounds obscure, well, I can't give away the ending, now can I?

 

Verdict 

The Escape Game was pure fun and it was exactly what I needed at this time as I am reading some hard-hitting non-fiction books.  I enjoyed the plot, loved the escape rooms, thought the characters were endearing if one-dimensional, and was happy to see that one line at the end of the book that says this book is not the end.