Phew, I finally made it through this book! My apologies to everyone who loved this, but unfortunately, I did not, and no one's sadder than me.

Reading Where the Crawdads Sing was like stepping back in time to high school, when class-assigned books meant lots of award-winning fiction. Sure, there were plenty of literary merit found in these pages, but little joy was actually experienced from reading them.

Starting at the age of six, Kya was slowly abandoned by everyone in her family, until she was the sole person left living in a little shack at the edge of town. As the years went by, shunned by the entire town, she slowly became known as the "Marsh Girl," a wild and lonely creature that few knew and most feared. This is her story. And when the town's golden boy dies, old prejudices flair up, and Kya finds herself at the receiving end of the town's anger and suspicion.

This story is descriptive prose at its most verbose, and no detail—the marsh, waterways, bugs, trees, animals, and sea shells—was too small to be included. But the story has little plot and even less character development. Especially in the beginning, when Kya didn't talk to or interact with a single person, the monotony of the writing almost did me in.

The other big issue is that the story is pretty hard to believe. We're supposed to accept that Kya is able to fend for herself, which includes cooking, cleaning, going to the store, buying things, and coming up with ways to make money, all at the age of six. That is way beyond the realm of possibility, let alone probability. There's only so far my beliefs can be suspended, I tell you.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy a single thing here because I did. I found the middle of the book to be the most engaging. That was when Kya started interacting with others and the writing became a little bit more interesting as a result. Tate and Jumpin' were my favorite characters, and every scene they were in grabbed me. But the juxtaposition of their scenes (alive and compelling) against the ones without them (descriptive and unchanging) made the latter feel even more dull and plodding by comparison.

In the end, this book just isn't for me. Everything that others loved are all the same things I didn't. I prefer my books to have interesting plot advancement, nuanced character growth, and zippy writing, none of which this book had. Instead, the plot is straightforward, the characters all remain stubbornly the same throughout, and the writing is long-winded enough to deflate even the most enthusiastic of readers.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I'm always on the lookout for that special domestic thriller that will actually thrill me rather than just make me roll my eyes throughout. Unfortunately, Confessions on the 7:45 wasn't it.

Selena had a rough day. She just found evidence that her husband is cheating on her with the nanny. So when she boards the train to go home and strikes up a conversation with the stranger in the next seat, she confesses everything. After all, what does it matter, since they'll never see each other again? But soon after, the nanny goes missing, and Selena realizes the perfect life she's cultivated is spiraling out of control.

This story is just ridiculous. From the main characters to the supporting cast, every single person in here acts so stupidly, and nothing they do makes any sense. Find evidence your spouse is cheating? Stick your head in the sand and hope it will go away! Random stranger messages you to meet up? Go meet up with them to see what they want! Discover who the bad person is? Don't tell the police, go fix it yourself!

This story is written from so many points of view, and a lot of them are not necessary to the progression of the plot. In fact, some of them are quite dull and obvious and could easily have been excluded. Everything is spelled out for the reader, slowly and in detail. But it's not hard to infer where the story was going, so I found it really hard to keep my attention throughout.

There also seems to be some sort of woe-is-me complex going on that drove me crazy. The characters are whiny but unable to accept that they controlled their actions and the outcome. Instead, they justified everything by saying how they had no choice and they had to do it, no matter how outlandish. It was so annoying to read this defeatist attitude over and over.

When I first started this book, I thought I'd found that rare domestic thriller that would grab me. And the initial setup was amazing. But once we got past that and are into the main part of the story, I started losing interest. Nothing in here really surprised me, and the characters all acted against their self-interest. Honestly, I was bored out of my mind, and I'm happy to be done.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

Wow, just when you think your family is messed up, here come the Brennans.

Sunday Brennan has been living in Los Angeles for the last five years after running away from her family and her high school sweetheart. She's keeping secrets that will surely tear them apart, but she's not the only one with skeletons in the closet. When an accident forces her home, and the family comes together after so many years, she and everyone will have no choice but to finally confront all that has been unsaid.

I was a little unsure going into this because do I really enjoy reading about drama among family members? But I needn't have worried at all. This story was compelling from the very first page. Tracey Lange really made these characters and their world come alive, and I was immediately pulled in.

Normally, conflict that comes solely from things unsaid isn't my favorite because it can all be quickly cleared up by just speaking the truth. And while that is the case here, the nuanced characters and their difficult decisions convinced me that the secrets are valid and they did what they thought was the best given the circumstances.

As we wind our way through the narrative, there were so many unexpected twists and turns that surprised me and kept me interested in this dysfunctional family and all the ways they've messed up. I found the whole thing to be riveting.

This is such a phenomenal debut from Tracey Lange. She has this way with building up a remarkable story and fleshing out interesting characters and dynamics to support it. I can't wait to read more from her.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.

Under the Whispering Door seems to have everything going for it, with an intriguing premise, quirky characters, and T.J. Klune's trademark humor. But in the end, it never quite materialized into the profound story it should've been.

Uptight corporate soldier Wallace Price thinks he has it all: money, career, and success. So when he keels over one day and just dies, he's shocked and angry. Something like that can't possibly happen to him! But then he meets his reaper and ferryman, and he's in for the surprise of his life. They slowly get under his skin and show him that there is more to life than he ever realized.

At its heart, this is a book that contemplates what it means to be alive and how to come to terms with death. Those are worthwhile topics, no doubt about that. But when it's all said and done, does this book add anything new or interesting to the discussion? It pains me to say that my answer is no.

The story is very drawn out for what it contains. We are essentially following Wallace as he learns to be a better person and accept his fate. But there isn't much in that tale and we never go past skin-deep, so a lot of the passages and conversations feel repetitive and cliché. Hardly anything happens from the beginning of this story to the end. As I'm reading it, I kept having this feeling of deja vu, like I've already read the same exact thing before.

The humor that you'd expect from T.J. Klune is still here. The beginning is my favorite, with no one having quite the eye for making fun of corporate drones the way Klune does. As the story progresses, there were a smattering of passages that made me chuckle, including one that was uproariously funny. But because of how drawn out the overall story is, the humor quickly becomes repetitive. It's like being hit over the head repeatedly with the same jokes, and it starts to feel forced and overdone.

The love story in here also feels a bit incongruous. It's unclear to me exactly how it happened. One moment, they weren't getting along. Then the next moment, they were in love. But I didn't see any transition from one to the other. It feels like this was shoehorned in in order to satisfy the criteria of this being a love story.

I don't want to give the impression that I didn't enjoy this story at all because I did. But it was so long and drawn out, filled with platitudes about making the most of your life and being a better person, that it was hard to sustain my interest throughout. What could have been insightful and funny on the first go-around starts to feel less and less so with each subsequent outing, especially when they don't dig very deep past the surface. Still, I think fans of the author will enjoy this story for what it is, a universal homage to loss and a life well-lived.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.

I don't know what happened, but Finding Tessa bored me to tears and was utterly putdownable. I barely dragged myself to the finishing line, and almost gave up many times if not for the promise of that amazing twist.

Tessa, only months into marriage with her wonderful husband Jace, has gone missing. Of course, in the spirit of all domestic thrillers, Tessa and Jace both have so many secrets, the husband is the only suspect, and the police do nothing but badger and accuse him of guilt. Sigh.

In this 300 page book, nothing happens for the first 275 pages. Instead, we get domestic banality galore, with Jace being upset, making coffee, sleeping, eating, and crying. He feeds the dog (half dry food, half wet food). It was so boring and devoid of plot advancement that my mind kept wandering.

We also see Tessa's perspective. Often, the same event will be described from both of their points of view. That makes sense when the two perspectives are different. But in this case, they are the same. And it's irrelevant things like how they met, how much they like each other, their dates, etc. And we have to read it twice.

The characters are all pretty bland, including Jace and Tessa. And true to the genre, overblown reactions is de rigueur. Maximum suspicion must be attributed to every comment, and it's best to overreact rather than underreact. It was all very exhausting.

But the twist, you say! Honestly, it was just ok. I wasn't blown away or even surprised. It seems like standard domestic thriller stuff, nothing I haven't seen before.

You guys know this isn't my favorite genre, so please check out other reviews for more diverse opinions. There are so many glowing reviews out there. The only plausible explanation is that I somehow read a different book than everyone else.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

"Name one hero who was happy . . . You can't . . . I'll tell you a secret . . . I'm going to be the first."

Achilles is destined to become the greatest warrior of his generation. But before that, he is just a boy growing up in Phthia with his devoted companion Patroclus by his side. The two are sent away to the mountains to be trained, but it isn't long before war comes calling when Helen of Troy is kidnapped. Achilles is forced to choose between eternal glory and mediocrity, but with greatness comes a price that Achilles and Patroclus will both have to pay.

Well, now I feel a bit silly for having waited so long to read this! If I had known how remarkable and thrilling of a tale The Song of Achilles is, I would have gobbled it up years ago.

I thought it was really interesting that this story is told from Patroclus's perspective. In Greek mythology, Patroclus is a minor character and hardly ever mentioned, but he is central to this tale. And through his eyes, we are able to see all the facets of Achilles: the making of a hero though still a boy at heart, shining and bright, easily seduced by glory, and ultimately a tragic figure.

It's not easy to take a beloved and much-revered story and make it your own, but Miller did a masterful job. This retelling feels fresh and sharp, relevant to the modern audience while still staying true to the original material. It has everything you would expect from Greek mythology: love, war, glory, sacrifice, and redemption. I was hooked from the first page to the last.

This has one of the best endings I've come across in a long time. It isn't so much what happens as the way it is written. Visceral and gut-wrenching, it builds in power and emotion until I was good and blubbering. It gave me all the feels.

It took me so long to get to this book. I think I was afraid it wouldn't live up to all the hype I'd heard over the years. But it was worth the wait. Stunning, epic, and beautifully-written, it's a coming-of-age story, but also one of war and love and sacrifice. It's truly a memorable tale.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

At 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the water and sap stored in tree trunks began to boil. The trees sweated until--their cell walls bursting--they combusted.

At 6:15 am on November 8, 2018, a spark ignited next to a transmission tower situated near the town of Paradise. Two hours later, the entire town was in flames. What follows is the harrowing tale of the people of this community as they struggled to stay alive in the inferno, then afterwards as they tried to understand what happened and how to move on and rebuild.

I've been hearing about wildfires for years, more so recently than ever before. And living in the Pacific Northwest, we usually get a week or two of bad air blown in from nearby towns and states every year during wildfire season. But reading this book really brought the devastation to life, not just its destruction in terms of size, but also the human toll that it inevitably carries.

The book introduces us to a few folks in the community, including firefighters, medical personnel, a school bus driver, and a new mother, and we follow them as the horror of the fire unfolds. The narrative is vivid and compelling, often reading more like a thriller than a non-fiction book. The scenes laid out, with embers raining down, smoke turning the sky as black as night and choking the air, and the temperature soaring past 100 degrees, captures this small town on the west coast during its apocalypse.

In addition, the book explores the trauma that this experience leaves on its inhabitants and the town itself, as well as implications for its future. It also examines all that went wrong in order for this to have happened, including utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric's negligence in causing the spark that lit the fire, as well as climate change, aging buildings and infrastructure, a malfunctioning alert system, and lack of a coherent evacuation plan.

This was such a skillfully-written account, helping me understand not just what happened with this particular fire in Paradise, but also of wildfires in general. It was gripping and visceral, and it made my heart ache for the people of this town and all who were affected. Unfortunately, wildfires will only get worse from here, so this feels like an essential book for all who want to understand.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.

He'd always known a good plot when he saw one.

Jacob Finch Bonner is a has-been. His first novel was well-received, but that was years ago and he knows he hasn't come up with anything good since then. He now teaches a writing course. When one of his students boasts to having a plot that will blow the literary world away, Jacob is naturally skeptical. But when he hears the plot, even he cannot deny its power. So what happens next? Best not spoil it by revealing any more.

The writing is what drew me in immediately. It's sharp and clever. It's a book about writing a book, managing along the way to poke gentle fun at writers and the publishing industry, and it's all a bit droll. The author includes details from the real world, referencing Macmillan Publishing and Oprah, and even Goodreads gets a shout-out. Those little details all help to blur the line between what's real and what's fiction, which is great fun.

This has the format of a story within a story, which gets me every time. I've only read a handful of books done this way, and I've loved every single one. So please, authors, write more of them, because I honestly can't get enough.

I found this to be unputdownable from the very first page. There's this urgency there, a tension that stretches so taut, it's hard to look away. I definitely inhaled this book.

My only issue is that I saw the big twist pretty early on. It's my fault... sometimes I can't turn off my brain, and it'll just cheerfully supply me with a litany of unsolicited guesses about what it thinks is going on. In this case, it was right. (Shut up, stupid brain!) Also I didn't find the secret plot to be as amazing as advertised and it certainly didn't blow me away.

But I read so much of this genre it's hard to surprise me with plots and twists anymore, so feel free to just ignore me on that. In every other way, this story is amazing, and I will be recommending it to pretty much everyone I know. If that isn't a strong endorsement, I don't know what is.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!