Crime & Mystery

Mad Miss Mimic

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Mad Miss Mimic by Sarah Henstra (2017)
-eARC Review-

mad miss mimic

(YA) Fiction | Historical | Mystery | Romance
4.5 stars
Blurb:

“Born into an affluent family, Leo outwardly seems like a typical daughter of English privilege in the 1870s: she lives with her wealthy married sister Christabel, and lacks for neither dresses nor trinkets. But Leo has a crippling speech impediment that makes it difficult for her to speak but curiously allows her to mimic other people’s voices flawlessly. Servants and ladies alike call her “Mad Miss Mimic” behind her back… and watch as she unintentionally scares off every potential suitor. Only the impossibly handsome Mr. Thornfax seems interested in Leo…but why? And does he have a connection to the mysterious Black Glove group that has London in its terrifying grasp? Trapped in a city under siege by terror attacks and gripped by opium fever, where doctors (including her brother-in-law) race to patent an injectable formula, Leo must search for truth in increasingly dangerous situations – but to do so, she must first find her voice.”
–Goodreads  Continue reading →

Blackout

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Blackout (Lost Girls #1) by Chris Myers (2015)
-NetGalley Review-

blackout

NA Fiction | Romance | Thriller | (TV-MA)
4 Stars
Blurb:

“The blackouts started happening when Teal was eight. There are long periods of her youth she doesn’t remember. She has woken up in strange places, feeling disoriented and unaware of how long she’s been out.

After two years abroad attending a private school and sessions with a top-notch psychiatrist, she’s been deemed cured. The blackouts have ceased, or so Teal thought, until she wakes up in a ditch back home in North Carolina. Continue reading →

Olmec Obituary

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Olmec Obituary (Dr. Pimms, Intermillennial Sleuth, #1) by L.J.M. Own (2015)
-NetGalley Review-

Olmec Obituary

Fiction | Mystery
4.5 stars
Blurb:

“Yearning for her former life as an archaeologist, Australian librarian Dr Elizabeth Pimms is struggling with a job she doesn’t want and a family she both loves and resents.

A royal Olmec cemetery is discovered deep in the Mexican jungle, containing the earliest writing in all the Americas. Dr Pimms is elated to join the team investigating the ancient skeletons found on site. Triumph is short-lived, however, as Elizabeth’s position is threatened by a volatile excavation director, contradictory evidence, and hostile colleagues. With everything working against her, will Dr Pimms find the cause of death for a 3,000-year-old athlete and those buried with her?  Continue reading →

Hunt for the Horseman

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Hunt for the Horseman by Gita V. Reddy (2015)
-Review Request-

Hunt for the Horseman

Middle Grade Fiction | Adventure | Mystery
3.5 Stars
Blurb:

“A young prince hides his ivory toy from his brother in one of the many secret compartments of the palace. The toy was never found and the search becomes a game called Hunt for the Horseman.

One hundred and twenty-five years later, the land mafia is out to grab the palace. Members of the erstwhile royal family are fighting a losing battle in court to save what is rightfully theirs. They meet for, possibly, their last family gathering in the palace.  Continue reading →

The Girl on the Train

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015)

The Girl on the Train

Fiction | Psychological Thriller | Crime & Mystery
2.5 Stars
Blurb:

“The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.  Continue reading →

Crooked Kingdom

~ Angela ~ 2 Comments

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo (2016)

crooked kingdom

YA Fiction | Dark Fantasy
5 stars
Blurb:

“Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.”
–Goodreads  
Continue reading →

White Cat

~ Angela ~ 2 Comments

White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black (2010)

White Cat

YA Fiction | Fantasy | Crime & Mystery
3.5 StarsBlurb:

“Cassel comes from a shady, magical family of con artists and grifters. He doesn’t fit in at home or at school, so he’s used to feeling like an outsider. He’s also used to feeling guilty; he killed his best friend, Lila, years ago.

But when Cassel begins to have strange dreams about a white cat, and people around him are losing their memories, he starts to wonder what really happened to Lila. In his search for answers, he discovers a wicked plot for power that seems certain to succeed. But Cassel has other ideas and a plan to con the conmen.”
–Goodreads  Continue reading →

The Big Con

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The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man by David W. Maurer (1940)

The Big Con

Non-Fiction | Crime | Americana4.5 starsBlurb:

“Of all the grifters, the confidence man is the aristocrat,” wrote David Maurer, a proposition he definitively proved in The Big Con, one of the most colorful, well-researched, and entertaining works of criminology, ever written. A professor of linguistics who specialized in underworld argot. Maurer won the trust of hundreds of swindlers who let him in on not simply their language, but their folkways and the astonishingly complex and elaborate schemes whereby unsuspecting marks, hooked by their own greed and dishonesty, were “taken off” — i.e., cheated — of thousands upon thousands of dollars. The products of amazing ingenuity, crack timing, and attention to every last detail, these “big cons” richly deserve Maurer’s description as “the most effective swindling device which man has ever invented.” Continue reading →

The Walls Around Us

~ Angela ~ 3 Comments

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (2015)

The Walls Around Us
YA Fiction | Paranormal Mystery | Psychological Thriller
4 Stars
Blurb:

“On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.

On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.  Continue reading →

The Girl I Used to Be

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The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry (2016)
-eARC Review-

the girl i used to be
YA Fiction | Mystery | Thriller
4 Stars
Blurb:

“When Olivia’s mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia’s father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there’s a killer still at large. It’s up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first?”
–Goodreads

Expected Publication Date: May 03, 2016  Continue reading →