House of Royals: 3 Stars

Author: Keary Taylor
Length: 225 pgs

What to say, what to say…

This was pretty middle of the road for me. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a gripping pageturner. I did like the vampire world built here, how there are “born” vampires versus “bitten” vampires, and those who are born don’t know they’re born until they die as humans and find themselves resurrected five days later as a vampire. There’s an interesting history regarding the vampire King and his cursed bride who is reincarnated every few years, and a unique heirarchy regarding hundreds of different “Royal” houses spread throughout the world.

Unfortunately the book, while it introduces this information, mostly revolves around the main characters and their semi-forbidden insta-love. My biggest problem was that I didn’t really connect with the characters at all so being invested in their relationship wasn’t something I felt. As a result the extenuating circumstances working against them were less than thrilling since I didn’t really mind either way what became of them. Their road to romance is identical to many other books in this genre, so there was nothing unique that made this pair of characters stand out or root for them.

There’s a cliffhanger at the end that I liked and which will probably push many readers into reading at least the second book. This one seems to focus more on setting up events for the books to come. I liked it but didn’t love it, and probably won’t continue the series. But if you’re into non-erotica, YA PNR this is probably right up your alley.

Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter #1): 3 Stars

Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Length: 309 pgs.
This was an okay read for me. I enjoyed it-but there were a few things that turned me off about the book.

The writing seemed a little more befitting of young adult or something along those lines. I’ve read a lot of PNR lately and found superior writing in other books like Pure Healing and Mated in Treason. That’s not to say the writing is bad. Maybe other people who have read the book will know what I mean. It just feels very bare-minimum at times and moves from day to day very quickly, but on the upside that made the book easy to get through. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that this is light reading.

Additionally in the beginning of the book the writer mentions some things offhand that confused me and made me doublecheck that this actually was the first book in the series and I hadn’t missed a prequel or something. It has to do with a character named Julian and his origins. She also very casually adds bits and pieces about Amanda’s sisters being involved in magic/supernatural forces in one way or another, but doesn’t ever talk about how this began or why Amanda’s family is like this which would’ve been very interesting to know. And then we meet Julian’s parents, and I was completely thrown off by that. Again, I checked to see that I hadn’t missed another book, but no, this is the first book in the series.

I did like the history of the Dark-Hunters that the writer created. Each vampire series has its own world-building and history and I liked the mythology aspect of this one with the addition of the Apollites and the other gods/goddesses who made appearances or were mentioned. That was definitely a plus for me that the author managed to combine mythology and paranormal in a unique way. I love that she imagined up different types of Hunters and Vampires!

I liked the ending and the little twist thrown in by the author there even if I did suspect that Amanda was up to something just before the climax. Overall I did enjoy this book and may continue the series at some point.

Hooked on the Game (Sterling Shore #1): 3 Stars

Author: C.M. Owens
Length: 204 pgs.
I picked this book up as a freebie and it was chosen for me to read for a March buddy pick. I’m surprised honestly that I downloaded this book because it’s NA romance which is outside of my usual favorite genres but it’s pretty short and I’ll give most anything a try if it’s not going to take up too much of my time.

The story is propelled forward by a series of very unlikely events. Raya is a college…freshman, I think? Living on her own due to her roommates abandoning their shared home for one reason or another. She lives next to a rich boy named Kade who’s constantly throwing loud parties. One day a few of his partygoers actually run a bulldozer into Raya’s home. Her house is destroyed, even her clothes have remnants of fiberglass in them due to the insulation imploding. They go to court and the judge is persuaded by Kade’s father, Paul Colton (who has his own fashion line) to make Raya live with Kade as punishment. He says that Kade will need to cater to Raya’s needs, drive her wherever she wants to go, and ask her for permission to throw parties. No judge would ever take this into serious consideration, but in the world of Sterling Shore it is agreed upon by all parties. Raya agrees because Mr. Colton tells her that if she lasts until the end of the semester, he’ll buy her a house. Heck yeah!

Kade and Raya butt heads immediately but eventually he warms up to her when he realizes she’s being teased relentlessly for moving in with him. I found the teasing to be a little exaggerated since this is a college setting and not high school, but basically the town they live in is all about appearances and status.

I liked watching Kade and Raya grow close, although it does irk me with these type of stories that the male character starts off so over-the-top assholish (pretend that’s a word for the purposes of this review) and inevitably transforms completely into a doting gentleman, even before there is an official romantic relationship in place. But on the other hand, Owens did give us some explanations for Kade’s behavior that weren’t included in my first assumptions and made me look at him differently.

Raya is definitely someone who’s insecure and her second-guessing the intentions of everyone around her and misconstruing them so badly definitely grated on my nerves after a while. She is convinced everyone’s looking down on her, including Kade. Even after he makes completely obvious romantic overtures, she still manages to wallow in self pity and rejection.

There is a very unlikely misunderstanding between Raya and Kade towards the end of the book that sends them on a path towards the inevitable reconciliation. I actually found the last 15-20% of the book to be the most interesting as Raya has to take matters into her own hands to solve a problem. This part was exciting, it made me wish that more of the book had been the same way.

Overall it was an okay read for me, I’m sure others who enjoy YA romance will like it more than I did.

Off the Record (Record #1): 3 Stars

Author: K.A. Linde
Length: 12 hours 10 min
Off the Record is the first book in the ‘Record’ series. I don’t usually read contemporary romance, it’s not really my thing. But this one sounded interesting and I was able to listen free with Kindle Unlimited so I gave it a try. It follows a college reporter, Liz Dougherty, as she begins a secret relationship with Brady Maxwell, a politician who’s in the middle of running for…something. Ha! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic.

The main character, Liz, was immediately likable. She had a good head on her shoulders and her inner voice spoke common sense to her even if she didn’t always listen to it. As the reader we’re along with her for the ride from the beginning of the affair, when she is head over heels for Brady. As time goes on however, her feelings do get stronger but that common sense I mentioned starts to kick in. She starts to realize that she maybe doesn’t want to be somebody’s secret girlfriend. But every time she meets up with Brady her feelings for him intensify so she just ends up torn and confused.

Brady doesn’t do too much to make it any easier on her. He’s gentlemanly, but mostly he has the ‘this-is-what-you-signed-up-for’ attitude whenever she tells him how she feels. He’s also in the habit of bringing other, more “appropriate” women as his date to public functions, which further hurts Liz. He explains it away by saying he was pressured by his campaign manager (who is a BEEYOTCH) or even his mom to bring this person or that person on his arm, but my response to that is really? He is a grown man. And it’s not like Liz is some shady character – although she previously wrote some not-so-favorable articles about Brady’s education policy for her college newspaper, she doesn’t have any skeletons in her closet. But she continues to be treated like some dirty little secret and I could just feel myself getting angrier and angrier on her behalf as the book went on. Especially when I felt like she connected well with Hayden, another male character. I also enjoyed her being charmed by Clay and thought they were both better candidates for her attention than Brady. But the heart wants what it wants and all that crap…

I’ve never read K.A. Linde before and she brought a very human feel to every character. Her writing combined with the great narration made this a solid three star book for me. Maybe if I was more a contemporary romance girl I’d give it a higher rating but honestly that’s the only thing that kept me from getting immersed in this book. I’d like to know what Liz decides in the future (as this book ends in a cliffhanger) but not so much that I want to continue on in the series.

Sold to the Sheikh (Club Volare #1): 3 Stars

Author: Chloe Cox
Length: 5 hrs 12 mins
I borrowed the audiobook for Sold to the Sheikh via Kindle Unlimited. It was on the shorter side so I figured it wouldn't be a waste of too much time if I didn't care for it. It’s the first in the Club Volare series, and starts off pretty routinely for what I’ve read in this genre. An innocent(ish) female-in this case Stella Spencer, who gets a job at Club Volare after going through a divorce-meets a wealthy Dom who decides to introduce her to the world of BDSM. In this book, that Dom is Sheikh Bashir, and he decides to fork over $50,000 to spend the weekend with Stella, choosing her over any other willing BDSM participant because of something he sees in her eyes when they first meet, etc etc.

Continuing with the formula, the female MC is at first uncomfortable and embarrassed about everything, before the Dom slowly brings down her walls and converts her to a BDSM lover. And they all live happily ever after.

I knew what I was getting into with this book. I wasn’t expecting mind-blowing excitement or surprises, and my expectations were pretty much met. I admit however that Stella began to grow on me about an hour or so into the book. She was ditched by her husband and still carries the pain of his rejection, as well as memories of a painful childhood. She’s a sweet character and I liked her.

Sheikh Bashir is a pretty typically written Dom. He promises Stella that he’ll have her begging by the end of the weekend. He pushes her boundaries and forces her to do things she’d never do under normal circumstances. He does his research on Stella and makes a few grand gestures based on what he learns. He isn’t cruel or Alpha-like. He comes across more determined and protective. He also has a personal history that keeps him from giving his heart to anyone.

You can pretty much guess how the book ends but it was a decent read. The Audible narrator did a great job, it’s not easy to find a good erotica narrator and she’s definitely one of the better ones. The writer gave sufficient backstories to both characters and I liked the two of them together. I think the worst I can say about the book is that it’s just not overly memorable.

The blurb for the third book Disciplined by the Dom sounds pretty interesting so I think I might continue with the series if I need to bust out of a reading/listening slump.

Her Highland Master (The Dungeon Fantasy Club #1): 3 Stars

Author: Anya Summers
Length: 202 pgs.
I picked this book up as an Amazon freebie (still is), apparently it’s the first of a series and I pick up pretty much anything that’s free with “Highlander” in the title. This isn’t historical romance though-which is obvious from the blurb, and I was reminded of that when I was going through the freebies I load onto my kindle at heart-stopping rates. It still sounded worth a read though (despite its apparent lack of blood-soaked kilt-wearing Highland warriors) and at the short length there wasn’t much to lose. One of my Goodreads group friends assigned it to me for a March Buddy Pick so I was happy to get to it.

The story begins with Zoey, an American on a solo vacation, crashing her rental car in a Scottish storm. She makes her way to a nearby mansion and is welcomed by the handsome butler, Jared. She soon meets Declan, who owns the mansion which is actually a BDSM retreat. Since it’s just over novella length, the story moves very quickly, with Zoey agreeing to act as the sub to Declan's dom for a week in exchange for somewhere to stay after she loses her hotel reservation (okayyyy, so he did tell her she could stay without being his sub, but what’s the fun in that).

Steaminess ensues once Zoey wanders into a forbidden dungeon floor, and there’s no lack of erotica here. I mean they only have a week to pack all this in so Declan takes advantage of the time constraints, and Zoey finds out she quite enjoys Declan’s lifestyle.

My favorite parts involved both Declan and Jared. If you know what I mean.



And we get treated to that situation more than once.



Ultimately, there is a misunderstanding which creates some conflict, but of course that’s all resolved because Zoey and Declan are in instalove. It’s not very believable but is that really the point here?

Her Highland Master is a fun little freebie involving hot Scottish dudes, and at 202 pages won’t take up too much of your time.

BRB, going to crash my rental car in the Highlands.

Demon Lover (Fairytale Fantasies #2): 3 Stars

Author: Marie Treanor
Length: 232 pgs.
I borrowed this book via Kindle Unlimited.

This was a cute little read. I give it a solid three stars. It puts an interesting twist on the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale in which he turns straw into gold. However in this story his name isn’t actually Rumpelstiltskin but Ragnorak-if you know his true name, Svartan if you don’t.

Ragnorak comes to Gwyneth’s aid after her father’s boastful words put her in front of the king, who thinks she’s able to spin straw into gold. She’s locked up for 3 nights in order to do this, and as the story goes Ragnorak shows up after she pleads with God for assistance.

There’s instant chemistry but of course, on the third night Ragnorak asks for Gwyneth to promise him her firstborn in order to turn the straw into gold one last time. Desperate, she agrees – and months later Ragnorak returns to take her new daughter, Brea, back with him to his underground realm of Elohim. Only in this story, Gwyneth is given and accepts an offer of accompanying Brea.

Over the course of the story Ragnorak and Gwyneth of course fall in love and make an erotic deal which Gwyneth at first hopes will get her out of Elohim and back to the outside world. As days go by, however, she begins to fall for Ragnorak, and finds that he treats her and Brea much better than the King ever did.

I liked reading about Ragnorak’s underground world. I found Gwyneth to be likable and I enjoyed seeing them fall in love, albeit delayed for a bit due to the fact that both are playing their cards close to their chest. I did like that they threw in the storyline of Ragnorak’s secret ties to the King and his attempt to make a deal with King Midas. It was good to see some outside conflict after reading about Gwyneth and Ragnorak hanging out underground for a while. Unfortunately the downside was that there was nothing going on that really grabbed me, gave me that feeling of I NEED TO KEEP READING. But it wasn't unenjoyable, just a little middle of the line.

A short, fun 3 star read if you like fairytales and erotica.

Where Darkness Falls: 3 stars

Author: Bella Jewel
Length: 257 pgs.
What to say, what to say….

Well, to start off I did like this book. I just didn’t like it as much-nearly as much- as its predecessor, Enslaved by the Ocean. I’m a sucker for pirates and sea adventures so I snatched up the kindle book and accompanying audio for $3. This book picks up right where Enslaved leaves off, when the heroine Jess is kidnapped by a pirate Dimitri right off the ship where she lives. I prepared for another adventure on the open waters to begin. So imagine my disappointment when Dimitri immediately takes Jess to California where they dock his ship. That’s right…they spend about 5 minutes in the beginning on the actual pirate ship before heading to L.A. So basically this was a story about a docked pirate who, due to a years-long misunderstanding, is using Jess to get back at his longtime enemy Hendrix.

I did like the back and forth between Jess and Dimitri; you know they’re going to fall for each other you’re just not sure how or when. They did bond over some similar traumatic events they’d both experienced, but not until later in the book when Jess was forced due to some outside circumstances to share her past with him.

I was disappointed that there was no real sense of danger at all until the end of the book when some very unlikely events bring Jess back into the hands of a man who terrorized her as a child. But even when she’s first kidnapped by Dimitri, there’s really no fear that she’s not safe. Nothing bad really happens around her, the “pirates” seem more like a rowdy group of friends hanging out. It’s basically a lot of talking, getting to know each other, eventual removal of the clothes and what not, until Jess is re-kidnapped by someone else and thrown into an underground women’s wrestling league.

You read that correctly, lol. I enjoyed the nice little twist there and how Dimitri was suddenly replaced by an actual bad guy who does bad things. Once Jess’s life was in actual danger things got exciting. But that was at maybe 75-80% through the book and was pretty much just a means to propel us towards the inevitable HEA.

So while I liked this book, I’d have to stick with Enslaved by the Ocean as my favorite of the series, since it takes place on the actual ocean with actual pirates whom we don’t know and can’t trust. Dimitri is a character who’s mentioned in the first book and just never holds that level of threatening unfamiliarity as the book’s mysterious male MC. I liked Jess as the heroine and they were a good pair at the end but it just wasn’t as fun as the first book.

Owned (Decadence After Dark #1): 3 Stars

Author: M. Never
Length: 237 pages
Hmmmm so I just finished this book about 2 minutes ago and I'm trying to figure out what rating I want to give it. I think I'll go with 3 stars and here's why.

Based on the synopsis anyone going starting this book should be aware it's pretty dark: the main female character, Ellie, is kept isolated, chained up, collared and forced into submission by the alpha, Kayne. And thanks to the spelling of his name, I kept reading it as "Kanye" for the entire book, even after I realized on the third or so page that it was pronounced CAIN. But the damage had been done so he remained Kanye for the duration.

I haven't read a ton of BDSM so I liked seeing all the little chains and gadgets that Cain (sorry, Kayne) liked to use. It was always something new and kept my interest. Kanye/Kayne at least knew what he was doing in that department and I loved seeing him open Ellie up to things she hadn't even known existed.

We're told that Kayne has his reasons for holding Ellie against her will, but the explanation that comes at the end of the book lacks practicality and doesn't make him at all sympathetic. So maybe that could've been thought out a little more.

The external storyline involving Javier and the drug trade was not as interesting (although Javier made a formidable rival). It was almost like an afterthought in order to take us outside of the room where Ellie and Kayne would do their thing. There was a shocker at the end involving Javier that really caught me off-guard, and I thought, oh wow I am definitely going to have to read the second book if this is where it's headed! But that excitement was squashed a few paragraphs later when the complication was wrapped up tidily. That was a slight bummer; if things had gone in a different direction there I would've continued the series.

I did enjoy the book, but I guess I'm not personally invested in Ellie & Kayne's storyline enough to find out what ultimately happens between them. This was a fun, quick read though for anyone looking for dark erotica or BDSM.

On Wings of Time: Lochlainn Guardians #1: 3 Stars

Author: Linda Boulanger
Length: 202 pgs.

I picked this book up as an Amazon freebie. The cover made me chuckle but the storyline about dragons and time travel piqued my interest.

The book is about Amileigh, a young woman from 600 years ago who finds out she is a Prihom, a woman meant to unlock her true mate's inner dragon via, well, doin' it. She meets Eric, who was pulled into her time from 600+ years in the future to find out he is this mate. There's a rival dragon clan who wants to kill all the dragons in Eric's line so that they can make the remaining humans their slaves and become the most powerful force on earth. Therefore it's vital that Eric's line continue their dragon shifting and protection of those powerless to stop this from happening.

This is my first dragon shifter book, so I'm not sure what detail typically goes into the shifting part of it. In this book we get literally no details about the shifting itself other than what color Eric turns out to be in dragon form. I didn't mind it too much though, I just wanted to get to the good stuff- dragon fighting and the such. Buuuut, there's not much detail there either, other than the good dragons end up fighting the bad dragons and we figure out who wins when it's over about half a page later.

So detail isn't really a focus here, but I didn't really mind that in the end. The chemistry and pull between Eric and Amileigh is fun, even though Eric acts like an entitled teenager at times (he's in his twenties). When they finally get together to unlock Eric's dragon it's steamy enough to satisfy anyone's romance/erotica craving.

I enjoyed this book slightly more than I thought I would although it's pretty much on par with what you'd expect to get from a free book about time-travel and dragon shifting. I think I'll try out more dragon-shifting books though, because I enjoyed reading about their ancient, magical family history of dragons and Prihoms.

I'm always glad when I finish a freebie because it means I'm not just clouding up my Kindle with free Amazon bull@%, and I think with some more attention to detail and a little more solid storyline this could've been a four star read, but it's a quick enough read that if it's not your thing you get through it quickly enough. And anytime a book opens you up to something that's normally outside your genre it's a win, so I'm glad I picked this one up.

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2): 3 Stars

Author: Sarah Maas
Length: 12 hrs 24 min
I gave the first book in this series five stars. It was an amazing read for me. I loved the heroine freed prisoner/assassin Celaena Sardothian. I felt torn by the charming love triangle between her, Prince Dorian and Chaol, the captain of the guard. I loved the storyline and the mystery, and I rooted for her the whole time.

I guess it's normal, expected even, for a series to have a sophomore slump. For me, this book was definitely slump worthy. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I dropped my rating for this one by 2 stars. One of the differences was that I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator has a haughty tone that makes everyone sound conniving and/or conceited. And okay, so that might be the case actually, but hearing it versus reading it usually isn't a problem for me. Here it was hard for me to have the same connection with Celaena that I had in the first book when I pictured her sounding tough yet vulnerable. The narrator made her sound almost petulant. And she may be written as somewhat of a brat at times, but I preferred my own projection versus the audiobook version. It was just a little off-putting.

The second problem was that there was SO MUCH SETUP AND INFORMATION packed into this book that it doesn't leave much for action. We learn more about the Wyrd written language introduced in Throne of Glass and Wryd keys and where they came from and what they mean and information about the king and things he might be working on, and more background history on the war that "ended" magic, and history on Celaena herself. If you're not paying very close attention, it's easy for things to get convoluted. So that was another audiobook issue for me. I can pay attention while listening, but when there are names I need to learn and complicated family and world history I need to remember, it's better to see it in writing and take the time to process it. Maybe I could have appreciated it better or felt more of an impact from the new information if I had read it instead of listened to it.

As for my comment about not leaving room for the action - okay, so there is action in this book. But I felt like it was limited to a few big events rather than being exciting throughout. One of the big events throws Celaena completely off her rocker, and she spends a lot of time deep in thought and grief. It's supposed to affect the reader in the same way I guess, but said event was something that I expected to happen eventually (I felt a character was only put there to be taken away) and wasn't that devastating for me. The next big event that I remember happening is about 80% into the book, and after finishing the audiobook in the same sitting, I actually went back and re-read this part via the kindle version. I just felt, again, like it gave me a deeper impact to read it without the narrator's influence.

Buuuut, despite the narrator, this book just didn't do it for me. I'm guessing it was the information overhaul combined with the lack of Celaena-doing-her-badass-assassin-thing that made it fall kind of flat. And that's another thing - Maas is very good at telling us how great of an assassin Celaena is. It's mentioned as a recap i.e. telling us she just killed countless people on the king's orders, but we didn't tag along on those kills. The ones we're privy to always involve Celaena getting injured and/or caught, and I just wish we saw more of her being the best assassin in the world and all that. I know that wouldn't be as exciting if we saw her get away with it every time, but a little more could be done to help us believe all this praise.

Points for the bomb dropping, though, at the very end of the book. So many complications stem from this cliffhanger!

Despite the fact that this won't be my favorite book in the series, it won't deter me from continuing what is still an exciting story. I jumped right into #3. I have both the audiobook and kindle version to Heir of Fire, and I'm still going to listen to the audiobook version on my commutes to help me get through it faster, but other than that I think I'll stick to reading the book since that was part of why I enjoyed Throne of Glass so much. I am 75 pages in at this point and already liking it more than Crown of Midnight!

The Good Daughter: 3 stars

Author: Karin Slaughter
Length: 528 pgs.
Audiobook length: 17 hours 52 minutes

I am honestly not sure how I feel about this book. I usually have a pretty solid opinion either way once I’ve finished something, but The Good Daughter pulled me in a lot of different directions.

My first Karin Slaughter book was Pretty Girls, and I felt that book was miles ahead of this one as far as suspense and shock factor and general cleverness goes. This was no Pretty Girls.

Warning – spoilers ahead!

I know what I didn’t like about the book.

I disliked most of the characters: the clear cut bad guys who murdered the Quinn matriarch. The main characters who had-in my opinion-a strange way of dealing with the events that unfolded throughout the book (heck, I despised Rusty Quinn for 2/3 of the story because I didn’t understand his thought process and actions). The cops in the small town of Pikeville, who handled the school shooting and its aftermath horribly and inappropriately. The Culpepper family members, who tortured Charlie throughout her years in school because they remained convinced the Daniel and Zachariah were innocent, and that the whole murder was a set up by Rusty to frame the Culpepper brothers. Antagonists are necessary in any story, but there’s usually some likable main characters or a hero that is thrown in to balance things out, give you someone to root for. I didn’t want bad things to happen to Charlie and Sam, but I wasn’t really rooting for them, either.

I HATED how dragged out the day of the school shooting was. Every small detail is noted and expanded upon. Charlie is injured by the cops while trying to protect a teenage girl who’s being brutalized by them – though she is presumed guilty of killing two people in an elementary school – and no one does anything about it, even her (estranged) husband. No one in Pikeville, GA seems to have a conscience or code of ethics, or any real sense. Cops are corrupt, district attorneys plant evidence and frame people or don’t care to conduct proper investigations. Townsfolk are small minded and make ignorant assumptions.

I listened to the audio version of this book and because my listening is mostly limited to my work commute (which totals about 2.5 hours per day) it took FOREVER to get past the day of the shooting- maybe 3 days or so. This part could have been whittled down quite a bit, especially when you’re wondering WHAT THE HELL this tragedy has to do with ANYTHING, or at least what it has to do with the events that unfolded between the Culpeppers and Quinns 28 years prior. Are these two events linked? Are they completely separate and only serving to bring together the main characters? That’s not made clear for quite some time. I guess that’s part of the mystery but for me it made me feel like, what is the point or purpose of this part of the book? Do I really need to know all these details or is this just Slaughter’s style? Is there a reason this is being so drawn out?

By the time we moved on to day 2 (in the book) I was bored and frustrated, but hanging in there. To be fair, though I have issues with the pacing and the plot, the quality of the writing is obvious. Karin Slaughter does have a way of bringing characters to life. So I suppose it still says something that most of them elicited a real sense of annoyance and/or anger within me, because at least they felt real enough for me to have opinions on them.

The book would pick up the pace occasionally but then slow down and we’d be back to moving sluggishly through minutes, hours. It didn’t truly GRAB me until there was about two and a half hours left. At that point I wondered when shit was going to start going down. We’re talking about a book that has countless 4 and 5 star reviews, and I’m surprised to find myself in the minority, but there you have it. Perhaps most people enjoy the detailed way Slaughter examines everything that happens and everything that’s said by and to the characters. Perhaps they were prepared for a book that spends more time exploring the characters’ personalities and internal struggles than it does any sort of specific event in the book. Sure, you can argue (rightly) that their personalities and struggles come as a result of certain events that occur, but I was under the impression this was a thriller. It plays out as more of a sad story of one family’s abbreviated history, with a few twists thrown in at the end.

Speaking of the twists….

I was surprised to find out who was also involved in the school shooting, but once the initial cat was out of the bag, I pretty much guessed the rest and just listened as it played out mostly like I’d expected.

I was also surprised to find out who was REALLY involved in the murder of Sam & Charlie’s mother all those years ago, but the revelation didn’t really shake me. In fact, I didn’t realize there was anything left to reveal about that day, so while the information was unexpected, it didn’t serve to answer any questions, because I hadn’t asked any.

I think my strongest feeling about this book is just plain disappointment. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. The title, after finishing the book, doesn’t really make sense. Nor does the creepy cover which in itself promises a different sort of story.

I reserve the right, however, to contradict myself. This was a good book in that it was expertly written. Slaughter is obviously a master of details, but this one was just too detailed for my liking. I’m glad I got it off my TBR because it’s been calling my name for a while. You can definitely still like a writer without liking a book they’ve written, and I think that’s the case here. I have a copy of Slaughter’s Kisscut that I still look forward to reading, and I won’t forget the horror of Pretty Girls.

The Good Daughter just wasn’t for me.