I don't think I've read a domestic thriller this fun since Gone Girl. And I'll tell you why.

Domestic thrillers are hard to write. Usually, there's only two relevant characters, the guy and the gal. One of them did it (whatever "it" is). Is it him? Is it her? Or is it some crazy combination of them both? And once you've read a few, you kind of have the genre figured out and it starts to feel rather repetitive. So it's rare for a story that utilizes this technique to grab me. And this one did.

We have the gal, Rosie, who is desperate to find her soulmate, so desperate in fact that she's coming across as a little bit unhinged. When her bum heart is replaced by the heart of a dead woman, she sees the opportunity to make all her dreams come true. Now enters the guy. For wouldn't it just be fate if she could capture the love of the man whose dead wife's heart now beats in her chest? It sure would, as long as he is the dream man she thinks he is.

I was sucked in from the very first page. Every moment felt essential and interesting, there to entertain me and keep me guessing. Just when I think I've got it figured out, another revelation had me gasping and reconfiguring the puzzle pieces in my head.

But this is a book of two halves, for what starts out as a domestic thriller doesn't remain that way. About halfway through, it morphs into the most interesting of mysteries. Not only did the twist there take me by surprise, but so did the slight genre shift. It feels like a gutsy move, to start a book as one kind of thriller and end it on a different one.

None of the characters were truly likable, yet they were all intriguing. I cared about them and I wanted to know more even though they were all shades of crazy. You know, there's a fine line between kooky characters you want more of versus those you just don't care about. And this book got it exactly right.

I mean, could the events in this book actually happen in real life? Um, I sure hope not. Do you need to suspend all disbelief to read this? Yeah, absolutely. But if you can, I guarantee you'll be in for a very good time.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Did we all read the same book? Because this was... not good.

In general, I feel like fantasy is a genre I can rely on. Give me an interesting premise, a half-decent execution, some badass heroes and heroines, and I'm pleased as punch. And yet, here comes One Dark Window, making me rethink my entire love for this genre. Because I'm hard pressed to point to even one thing that I truly enjoyed in here.

Let's start with our characters. Wow, were they dumb. Elspeth could barely do anything without first being told, whether it's to be quiet or to run. She and her merry band of allies make one misstep after another, including rushing into battles they shouldn't and distracting each other during crucial moments. I have a hard time believing these characters could even function, let alone save the kingdom.

Neither were they likable, especially our heroine. Elspeth is about the weakest protagonist to have ever graced a fantasy. She gets so easily offended at everything, hates every person she sees, and is constantly tearing up from hurt feelings. Boo hoo. She also seems unable to eat, losing her appetite at every meal, poor thing. But perhaps I'm too quick to judge, and what I attribute to her unlikable personality is simply because she is hangry?

The supporting characters aren't much better, and together, there is this feeling that it's a group of idiots just trampling around getting themselves into trouble. But not to worry, because the villains aren't any smarter either. At one point, one of our good guys gets into an argument with one of the bad guys, and—no joke, you guys—the argument was decided by glaring. Like the one who glared harder and longer was the victor and the other was forced to lower his gaze in shame.

Or another of my favorite scenes—one of our villains forces our merry band to play a game where everyone is compelled by magic to tell the truth, and each can have a turn asking a question of every other person. Ah, I could feel the tension in the air, for here's the moment when the truth will be revealed. And then comes the questions—who wants to marry who, who is better looking, who loves who. I tell you, I shriveled up and died a little on the inside.

The worldbuilding feels both so detailed that you suffer from information overload (why so many cards and characters?), but also not sharp enough that you really feel immersed in the universe. The way information is parsed out, one teeny tiny bit at a time, is to maximize the reveals later on, so you're often confused for no good reason in the meantime. And when the reveals finally do happen, they weren't even that surprising.

Of course, this wouldn't be a romantasy without the requisite romance and the one in here is about as bland as they come. Why were Elspeth and Ravyn attracted to each other? The book certainly doesn't make it clear. And not only that, but when they do finally come together, there is quite the ick factor because of The Nightmare in her head, watching the whole thing. Eww!

You know the scene that really cemented my disillusionment with this book though? When a character was cold (not magically cold, mind you, just cold from being outside for too long), and one of our idiots used a Scythe card to warm them up. Never mind that using magic costs the wielder irreparable damage. That I can look overlook. What I can't overlook is that the Scythe card doesn't work that way. It changes someone's emotions, not what they actually are (as the book had already explained at length). So instead of actually warming up the poor dope, they just made them think they feel warmer.

I have to draw the line somewhere, and when the magic system is written so wishy washy and without sharpness that even the author got herself confused, that's when I finally realized this book isn't going to cut it

Now, if you're wondering if you should give this a go, I suggest you read the version that everyone else read and definitely not the one that I did. Good luck.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

I found the first half to be as sharp and piercing as they come, but then the second half kind of lost me.

We start off with Keru and Nate each taking a turn inviting their parents to vacation with them. Keru's Chinese parents are strict and emotionally guarded, while Nate's white, working-class parents don't quite know what to make of their son's career in academia. So when you throw these characters together, surely comedy and conflict ensues.

And it does. That first part definitely had me chuckling and shaking my head, with its sharp, satirical commentary of the typical dynamics within a Chinese American family and a white working-class family. Add to that the factor of marrying outside of your race and class, and each scene felt like such a zinger. The frequent misunderstandings and earnest hurt feelings made for a searing and funny read.

But I'm not sure I was as enamored with the second part of the book. At times, it became too exaggerated and I had a hard time relating to the characters and their inflexible ways. It feels like in Part Two, they became caricature of the people they were in Part One, ever more obstinate and set in their ways. I saw less and less of the humor I had previously enjoyed, and I just felt sad for the characters.

This isn't that long of a read. It honestly feels a bit like one of those stories where the author came up with a specific situation and wrote a novel around it. As a result, that original premise of vacationing with the parents shines as the story's strongest part. The rest of it did feel less focused, as if it were there to pad a great scene out into a full-length novel.

But don't let me dissuade you. I feel like this is my usual complaint with literary fiction, that I always expect more than it gives me. I hope to walk away with food for thought, but instead, the rather directionless culminations always leave me more befuddled than enlightened.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

You can tell Liane Moriarty wrote this right before Big Little Lies, because it feels a lot like its famous successor, only without any of the fun or insight.

In both stories, we follow three women facing their own problems and dilemmas. Here in The Husband's Secret, we have Cecilia, Rachel, and Tess. Cecilia is at the center of this story. Her husband is the one with the earth-shattering secret, and before we are through, each of the three women will feel its repercussions.

Okay, if I had to pinpoint the biggest issue for me, it’s probably the bland and strangely indistinguishable characters. I had trouble keeping them and their children and relatives—of which there were many—square and straight throughout the story, and they somehow all blended together in my mind.

They also weren't exactly the most likeable of people. They were fairly wrapped up in themselves, and it made it hard to connect with them. Here we have these characters each dealing with their own bad fortunes and predicaments, and yet, I just couldn't make myself care. At times, I even caught myself hoping things wouldn't work out in their favor, which was rather discombobulating since I knew I was supposed to cheer for them.

And then there were the actual issues they were each facing. Their moral dilemmas should’ve been interesting and given me much food for thought, but here again, I just couldn't get into them. There was something that didn't quite ring true about the whole thing, as if I knew these characters were not real and neither were their issues, and I was being sold a story all along.

This all sounds terrible, but it really wasn't that bad. It just lacks the wit and spark I've come to associate with Liane Moriarty. Of course, this story is one of her older ones and every writer grows with experience, so maybe this was the necessary stepping stone on the way to writing bigger and better books. If so, I guess I'm okay with that.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

This is everything I've come to expect from a Scandinavian noir. It's dark, complex, disturbing, and I couldn't look away.

It's hard to nail down exactly what The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is in a few simple sentences. It's a multi-layered story with several different mysteries that are sometimes closely and sometimes loosely intertwined. There is a historical disappearance, a hunt for a serial killer, and even a financial mystery all wrapped up in one. Along the way, we are introduced to two compelling protagonists in Blomkvist and Salander, and together they make a fascinating and unstoppable team.

But first we must get to the exciting part. Now, this wouldn't be a proper Scandinavian noir without the requisite slow start or the long page count, and this one clocked in at just under 600 pages (at least in the version I read). It's fair to say that the first 300 pages was more or less setting up for the story and nothing exciting really happens until we are about halfway through. In the meantime, it does count on the reader to keep track of a large number of characters, several subplots, and multiple timelines.

That isn't to say it isn't an interesting or riveting start. The best books in this genre have a way of grabbing the reader and keeping them engaged, all the while expecting them to wade through gobs of backstory and tons of extraneous information—all of it dark and bleak—and then come out the other side still excited and wanting more. And so this book does too.

But make no mistake, this story is as dark and disturbing as they come and should carry pretty much every trigger warning you can think of. In fact, the original Swedish title is directly translated as "Men who hate women," which I think is a much more appropriate name and should give you a better idea of the grotesque directions this story takes. You have been warned.

And yet for all the darkness and monstrosity of the crimes depicted, the resolutions bring a surprising amount of satisfaction and buoyancy to the reading experience. While not every crime can have a just outcome for the victims, there is closure for all and every villain gets their comeuppance and then some on the pages, so we do end up in a place of light instead of darkness.

By the way, speaking of the title, I thought the English one is a complete misnomer. This book isn't about Salander so much as it is about both Salander and Blomkvist. In fact, Blomkvist plays a much more central role to the mysteries, at least up until near the end when Salander steps in. But the English translation must have happened during that crazed period when every thriller had to have "girl" or "woman" in its title, so here we are.

Oh, one last observation—this story seems to think that people of the opposite sex cannot possibly coexist in the same place without wanting to jump each other's bones immediately, no matter the circumstances or their backgrounds or really anything. If you thought romance books have got the lock on instalust, you obviously haven't read this yet.

Random thoughts aside though, I did enjoy this book. While I wouldn't say it was the perfect mystery for me, I did find it gripping and compelling and ultimately satisfying. If you're a fan of Scandinavian noir, I don't think you'll regret picking up probably the most famous and quintessential book of the genre.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I don't think I'm asking for too much when it comes to romance. I want banter, I want sizzle, and I want swoon. And yet, somehow, I keep coming across romance books with none of the above.

Emmy was thrown from her horse during barrel racing, so she's now back at her family's ranch recovering mentally from the accident and figuring out her next steps. Of course there's a cute boy next door who just happens to be her brothers' best friend and totally off-limits. All of a sudden, sparks are flying and Emmy and Luke can't help falling for each other.

Okay that's a great premise. But right off the bat, there's a problem. Where are the sparks? I detected not an ounce of sizzle or tension anywhere in here. The characters were bland, their conversations were bland, and I had a hard time imagining anyone falling in love or lust while saying such bland and boring things to each other.

A large part of the problem is the writing style. It essentially intercuts scenes inside the characters' heads (where they constantly go on and on about how beautiful the other person is and how attracted they are to them), with the aforementioned bland dialogue, with some additional scenes of them talking to their BFFs about how much they like the other person. It was just tell, tell, tell, with no show at all.

The things is, tension (romantic or otherwise) always comes from what is unsaid, not what is said. So if you have a story that is all tell and no show and essentially overshares and overexplains the feelings that the characters have for each other, then you have effectively killed good and dead the most important element in a story.

Another issue is the characters. It's not that they're unlikable, because that would mean there is something to dislike. It's more that they feel generic, like cardboard cutouts of what romance leads should be. Luke is nice and handsome and always there to lend a hand, while Emmy has deep-seated issues that Luke will inevitably swoop in and make all better. I guess I just expected a little bit more.

Even the cowboy element felt so bland. If you take out the fact that they're on a ranch and Luke wore a cowboy hat once in the whole story, and substitute a different sport for barrel racing, this would literally be any other romance. I don't think there was even a single cowboy expression or "yeehaw!" in here.

The other thing that was disappointing was the ADHD rep. There was specifically an author's note at the beginning of the book talking about how she has ADHD, and she wrote Emmy with that in mind. I'm always so heartened to see diverse representation in books, so when Emmy's ADHD turned out to be little more than her being messy and late to things, it felt lacking.

I'm sorry, but this book did not live up to the hype. Sure, if you're wanting a generic romance with some horses thrown in, there's nothing wrong with this one. But if you're hoping for even a little bit more, you're better off looking somewhere else.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

I really wanted to love this book. But at the end of the day, it's hard to love something you don't really understand.

Let me start with what I enjoyed. Colored Television was interesting and unusual, and because I've never read anything like it, it fully engaged my brain. It constantly tried to explore so many meaningful topics that it often felt like every sentence and every paragraph had the potential to be something profound.

Every time I sat down with this book, I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to keep going, to keep turning the pages. There was this perpetual feeling that something compelling was right around the corner, if only I could stick around for a few more pages to find out what it was.

But the problem is that the compelling bits never really emerged. This story had the anticipation and the tension, but not the payoff. The whole thing felt like a setup instead of a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

The same could be said for the would-be interesting explorations. It feels like a lot of great ideas were introduced, but then nothing came of them. Yes, the book made me think, but that's because it served up ideas without any follow-through, so I was forced to come up with stuff myself or just leave the ideas dangling. As a result, while the book may have arrested my attention, it didn't actually give me anything new I could take away with me.

Let me give an example. It's clear Jane suffered from envy and wanted an upper-middle class life. But neither she nor her husband were willing to give up their high-minded artistic pursuits in trade for a job that would make more money. In fact, they regarded everyone who did as sellouts and were bitterly against them. Okay, but so what? I understand (as I'm sure everyone does) the conundrum of either working a well-paid but soulless job versus pursuing your passions but making considerably less, so I didn't understand what this story was trying to add to that conversation.

Another example is Finn, Jane and Lenny's son. He is possibly special-needs, but they're not sure. Jane and Lenny have different parenting views on what this could mean. Okay, but so what? I'm pretty sure every set of parents have had differing views at one point or another regarding their child, special needs or not. Again here, I feel like the author is trying to say something, but what it is eludes me.

Maybe part of the issue is the characters. Jane was not really sympathetic and neither were any of the supporting characters. They all just seemed to muddle along, blissfully certain in their views of the world while being bitterly against everyone who doesn't share them. From beginning to end, it seemed like there were no character growth, no gained understanding from their experiences.

Or maybe the problem is that this is billed as a dark comedy, but I didn't see any humor. It's not that I read potentially funny passages and just didn't laugh because it wasn't my brand of humor. No, it's more that I didn't even understand where the humor could be. Instead, this story felt earnest throughout, almost overly so, and thus I had to take everything it said seriously.

I suspect if I'd understood the humor, this probably would've read like a completely different story to me. Or if it hadn't come across so shallowly traversed, as I always prefer more depth than breadth. But as it stands, I can't shake the feeling that I didn't quite get this story. Still, I really enjoyed Senna's writing and will check out more from her. Hopefully my next foray will be more successful.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars