The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel

by Simone St. James
Published: Berkley, 2020
Pages: 336
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Amazon, Goodreads

“Some of us like the dark. It’s what we know.”

About the book

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

Review

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James is a captivating paranormal thriller that you won’t want to put down.

Reeling from the death of her mother, true crime fan Carly leaves college to investigate the disappearance of her Aunt Viv from Fell, New York thirty-five years ago at the Sun Down Motel. Carly arrives to find to the motel unchanged, and Viv’s job as night clerk open; she takes the job in order to get closer to finding out what really happened the night her aunt went missing. Carly soon learns that there’s more than just dust and empty motel rooms at the Sun Down as doors start slamming open, lights flicker on and off and a mysterious smell of smoke appears… and it turns out there’s more to Viv’s disappearance. 

Alternating between the perspectives of Viv and Carly, the story is creepy and so so interesting. The plot is my favorite part of the book; a sinister, run down motel in a small town where a young woman disappeared over thirty years ago. St. James’s writing is engaging and addictive. I devoured half this book in one day. There are twists and turns that left me dazed! 

There’s another aspect I loved about the book: the thought that we can have a dark part of ourselves that’s attracted to the wicked, whether it be horror movies or ghastly true crime stories. I feel like I have this as well. I’ve always loved grotesque horror and the sinister unknown.

I’ve also read The Broken Girls by St. James, and I like the Sun Down Motel better because I enjoyed the storyline more. 

The Sun Down Motel is definitely worth the read if you’re in the mood for a good ghostly thriller!

RATING (out of five puppies)

Hollow by Rhonda Parrish

Hollow

by Rhonda Parrish
Published: Tyche Books, 2020
Genre: Horror, Young Adult
Amazon, Goodreads

That moment of absolute clarity, of peace, becomes a weapon in this world which seems to thrive on people's pain and suffering. Not a physical weapon, like a sword or a gun, but a weapon just the same. I feel it. I am it.

About the book

A car accident shattered sixteen-year-old Morgan's family. Now her brother’s dead, her mom's paralyzed in more ways than one, her dad lives at work and her seven-year-old sister Amy tries too freaking hard to salvage everything. What’s more, high school is its own special kind of hell, where her ex-boyfriend delights in spreading rumors that shred her reputation and make her feel like a loser. When she finds an old camera in a creepy abandoned hospital, it seems like her luck is finally changing. And it is changing--from bad to worse. Because of course it is. Each time Morgan photographs one of her classmates they become corrupted versions of themselves. It's like the camera steals their goodness, their essence, and leaves them hollow. Then her sister uses the camera to take a selfie. No matter what the cost, Morgan will find a way to reverse the effects of the cursed camera and save Amy, before her already-fractured family completely self-destructs.

Review

Morgan is an average teenager whose live was changed forever when a car accident killed her little brother and left her mother paralyzed. Several months later, she’s battling with guilt and shame when she finds an old Polaroid camera in an abandoned hospital. Morgan soon discovers that with each photo she takes, those pictured become angry… VERY angry and aggressive, like they’re becoming corrupted versions of themselves. In order to save her friends, Morgan must face her own guilty conscious.

Hollow isn’t a bad book, but it is just OK. I mean, it’s an overall fast, enjoyable read. My main complaint is that the story is slow and the plot is thin. I’m also confused how a photography obsessed teenager doesn’t know the name of the Polaroid camera, but that’s just me being nick-picky. 

The theme of the novel is what liked the most. Morgan must first face her fears and the guilts over the car accident and her failed relationship with Keith before she’s able to save those around her. I feel like this epitomizes the importance of forgiving yourself which is one of the first things I learned in therapy. You can’t control everything that happens to you but you CAN learn to control how you react to it. For this reason, I’m giving Hollow a higher rating than what I was planning originally. 

RATING (out of five puppies)

WWW Wednesday: 1/22/20

In this weekly meme, I will answer three questions:


What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish?

What do you think you'll read next?


This meme is held by samannelizabeth.wordpress.com. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit with other participants and see what others are reading.

What are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading Hollow by Rhonda Parrish, an ARC I received from Netgalley.

What did you recently finish?

I recently finished The Chestnut Man, a detective novel, which I rated four stars. I also just finished The Sun Down Motel which was my January Book of the Month selection. My review for The Sun Down Motel will go live on my blog tomorrow. I loved it and rated it a full five stars. (Edit: Click here to read my full review on The Sun Down Motel.)

What do you think you'll read next?

Next I'll most likely be reading Children of Virtue and Vengeance, which is the second installment in the Children of Blood and Bone series. I liked the first book OK but it could have used major improvements. I hope the second installment is better. I also recently purchased The Girl the Sea Gave Back, which was 50% off at Barnes and Noble. I heard it contains Swedish mythology which is the main reason I want to read it. I have several ebooks I've recently downloaded and have not gotten to and another ARC from Netgalley.

What does your WWW Wednesday look like? Let me know in the comments below!

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf. My list will mostly be my Book of the Month selections and ebooks. Let's get to it!

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James - This is my most recent purchase from Book of the Month. I read another book by St. James and I really enjoyed it. The Sun Down Motel sounds like a mystery/paranormal type of read, so I'm looking forward to it.

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf - I've had this on my TBR for a while. I saw someone give it a good review. Honestly, the title is what drew me in. I've also heard that the main character is snarky (just like me!).

Recursion by Blake Crouch - I've read Dark Matter and that story completely blew me away. It really fucks you up... so obviously I had to read more of Crouch's work. 

Dead Lake by Darcy Coats - I bought this on a whim because I read someone else's review on Goodreads, and the ebook was cheap. I still think it'll be good!

Ninth House by Leigh Barugo - This was my favorite read of 2019! Barugo really outdid herself. It's spooky, thrilling and addicting. One of her best works yet!

The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood - I'm not much of a contemporary/romance reader, but I really loved this one! It's an unconventional love story that left even me teary eyed. 

Deadline & Blackout by Mira Grant - Deadline and Blackout are the second and third installments in Grant's Newsflash trilogy. To sum up the novels: zombies, journalists, political conspiracies. I enjoyed the first two novels but still need to read Blackout.

The Whisper Man by Alex North - I selected The Whisper Man as an add-on for Book of the Month around Halloween (wow, I really haven't been buying many books lately) and it was the perfect creepy read.

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll - I can't remember what this is about but this kept appearing in my Amazon suggestions, and the ebook was cheap, so I purchased it. It has TONS of good reviews on Amazon - it's rated 4.4 out of like 100,000, so it's likely a great read.

What does your list look like? Let me know in the comments!

WWW Wednesday (1/15/20)

In this weekly meme, I will answer three questions:


What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish?

What do you think you'll read next?


This meme is held by samannelizabeth.wordpress.com. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit with other participants and see what others are reading.

What are you currently reading?

Tonight I'm planning on picking up The Chestnut Man. I requested this several months ago on Libby, and the line finally got down to me. I can't remember what this book's about but I do know it's  of the mystery and/or thriller variety.

What did you recently finish?

I requested Deadly Waters on Netgalley just because of the author, Dot Hutchison who also wrote The Butterfly Garden. I did enjoy it, though there were a few issues I had with it. Check out my full review on Deadly Waters here. I also just finished One of Us is Next today. I gave it four stars as well, though I do prefer the first book, One of Us is Lying. Click here for my full review on One of Us is Next.

What do you think you'll read next?

I selected The Sun Down Motel as my January Book of the Month so I know I'll be diving into that soon. I also downloaded Hollow on Netgalley; I believe it's a YA horror about a girl who keeps seeing creepy AF figures in her photographs. There's another ARC I got from Netgalley as well as several ebooks I bought that were on sale. I also have some physical books that I checked out from my local library, so I have plenty to read.

What about you? What have you recently read, and what are you planning on reading? Let me know in the comments!

One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus

One of Us is Next

by Karen M. McManus
Published: Delacorte Press, 2020
Pages: 384
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Amazon, Goodreads

Here's a little advice for the next time we play: Always pick Dare.

About the book

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one's been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it's not an app, though—it's a game.

Truth or Dare.

Phoebe's the first target. If you choose not to play, it's a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it's that they can't count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon's gone, but someone's determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there's a whole new set of rules.

Review

One of Us is Next is a fast-paced, thrilling follow-up to the best seller One of Us is Lying.

Like the first book, One of Us is Next follows a group of students at Bayview High School must play what ends up as a deadly game of Truth or Dare. This is similar to the plot of the first novel in which Simon's blog exposes dark secrets, but in the sequel students must decide between the Unknown Person reveling a secret or completing a dare. 

Though containing some of the same characters as the first novel, new personalities are introduced to the storyline, such as feisty Phoebe and sweet Knox. The narrators are switched between Maeve (Bronwyn’s sister), Phoebe, Addy and Knox. I feel like this structure helps in keeping the story moving along quickly while keeping it interesting. The characters and their relationships amongst each other felt real; I especially enjoyed Knox and Maeve.

The plot, which is appealing, does kind of fall towards the end as the story takes on a hint of unbelievability towards the climax. This issue is the main reason why I rated it four stars instead of five. 

I really enjoyed One of Us is Next and recommend it to those who enjoyed the first book. 

RATING (out of five puppies)

Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison

Deadly Waters 

by Dot Hutchison
Published: Thomas & Mercer, 2020
Pages: 302
Genre: Thriller
Amazon, Goodreads

“It’s not about whether or not she did it; it’s that she could have. It makes us feel better about our snarling, seething cores of rage.”

About the book

Florida journalism undergrad Rebecca Sorley is like any other college student. She tries to keep up with her studies, her friends, and her hot-tempered roommate, Ellie, who regularly courts trouble with the law.

When a male student’s remains are found in alligator-infested waters, the university warns students to stay away from the reptiles. But then a second body shows up, and the link is undeniable. Both men belonged to the same fraternity and had a reputation for preying on and hurting women.

Ellie has previously threatened to kill men who don’t take no for an answer. Rebecca and her friends thought Ellie was kidding. But now a vigilante killer is roaming campus—someone who knows how to dispose of rapists. Someone determined to save female students from horrible crimes.

With each passing day, those who know Ellie become more convinced she’s responsible. But if she is, stopping her might not be in everyone’s best interest…

Review

Deadly Waters is just what its name suggests — a story spotlighting an important issue that also questions what constitutes appropriate punishment and how that line can quickly blur.

So what’s the book about?

Rebecca is a 20-year-old journalism student at the University of Florida who, along with her flatmates, is struggling following the after math of her friend’s brutal sexual assault.

Around her, men who have been accused of assault are finding themselves being murdered with the help of alligators. At first no one thinks anything of it… after all, college kids are known to do dumbass things. A pattern soon emerges, and Rebecca and her frustrated roommates find themselves in the middle of an investigation. The deaths also spark a movement, one that conveys the pain of sexual assault and communicates to men on campus that this behavior is NOT okay.

The topic is close to my heart and the story really spoke to me, especially because of an argument I recently had with a man who insisted that women not reporting assaults is “stupid” because if anyone ever laid a hand on him, he would have them charged to the full extent of the law. Naturally this pissed me off. I started explaining how sexual assaults leave women feeling shame and how having to explain their most shameful acts to police and in court is basically reliving the assault over and over again… but he just rolled his eyes. (Which doubly pissed me off). Deadly Waters shows how men often don’t understand sexual assault and how their behavior and thought patterns can contribute to the problem.

“We don’t report because the optimistic outcome is that we get ignored. Too often we’re punished for it, in ways they never are. Now we know someone’s listening. Someone cares. It’s so much easier to be brave when there’s the chance something good can come of it.”

However, the story also makes readers ask how perpetuators should be justly punished? Often those accused of sexual assault just get a slap on the wrist while the victims have to relive their pain everyday. Is the killer right in what she did? (It’s obvious from the beginning that the character is female). Or is it crossing that line?

What makes this story stand out is the structure of the duel points of view, the first being the first person perspective from the killer who is steadily and calmly executing young men proven to be assaulting innocent women. The other point of view is from an omnipresent narrator that follows Rebecca’s account throughout the novel. Though the author drops hints on the killer’s identity, readers are left guessing until the end.

A criticism I do have is that I guessed pretty easily at near the beginning who the killer was. Also, the constant use of pronouns left me confused quite a bit as almost every character in the story is female. Other than that, Deadly Waters is a book sure to leave readers thinking about it long after putting it down.

RATING (out of five puppies)