ARC NetGalley: The House Swap by Jo Lovett

My Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis from GR: 

He needs an escape. She needs an adventure. So why not swap lives?

When Cassie and James find each other on a home swap website, it feels meant to be. City hotshot James needs a bolthole after a relationship goes sour and Cassie needs to leave the comfort of her little island to research her new book.

Soon, James is living in Cassie’s cute but ramshackle house off the coast of Maine, and Cassie’s living in James’s super smart London penthouse. It’s the perfect solution.

Except it turns out it’s difficult to switch homes without getting involved in each other’s lives. Cassie’s unimpressed when James’s ex turns up, and James is furious when he discovers that he’s going to have to help organise Cassie’s neighbour’s eightieth birthday party.

But as the insults fly, so do the sparks, and when the time finally comes to swap back, Cassie and James find they aren’t ready to give each other up – until a shocking discovery brings the pair crashing back to reality and forces them to decide what life they really want.

My Review:

3 things I liked of this book & 3 things I didn't.

Likes
1_the house-swap storyline: it got me curious right from the start since I'd never read anything similar and it didn't disappoint
2_Cassie's house and life in the island: it felt cozy, peaceful and so charming; I also really wanted to be the one hugging Cassie's lamas!
3_The easygoing and friendly relationship that Cassie and James managed to form around the middle of the book: it seemed they could talk about anything and be a support one for the other even at distance. But this good point leads me to the bad ones.

Dislikes
1_James: I wasn't overly fond of him at the beginning (he was such a jerk) and while after a while he started to get better I never really connected to him. He changed so much around 35-40% of the book and it was a bit out of the blue to me. One minute he's trying to cozy up Cassie and the next one he's genuinely kind to her and her friends. I'm not saying I didn't like the change, it just wasn't as gradually unfolded as I'd have liked.
2_Cassie & James love story: I really liked them as friends but at the end of the book I realized I didn't like them as much as a couple. I felt as I didn't get a real chance to like them like that. The L-word was quite sudden, given their circumstances. I'm going to quote the words of another reviewer (here's she is) since they describe quite well what I think: "here was a lot of telling, and very little feeling or showing".
3_(I'll be as unspoilerish as possible) the 'trick' used to bring them back together after they had a fall apart: it was predictable and annoying at a certain level.

Overall The House Swap is an enjoyable enough book but I felt it lacked something on the romance department, maybe it's just me.

At last, I'd like to thank the author and NetGalley for the chance to read this book for free in exchange for an honest opinion

ARC NetGalley: The Necklace by Matt Witten

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis: 

The clock ticks down in a heart-pounding crusade for justice

Susan Lentigo’s daughter was murdered twenty years ago—and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer’s execution.

On her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent—and the real killer is still free. Even worse, her prime suspect has a young daughter who’s at terrible risk. With no money and no time to spare, Susan sets out to uncover the truth before an innocent man gets executed and another little girl is killed.

But the FBI refuses to reopen the case. They—and Susan’s own mother—believe she’s just having an emotional breakdown. Reaching deep, Susan finds an inner strength she never knew she had. With the help of two unlikely allies—a cynical, defiant teenage girl and the retired cop who made the original arrest—Susan battles the FBI to put the real killer behind bars. Will she win justice for the condemned man—and her daughter—at last?

I'm a bit conflicted about The Necklace.

The premise of the book is original and it's very easy to get affected by the tragedy Susan lived.

The story is told by a Now & Then point of view which offer the reader an insight in the weeks and months that followed Amy's murder.

However there's some flashbacks that are told in present tense during the now perspective and it's sounded a bit strange to me. Also it felt all of sudden quite impersonal and detached, at odds with the rest of it.

The ending, while expected, in my opinion was a bit anticlimactic.

There's no real explanation of HIS motives (except the obvious); all we get are the strange feelings Susan had, feelings she wasn't sure she believed herself.

Also, was Amy HIS first and only crime? 'Cause it was implied otherwise but we don't get any follow-up info about it.

I admit this annoyed me quite a bit and it's mostly why I didn't rate this book as a full 4 stars.

At last, I'd like to thank the author for the chance to read his book through NetGalley and I hope he appreciates my honest review.

ARC NetGalley: A Caller's Game by J.D. Barker

My rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis from GR: 

Controversial satellite radio talk show host, Jordan Briggs, has clawed her way to the top of the broadcast world. She doesn’t hold back, doesn’t spare feelings, and has no trouble sharing what's on her mind. Her rigorous pursuit of success has come at a price, though. Her marriage is in ruins, she hasn’t spoken to her mother in years, and she's distanced herself from all those close to her. If not for her young daughter, Charlotte, her personal life would be in complete shambles.

When a subdued man calls into the show and asks to play a game, she sees it as nothing more than a way to kick-start the morning, breathe life into the beginnings of drive-time for her listeners. Against her producer's advice, she agrees, and unwittingly opens a door to the past.

Live on the air with an audience of millions, what starts out as a game quickly turns deadly—events long thought buried resurface and Jordan Briggs is forced to reconcile with one simple fact—All decisions have consequences. 

This book has many good points: the story in itself it's original and quite interesting; there are various plot twist to keep the reader on his toes and there's a really disturbing bad guy.

What I didn't like: Jordan
She's a difficult, opinionated and verbose woman.
While the not so likeable female main character it's part of the storyline, I felt that all her monologues at the beginning didn't really offer that much of an insight. I was a bit bored to be honest.
Her mini-me, in the first chapters, wasn't much better: she's a 11 years old with the attitude of a grown up cynical woman.

That said, when Bernie's scheme really started to unfold, things became quite interesting pretty fast!
That's why I'm happy to have read A Caller's Game even if we started on the wrong foot.

At last, I'd like to thank the author for the chance to read his book through NetGalley and I hope he appreciates my honest review

ARC: All I Never Needed by Katie Klein

My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis from GR:

When seventeen-year-old Harley Belle Thorpe is rushed to her father’s house on the opposite side of the country, she’s only expecting to stay a week at most—just until things settle down. She doesn’t expect her ex-boyfriend to violate the restraining order against him, or for her trip to be extended indefinitely, and she certainly isn’t expecting River Havencroft, her stepmother’s nephew.

River’s summer is unfolding exactly as anticipated—working alongside his twin sister with their two young cousins and attempting to reconcile the future he’s envisioned for himself with the one his family has already planned for him—until Harley, that is.

Everything about his uncle’s daughter works against their world of country clubs, prep schools, and trust funds, but the more time they spend together the less River can imagine this world—and his own—without her in it. She is everything he didn’t know he needed.

But as the sun sets on summer, Harley’s ex-boyfriend will make a dangerous play to lure her back to him, leaving River desperate to keep her safe. The only question that remains: how far is he willing to go?

All I Never Needed is the first book I read of this author but it won't be the last!

I really liked how the story takes its time and how, in the meantime, the reader can really get to know the various characters. While the focus it's obviously on River and Harley, the story it's told by their alternating point of view, a lot of other characters played an important role in it.
As a matter of fact, I think that one of the things that made the book so realistic and interesting was indeed all their interactions with River and Harley. Each character affected the other in one way or another and in the end it made for one fluid book's universe and a really good story to read.

The 'mystery' or the 'romance' part of the book took sometimes a background role in the story but I didn't perceive it as a bad thing. As I said, the book takes its time to unfold and the reader should be prepared to enjoy the ride without any rush to get to the end.
I enjoyed it very much!

At last, I'd like to thank the author Katie Klein for the chance to read her book for free through BookSirens and I hope she appreciates my honest review

ARC: Between Wild and Ruin (Wild And Ruin #1) by Jennifer G. Edelson

My rating: 3 stars

Series: Wild and Ruin #1

Synopsis from GR: 

Truth, like love, isn’t always obvious.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby Brooks has never had a boyfriend. After moving to small-town La Luna, New Mexico following her mother’s untimely death, boys aren’t even on her radar. Ruby just wants to forget the last horrible year and blend in. But when she discovers an ancient pueblo ruin in the forest behind her house, and meets Ezra, a bitter recluse whose once-perfect face was destroyed in an accident he won’t talk about; Angel, La Luna’s handsome sheriff’s deputy, and Leo, a stranger who only appears near the ruin, Ruby finds herself teetering between love, mystery, and other worlds. What happened to Ezra’s face? And why is she so attracted to the one boy in town everyone despises? As Ruby unravels her own connections to both Ezra and the pueblo ruin, she’ll learn surfaces are deceiving. Especially in the heart of New Mexico, where spirits and legends aren’t always just campfire stories.

Between Wild and Ruin it's a nice enough story but I wasn't captivated by it or its characters.
While the setting and the legends around La Luna are really interesting I couldn't really connect with Ruby and her relationship management skills (or lack of thereof).
I guess that depends on my age ;)

The author though is really good in describing the landscapes and the nature's wilderness around La Luna. That and the various stories about the people of that area were my favorite part of the book.

All in all, I think that a younger reader could really enjoy this book and I would honestly recommend it.

At last, I'd like to thank the author Jennifer G. Edelson for the chance to read her book for free through BookSirens and I hope she appreciates my honest review.

Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells [John Cleaver #5]

My Rating: 3 stars

Series:  John Cleaver #5

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

John and Brooke are on their own, hitchhiking from town to town as they hunt the last of the Withered through the midwest— but the Withered are hunting them back, and the FBI is close behind. With each new town, each new truck stop, each new highway, they get closer to a vicious killer who defies every principle of profiling and prediction John knows how to use, and meanwhile Brooke’s fractured psyche teeters on the edge of oblivion, overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of dead personalities sharing her mind. She flips in and out of lucidity, manifesting new names and thoughts and memories every day, until at last the one personality pops up that John never expected and has no idea how to deal with. The last of Nobody’s victims, trapped forever in the body of his last remaining friend.

Review:

I admit I was expecting something more from this book, especially since I liked so much the previous one. 

While I enjoyed the focus on John and Brooke/not Brooke, it felt like the first half of the book dragged on for too long: the storyline with the first Withered seemed, after all, quite unnecessary. 

I'd have appreciated more background information and more details on the second storyline instead, it was way more interesting!

I'm also not a fan of John's decision at the end but I'm hoping that the next book will right things up. I'm optimistic like that.

The Devil's Only Friend by Dan Wells [John Cleaver #4]

My rating: 4.5 stars

Series:  John Cleaver #4

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

John Wayne Cleaver hunts demons: they've killed his neighbors, his family, and the girl he loves, but in the end he's always won. Now he works for a secret government kill team, using his gift to hunt and kill as many monsters as he can...

...but the monsters have noticed, and the quiet game of cat and mouse is about to erupt into a full scale supernatural war.

John doesn't want the life he's stuck with. He doesn't want the FBI bossing him around, he doesn't want his only friend imprisoned in a mental ward, and he doesn't want to face the terrifying cannibal who calls himself The Hunter. John doesn't want to kill people. But as the song says, you can't always get what you want. John has learned that the hard way; his clothes have the stains to prove it.

When John again faces evil, he'll know what he has to do.


This is, so far, one of my favorite book in the series.

I liked the change of scenery and the darker tones (not that the past books were sunshine and flowers but still): John always felt older than his years so the school setting didn't fit that well to me.
I liked also the new set of characters.
I tried to not get attached to any of them since the author has the bad habit of "sending away" the ones I like the most but, let me tell you, that it didn't work that much.

The most interesting additions were Potash and Elijah, mostly Elijah.
I'd have liked to know more about their past.

I'm quite curious about the next installment since the synopsis gives some not so subtle clues about what will be going on with Brooke...that said, since I've already added it to my kindle library, it won't be long 'till I'll find out ;)