I was in the middle of a dreadful read, and I needed a diversion. Digging through my towering TBR pile, I came across this gem. The silly cover and laughable title both promises to at least offer some respite from my current predicament, and hopefully I'll get a bit of steamy fun out of it too.

Marian has been in dire financial means ever since the passing of her father. She has to find some way to make money and take care of her younger siblings. So she comes up with the idea of becoming a high-end mistress, but she needs someone to show her the ropes. And who would make a better tutor than the depraved Duke of Warrington?

I know, you snorted at that ridiculous premise. I did too. But the story surprised me in all the best ways. It was entertaining, steamy, and definitely a bit hammed up. And it has one of my favorite things from this genre: a strong female lead. Marian is smart, resourceful, and determined to make her way, even though she knows that her choices are limited. I felt for her and could not help but cheer her on.

This isn't a love story for the ages or anything. It's insta-love at its best, or more accurately, insta-lust. If I'm rating it in the the strictest sense, this is more of a 3.5 stars since it wasn't particularly memorable, but it was such a fun, lighthearted way to spend a few hours, I'm going to bump it up to 4 stars.

I always mean to read more Regency romances, but I just never get around to them. In total, I think I've only read a handful so far, and it's clear I'm missing out. Please let me know if you have any favorites I should try.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Profoundly brilliant, Death's End is the stunning conclusion to a science fiction trilogy that has held me in its thralls. It will undoubtedly rank as my favorite of all time, unlikely to ever be surpassed.

What a journey it has been. When I think back to what I expected when I first started the series, it certainly wasn't this. Or rather, what was in my head was so small in scope, so limited in thinking, it was only a tiny fraction of what this eventually turned out to be. There was no way my imagination could've ever prepared me for this.

The sheer audacity of the ideas in here and how far Liu Cixin took them throughout this series, I stand in absolute awe. Not only is he telling a story, but he also tackles some of the most fundamental questions of the universe and existence, questions that have puzzled scientists for all time, and he manages to weave a cohesive framework to examine and explain them.

Liu Cixin's style when it comes to unfolding the plot works particularly well here. He takes something fairly complex and makes it easy to grasp by the end. He would leave hints early, then come back again and again to poke at them with examples. Along the way, I would think to myself, where is this possibly going? Then when he finally gets to the explanation, it's a complete eureka moment. Every puzzle piece slots in perfectly, and the groundwork he's laid up till then makes the whole thing easy to understand.

There's a part of my brain that constantly craves novelty. When I'm reading, I just want new, new, new. And this book delivers by the boatload. Just when I've got a handle on what's going on, another development will happen that completely throws me for a loop. Then I'll have to rejigger my thoughts all over again. And this just kept happening, over and over. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I have to mention the fairy tales in here. Seriously, is there nothing this author can't imagine and write? Anytime there's an opportunity to have a story within a story, I'm a huge fan. And the fairy tales in here are so creative and compelling in their own right. They completely work as standalones, but then to see how they fit within the framework of the larger story is absolutely astounding. If Liu Cixin ever gets in the business of writing fairy tales, I'll be the first in line.

At its heart, what makes this series so riveting is that it feels like it's real. It very much reads like a historical account of human history. And to achieve that effect, the science in here is true to what we understand today. There's no handwaving, no hoping that the reader will just forget about it and move on, if only the author could pull enough wool over their eyes. Instead, every clue laid out eventually fits into the big picture and is thoroughly explained, and that makes for an extremely satisfying read.

When you think about it, very few books contain truly innovative ideas. The few that do are so unique as to be transcendent. They offer entirely new, never before seen or heard or thought of concepts put together in ways as to delight and astound and transfix. This trilogy is that. Reading it has been the experience of a lifetime.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Wow! I had so much fun with Nine Lives. I found it unputdownable and pretty much devoured it in one go.

Nine strangers receive the most puzzling piece of mail: an identical list with their names on it. What could it possibly mean? They each chalk it up to nothing, and move on. But soon, bad things start happening to them, one by one, and they can no longer dismiss it as coincidence.

If you're thinking that sounds a bit familiar, you're right. It's a nod to And Then There Were None, arguably Agatha Christie's most well-known and beloved mystery. But rest assured that Swanson has put his own spin on it with this tale. And the end result is fresh and exciting.

It must not be easy to write a book that riffs off of such a famous work. You have to appeal to two different audiences, those who have already read the original work and those who haven't. I think Swanson does a good job balancing the two and appealing to both. This is a wholly self-contained story if you haven't read the original (although, what are you waiting for?) but it's still surprising and fun if you have.

The book even mimics Christie's style. It's pretty common for her to introduce all her characters in one go while providing a list at the beginning for easy reference. And so we have the same here. I found it useful reading a physical copy of the book and being able to flip to the character list whenever I needed it. If you're reading an ebook, I recommend taking a snapshot of the character list or just copying it out beforehand. It'll make for a much more pleasant reading experience.

I particularly enjoyed how mystery-focused and concise the narrative is here. Other than the initial 30 pages of introduction to all the characters, which is a bit slower due to the setup, the rest is so tautly paced. There is no meandering, no wasted time, no eye-rolling pages spent in a paranoid narrator's head. We just dive right into the unfolding story and are treated to one development after another.

One thing to note: if you haven't read And Then There Were None, this spoils it thoroughly, which would be a crying shame. So do read that first and without delay. It's one of the most beloved mysteries of all time for good reason, and lately so many books are either retelling it or taking inspiration from it.

I feel like Peter Swanson really outdid himself with this one. It's thoroughly entertaining and a marvelous homage to one of the most famous mysteries of all time.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

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

When it comes to dark and compelling psychological thrillers, The Patient's Secret hits all the right notes.

Lily Bradley has what seems to be an enviable life, living in affluent Story Cove with her loving husband Tom and two wonderfully unruly children. But she's been on edge lately, feeling like she's being followed and her husband is keeping secrets from her. When a newcomer is found dead at the base of the cliffs and Tom is the one who finds her, Lily realizes the careful life she's cultivated may just be an illusion.

This was an atmospheric read, and I found it to be riveting. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. While it's a much-trodden genre, there were elements in here I've never seen before, which made the whole thing feel fresh and unusual. I wasn't exactly sure where it was going, and there were plenty of twists and turns to sustain my interests throughout.

For me, this struck a really good balance between the psychological and the thriller. Normally, my complaint with this genre is that we spend too much time in the character's head with their fears and paranoia, and it all turns silly after a while. And while we do have some of that here, it wasn't overdone. And to counterbalance it, we get to follow the investigation as it unfolds and secrets are revealed, which was plenty satisfying.

I first started reading Loreth Anne White with her book In the Dark, and I find her offerings to be entertaining and gripping. She takes an oversaturated genre and adds something new to it. I'll definitely continue to seek her out.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

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

If your mother is the love of your life, what does that make your husband?

I think that quote pretty much sums up everything that didn't work for me with this book.

When Katy's mother Carol dies after a battle with cancer, Katy is lost. She and her mother were extremely close, their relationship being one for the ages. They'd been planning a trip to Italy together, so Katy decides to go by herself. She leaves her life and her husband behind and jets off to Italy for the closure and clarity she desperately needs.

I'll be honest, I had a really hard time connecting with Katy. She just goes on and on about her mother being the one great love of her life. And for some reason, she thinks she's her mother's great love too, and that her father must only be Carol's distant second love. My eyes rolled so hard. You would think Katy was five years old, but she's thirty and married! It makes no sense. It's as if her only identify as a person is being Carol's daughter.

And the way Katy treats her husband was really hard to stomach. He's there for her through thick and thin, supporting her emotionally and physically during her mother's decline. Yet Katy just whines about how she can't possibly love him anymore because he's not her great love (which is her mother). And when she gets to Italy, she immediately latches onto some random dude and proceeds to have an affair.

Then as Katy learns more about her mother and the fact that she had a life outside of being a parent to her, she is shocked. I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. What adult feels this insane level of attachment to their parents? It's too bad, because the story would've been a lot better had Katy's love for her mother been generous instead of self-centered. There is so much hypocrisy and selfishness in Katy's behavior and her treatment of everyone around her, it really detracts from the story's emotional impact.

However, one thing the book does do right is its ability to transport me so completely to another place. It's as if I'm really in Positano, at the elegant Hotel Poseidon, soaking up the Italian sun and eating all the wonderful food there is to offer. Everything is so vividly portrayed, it fully engaged all my senses. I was swept away to this beautiful location.

Readaroo Rating: 2.5 stars

After thoroughly enjoying The Last House on Needless Street, I was excited to see what else Catriona Ward has up her sleeve. But after finishing Sundial, I'm not sure I totally got it.

On the surface, Rob has the family she's always dreamed of: a husband and two beautiful daughters. But when her eldest daughter Callie starts acting strange and her husband seems to encourage it, Rob decides the best thing for everyone is to take Callie to Sundial, the desert town where she grew up. She left Sundial many years ago, swearing never to go back, but now she suspects it will give her the answers she's been looking for.

This was a really uneven reading experience for me. Initially, I had a lot of trouble getting into the story. There was something about the style that came across a bit awkward, with its abundance of odd phrases and metaphors and even characters. I think this is done on purpose to give the narrative a sense of discordance, but it made it hard to follow. It wasn't until the halfway point that I felt like I was finally invested enough in the story to want to continue.

There's a lot going on in here, maybe too much. What at first seems like a dysfunctional family story quickly morphs to include spousal and child abuse, animal abuse, infidelity, scientific experiments gone wrong, ghostly interactions, and lots of maggots. I'm a simple girl, and all of this put together confused me a bit. At times, I wasn't sure what exactly was going on or what the focus was supposed to be.

There is even a story within the story. It is a completely separate thing, but it uses the same names as the characters in our main story. If you're scratching your head like, What? you're not the only one. I'm not afraid to admit I was really befuddled. Even though it was only a few pages here and there, it didn't feel necessary and could've easily been left out.

That isn't to say I didn't enjoy the story because there were parts that really grabbed me. But as a whole, it reads more like a first draft instead of a final one. There were lots of interesting ideas, but they don't all seem to congeal into a cohesive narrative that flows and makes sense. Still, I remain a fan of Ward's imagination, and I suspect I'll keep coming back for more.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

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

Rules of Civility transported me to 1930s New York. It made me nostalgic for a city I've never been and a time I've never lived.

Looking back, it's hard to put my finger on exactly what made this story so special. On the surface, there isn't anything terribly arresting about the plot itself. We follow Katey, a working class girl starting her adult life and trying to make it in New York. A chance encounter propels her to friendships with Manhattan's wealthy and elite, providing her with opportunities and experiences that end up shaping who she is.

And yet, this book is so much more. Towles's writing is undeniably compelling, shining brightly from every single page. I honestly couldn't look away. I can't think of another author who can stun me so thoroughly with just the power of their prose. There is so much charm, insight, and longing embedded in the words and the sentences. I often caught myself pausing and rereading just to savor them a few more times before I could move on.

This story is an ode to New York City, with all of its timeless elegance and unwavering vibrancy. And it's an ode to being young and having your whole life in front you. Towles deftly captures the endless possibilities of youth, with its numerous choices and all the lives yet unlived, as well as the feelings of excitement and loneliness that come with being young.

If I had one critique, it would be that the characters in here don't necessarily resemble real people with flaws. They're all a bit too perfect, more levelheaded and idealistic than anyone I've ever met. No matter the circumstances, they went with the flow, put their best foot forward, and always behaved with grace and composure. While us regular folks can only aspire to such lofty goals, every character in here has already reached this nirvana. Still, they made for an enticing and upbeat read, even if it wasn't entirely realistic.

It takes real skill to turn an otherwise pedestrian story into something special, and Towles achieves it flawlessly with his beautiful writing. It drew me in from the first page and I was swept away. At this point, I'm pretty sure if Towles wrote a treatise on paint drying, I'd find that riveting too.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.