The Wives by Tarryn Fisher - Reshelved Books

What if your husband was “married” to three other women?  What if you didn’t know their names or what they looked liked?  What if you gave him permission? Such is the premise of The Wives by Tarryn Fisher, a psychological thriller rooted in polygamy. 

Synopsis: After Thursday met Seth, she found out that he was married to another woman.  Unable to bear his child, Seth’s wife gave him permission to find someone who could fulfill his desire to become a father.  Also unable to carry a child to term, Thursday gives Seth permission to obtain a third wife. The wives rotate between alternate days of the week, made easier because Seth is often out of town for work. But then one night Thursday finds a piece of paper in Seth’s pocket with the third wife’s name. She tracks her down and develops a friendship out of pure curiosity to see who the woman she shares her husband with is.  Noticing bruises on the third wife’s wrists, Thursday begins to question the type of man she married and ultimately everything that she knew about her own life.

My Thoughts: This thriller is encapsulating and impossible to put down.  Half way through the novel everything twists and turns making me unsure of what I believed to be the truth, just as Thursday did. The ending… well, I still can’t believe it.  It was a great start to a year of 2020 reading and worth a rating of 4 out of 5 coffee beans.

What is your first read of 2020?

~Jessica

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

I am super excited to be able to review an ARC of Megan Miranda's latest novel The Last House Guest.  This book is a psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Girl on the Train.

So a bit about the book. Littleport, Maine is a summer town.  When a friendship blossoms between a summer girl named Sadie and the year rounder named Avery, it's a little unexpected, but they remain good friends for close to ten years.  Then Sadie is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the ocean, and the police believe it to be a suicide.  Flash forward years later and Avery is in the family home (she's employed by them as vacation property management) when she finds Sadie's cellphone.  It is a phone that the police were never able to recover.

So was Sadie's death a suicide?  Was it a murder?  And if so, is the murderer still out there watching them all?  I guess you'll have to read the book to find out.  

My thoughts without giving it all away? This novel was a quick read, but I think that I fell in love with the cover more than I fell in love with the prose inside.  I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.   

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh- Reshelved Books

Another review, another psychological thriller. 

Ugh. 

I firmly believe that this will be the last psychological thriller for me for a while. 

At the same time, I am a firm believer that every book I've been picking up lately HAS been a psychological thriller.

The psychological thriller in this review is "Ghosted" by Rosie Walsh.  "Ghosted" is her American Debut.  It did get good reviews on Goodreads and on Amazon. 

The cover on this book is sooooo pretty! It's flowy and the colors are beautiful.  The synopsis of the book had me interested in it. 

The book didn't live up to the synopsis. It just fell flat. 

Sarah Mackey is a 37 year old woman, who is recently separated.  She and her husband, Reuben had decided that it was best that if they ended their marriage and moved forward with their lives.  Every year around the beginning of June, Sarah flied back home to England to visit the site of a fatal accident. 

This time, her visit is different.  Sarah meets a man named Eddie David.  Eddie is sitting in the grass, playing with a sheep when Sarah approaches him. 

Sarah and Eddie hit it off immediately! They happen to go to a pub, where they drink cider and share chips. Sarah leaves with Eddie to spend the night and thus, begins a torrid affair between them that lasts for 7 days. 

On the seventh day, Eddie and Sarah part ways- Eddie is heading on a holiday with his friend and Sarah needs to return to San Francisco. 

Eddie is supposed to call Sarah from the airport but he never does. 

He just disappears into thin air. 

Sarah has been... ghosted...

Sarah firmly believes that something might have happened to Eddie.  That he just wouldn't have gone off and left, and not try to reach out and communicate with her. 

Like any 37 year old woman, Sarah decides that she is going to basically try and stalk Eddie, reach out to his friends and find out what the heck actually happened to him. 

Gah! NO. 

Just noooooooo.

No one wants to be ghosted but you can't just stalk people and be creepy.

Sarah's character was very pushy.  I didn't really care for her as a character for her personality. 

In a way, I felt like the story was a little disjointed?  There was an element of mystery, yes. There was also a component that was a love story...?  The ending wasn't like any other psychological thriller I've read before. 



With that, I give Ghosted 2 coffee beans out of 5.  

~ Jillian

The Wife by Alafair Burke- Battle of the Book

What's up everyone? 

I hope all is well!

The June book for The Spine Breakers was The Wife by Alafair Burke. 

Yes, another psychological thriller.  This book club group seems to be following the theme.
That being said The Wife was definitely the psychological thriller that I enjoyed the most. 

Angela (nee Mullen) Powell's husband, Jason is accused of rape and sexual misconduct toward two women.  
Burke's story follows Angela has she discovers his husband's infidelities and how her past that she worked so hard to keep buried in the past, might come to light. 

Is Jason innocent? Did he really do the things that he's being accused of? Will Angela always be faithfully by his side? 

In between character narratives and flashbacks, Burke weaves in emails and police reports to help tell this story. 

Burke made sure that the story wrapped up nicely at the end. (Which, is a big thing to me!).  I saw a few people on Goodreads had asked questions about if there would be a sequel.  I gotta be honest, I don't think that I would want there to be a sequel.  I liked it just the way it ended. 

Bookpage conducted an awesome interview with Alafair Burke.  You can check out the interview here. 

The Wife tackles topics that are very irrelevant for 2018.  Which, to me at least, kicks it up a notch. 

Jessica read the book before I did and I remember texting her being like "Colin did it, didn't he!?".  Followed up with "NO! It wasn't Colin.... It WAS Jason!"  I was all over the place with my guesses but that's what made it fun.  Trying to figure out what happened and the who done it.  I'm sure for some people, it's going to be totally obvious who did what - but for me, I had no idea. 

I definitely think that The Wife qualifies as a beach read. I give The Wife 4.5 coffee beans out of 5.  It was a definite page turner.  I liked how the ending played out and I thought it was well written and that it brought to light a topic that is very much real and happening in 2018. 

~JB

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian - Battle of the Book

I have a confession to make everyone... 

I recommended this book for The Spine Breakers and I couldn't read it!!

I couldn't get into the book. 

20 pages into this book and I hated it. 

That 20 pages itself was a struggle to get through. 

I'm so sorry Chris Bohjalian!!! :( (But thank you to standing up for me to Jessica!)

I'm starting to realize that psychological thrillers aren't really my jam... 



Because of the brave, we are the home of the free... Have a great Memorial Day everyone!

~ Jillian

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian - Battle of the Book

Hello Dewey Readers!  

As you know, Jillian and I also read for our book club called the Spine Breakers, and this month's selection was the Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian.  

This book sounded so promising!  It had great reviews!  And the premise was creepily interesting.  Basically, to sum this book up in a nutshell, the main character is a flight attendant who likes to sleep around.  She likes to drink, and has been known to drink to the point where she blacks out. One morning she wakes up in bed next a man who is dead.  But he didn't just die in his sleep!  His carotid artery was slashed and he bled out.  Next to him on the ground is a broken wine bottle.  The reader isn't sure who killed him, and even our lovely flight attendant isn't sure if she or someone else killed him.  

Who knows?  Well, I guess I know now. 

To me the book was kind of lengthy.  No short chapters that made our last book club selection a breeze!  Also, I did not like the ending.  In fact, I zoned out on the ending and had to ask my co-woker who happened to be reading this book at the same time (not Spine Breaker related) what happened.  She wasn't crazy about it either.  

So Dewey Readers, I give out a rating of 2 out of 5 very sad Coffee Beans.  

P.S.  Jillian picked this book, so we'll blame her.   

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn - Battle of the Book

Hello everybody.

April's battle of the book is here!!

This month we're gonna be talking about The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn.

I'm hoping that this month, you guys will find this battle a little more interesting than last month's.

Jess's review can be found here.

I'm going to jump to my feelings on this book. 

(But for those who haven't read Jess's review yet; the book is about a woman who has PTSD induced acrophobia. Anna can't leave her house- so she watches her neighbors out of her window. With her Nikon camera. While she's drunk and high on her meds... Yeah.)

I give this book a 3.5 coffee beans out of 5.  (If you check out my account on Goodreads- you'll see I gave it a 4 because there are no halves there!)

Why?

I didn't like the story. 

I thought that it was VERY slow to start.  There were moments when my heart hurt for Anna. I found the story of what happened to be sad and I did hurt for her.  

But the rest of the book...? I didn't like it.  I didn't find it to psychological or to be a thriller.  It was just there.     

I was frustrated by Anna. A lot.  

I know that in order to accept help and move forward, you need to admit to yourself that you have a problem and want to make those changes.  I understand that her past was very big to her and that she wasn't able to move forward right away.  But her character did grow and I was proud of that.  Even if it was basically at the end of the story. 

I felt like the book did wrap up at the end though and that there weren't any loose ends.  

I was surprised by the character who committed the murder.  I wasn't expecting that to happen! 

The way that the murderer had approached Anna and, for lack a better word, "played" her - really WAS creepy! 


I will admit that the book was a page turner for me.  For most of the book, I kept turning the page for more.  It was just that that "more" wasn't really there. 

But it was such a short time frame for the psychological thriller part of the book.  It wasn't very satisfying, if you will.  There was such a slow and prolonged buildup to that WOAH moment in the story- that I felt like it fell short. 

If you're looking for a real thriller, I would recommend The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda.  I thought that was creepier and more twisted. 


~ Jillian