Book of the Week: Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Welcome to another week!  That means, Book of the Week time!  Yes, I know I forgot last week's book of the week...don't judge me.  Panic attacks and anxiety attacks are not known to be the best of means to get productive things done...just saying.  Anyway! 

This week's book, you can find listed on my TBR for the month...right there *points to the shiny box*  Chances are I will actually get it done by the end of the month and it won't have to carry on another month...This is what I'm hoping anyway!  

This week's book is....*insert drum roll here*: 

Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Lynn Weingarten

I've had this book for a few months (got it as an early Christmas gift because my friends know that books are always a win for me) and I'm actually looking forward to reading it.  

I've read mixed things about it, and ultimately I'm willing to give it a shot. It's been on my wishlist for a while, and was actually near the top of it until of course it became mine in one form or another.  

I share with you the awesome blurb taken from Goodreads about this book..

They say Delia burned herself to death in her stepfather’s shed. They say it was suicide.

But June doesn’t believe it.

June and Delia used to be closer than anything. Best friends in that way that comes before everyone else—before guys, before family. It was like being in love, but more. They had a billion secrets, tying them together like thin silk cords.

But one night a year ago, everything changed. June, Delia, and June’s boyfriend, Ryan, were just having a little fun. Their good time got out of hand. And in the cold blue light of morning, June knew only this—things would never be the same again.

Now Delia is dead. June is certain she was murdered. And she owes it to her to find out the truth…which is far more complicated than she ever could have imagined.

Sexy, dark, and atmospheric, Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls will keep you guessing until the very last page. 

So, yeah, I'm really, really hoping that I get to this one at least by the end of the month.  There will of course be a review .... eventually, because that's what I do :) 

BotW: 10/18-10/24 - Malice by Griffin Hayes

This week's book of the week is one that is near and dear to my heart.  I am a huge horror fan as most of you know, and there are quite a few fantastic horror authors that are out there.  However, I've been a huge fan of this author and honestly own quite a few of (if not all) of his works on Kindle, and even was lucky enough to be gifted a copy of my favorite novel of his in paperback, signed.  

This author is absolutely wonderful, and I'm glad to share his work with you and feature this novel with you this week here at Confessions!  So, without further adieu, I give you this week's Book of the Week: 

Malice
Griffin Hayes

I highly recommend reading this book during daylight hours, or if you read it in the dark do not do so before you are going to bed.  I will not be blamed for your recklessness of reading this too close to bedtime! You have been warned! 

I have owned this book for several years now, and have my review posted here on the blog, you can click here to find it.  

Set in Millingham, Massachusetts, there are several unexplained suicides happening.  There is a common thread to all of these deaths.  The authorities have no idea how or why the victims are killing themselves, or more importantly - why they are gouging out their eyes.  

Lysander Shore, a seventeen-year-old, knows that the deaths aren't suicides.  He knows that there is a serial killer stalking Millingham.  The killer has a list, a list dating back 350 years, and as Lysander continues to dig - he soon realizes he is next.  

The writing in this book is phenomonal, and I've always been a sucker for a story that leaves my skin crawling and leaves me afraid to turn off the light for fear of what goes bump in the night.  

If you are looking for a fantastically dark and twisted story, I highly suggest Griffin Hayes' Malice! 

What's On My Kindle: Unsorted Part 2

This week's What's on My Kindle? is venturing back into my unsorted categories (yes, since the last one this particular sorting location has multiplied...I blame my one-click addiction with freebies, and various gift cards for birthdays, Christmas, etc.)

I've been working hard in the last month and a half to break into some of these novels, short stories, erotic moments in the unsorted categories on my kindle, and ultimately get them sorted into categories (even if it is the challenge category for this year or any subsequent year).  For now, I will be showcasing a few more books from that category.  Enjoy!

1.) The Gingerbread Man - Maggie Shayne

When did I actually get this book...umm..*flees to check amazon purchase log...* August 15, 2013...Yup, it's been sitting on my kindle nearly 2 years...and have I read it? NOPE!  Never even cracked it open.  Will I?  Quite possibly in the near or not so near future, but it will get read at some point...just like everything else on my Kindle.

This is a mystery/thriller novel, that focuses around Detective Vincent O'Mally.  When he finds two missing children dead, the FBI has taken over the case and O'Mally takes time off going to upstate New York.  While he's there he meets a woman whose sister had been abducted and murdered.  O'Mally believes that death of Holly Newman's sister is tied to the two missing children that had been found and begins attempting to gain information from Holly.

2.) Quantum Shaman: Diary of a Nagual Woman by Della Van Hise

Another one that I'd purchased 2 years ago (though I think it might have fallen into a spree of one-click freebie purchases, I don't entirely remember!).  Purchase date is the same as The Gingerbread Man, and I'm not entirely sure what drew me to this title, other than the fact that it was free.  Though, now that I read over the blurb again, I originally had thought it interesting and perhaps it will be when I get around to reading it.

Diary of a Nagual Woman is the compelling story of one woman’s journey on the path with heart. A personal and chilling confrontation with the very nature of life and death, which brings the reader face to face with the shaman’s double: the immortal & mysterious Other who takes on a life of his own, & manifests the key to unlocking our own evolution of consciousness. 

3,) Choking on a Camel by Michal Anne McArthur

This one has officially been on my kindle for 2 years, and I've not cracked it open, or even considered cracking it open though the title does amuse me.  I am usually not a fan of Christian fiction/religious fiction in general, so what made me actually one-click this book I'm not entirely sure - though I think it may have been the title.

I've learned that some of the one-clicks are a hit-or-miss with the writing/story/etc.  So, I will be giving this one a try, and if I like it yay, if not then it will be time I cannot get back, but it will be another book read.

So, here is a bit of the blurb:

In the spring of 1969, Alex Ferguson’s fiancé breaks their engagement. A strong Calvinist, he’s stung by Alex’s sharp questions about predestination, determinism, and the eternal damnation of non-Christians, ideas that horrify Alex.
On June 20, 1969, Alex is forced to face her questions again when her atheist brother is killed in an accident. To think of her beloved younger brother in eternal torment is more than she can handle. Who is God, that He should predestine people to damnation? Her emotions start to unravel.
She returns for her senior year to her fundamentalist university in the heart of the smoldering, still largely segregated South, her mind burning with questions. She’s always been a devout believer, but now she’s not so sure she can continue in her faith. Under intense pressure from the school, outwardly she conforms, but inwardly, she’s seething. She lives a double life to cover up how she really feels. She wrestles with a God she wants to love, maybe hates, and definitely doesn’t understand.

4.) The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld by Christine Wiltz

Purchase date: May 12, 2013...Yup, another one sitting there for over 2 years.  This is why I cannot have nice things.  This is further proof that I will never, ever, ever get to the bottom of my TBR pile.  Seriously, I have a problem.  This I know.

However, I do know what drew me to this one.  I'm a sucker for a good memoir, a good biography.  This is just that.  This is the story of Nora Wallace who arrived in New Orleans in 1916 at age fifteen and had quickly gone from streetwalker to madam, and by 1920 had her own house of prostitution.  Clientele included governors, gangsters and movie stars.  She was arrested in 1962.   Christine Wiltz used the tapes recorded by Norma Wallace before her death in 1972, and her own research to write this thrilling account of the woman's life, as well as grants us another look into the social history of New Orleans.

5.) Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Purchase date: March 12, 2013...birthday gift card two years ago.  I am not entirely sure what else was purchased with that gift card and if I'd read the rest of the books that had been purchased...but this one apparently has been allowed to remain dormant in my unsorted category since I purchased it.  This one, I do have plans to start as soon as I am done with my current book, so it will soon be sorted!

I'd purchased this one because so many of my friends on Goodreads had provided rave reviews and had sent me countless recommendations for it.  So, once my gift card had come in for my birthday I made it one of my purchases and it got buried under everything else I'd read that year and the year after and apparently most of what I'd read this year so far. 

What books are on your TBR pile that you've not gotten to in a couple of years?

Review: Dark Passage by Griffin Hayes

This is the second work I've read by Griffin Hayes and I fall in love with the twisted thrillers all the more.  This story, about a man named Tyson Barrett, who is tortured by nightmares of his traumatic childhood, receives a miracle cure for his insomnia.  However, as we've learned, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.  That is the case with this so called "miracle cure" that Tyson hopes will not only solve his medical problems but his personal ones as well (considering he has become estranged from his wife and young son) and his business is on the verge of collapse.

However, this miracle cure is not without its dark side.  Tyson still dreams, however, when he wakes, something returns with him.  Something spawned from the deepest, darkest depths of his psyche, however there is something bigger, something more evil than what has already come through.  However, this evil isn't after Tyson - it wants his son.

This book is a fantastic lesson that not all dreams were meant to come true.  This book had me on the edge of my seat most of the time, and more often than not I would only read it during day light hours because I've read Stephen King before bed, and Griffin Hayes has managed to have a Stephen King like effect on me with his thrillers.  My dreams are not a safe place when I read his thrillers, so I highly recommend not reading this before a nap, before bed...broad daylight, outside, where you stand no chance of falling asleep is definitely good!

Vividly descriptive characters weave a web of horror and mystery that will keep you intrigued until the very end.  It will keep you on the edge of your seat and ultimately is one that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror or if you occasionally like to indulge in the "darker" type of stories...read this one!  The pace is perfect and the story won't feel rushed at all.

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review.  Thank you Griffin Hayes for the opportunity to read yet another one of your fantastic thrillers. 

Review: Beneath the Shadows by Sara Foster

Title:  Beneath the Shadows
Author:  Sara Foster
Rating: 4/5

Summary:  A year after her husband, Adam, vanishes outside their Yorkshire moor cottage, Grace returns with her infant daughter Millie.  However, when the weather turns nasty and the winter storms threaten to cut her off from the rest of the world Grace makes a discovery and now must attempt to get her daughter back from the one person intent on taking her away, praying she can get to them on time.


Review:  North Yorkshire has been setting to some of my favorite stories throughout my reading career Dracla, Wuthering Heights, and that in and of itself gives this story brownie points in my book.  After Adam’s mother dies of cancer, he moves in with his grandparents, after attending University and meeting Grace, he marries her, their daughter born within their first year of marriage.  Adam’s grandparents die, and leave him the cottage, so they move from London to the cottage in North Yorkshire.  After they move into the cottage, Adam takes Millie for a walk – Millie is returned, Adam however is not found. 

The tiny village near the cottage is pretty much deserted; however, there is still an old schoolhouse where Meredith and her daughter Claire live. Claire is fine, however, there is something being masked by Meredith’s perfectly polite demeanor.  Ben, the handyman/contractor Grace hires to renovate the cottage is also hiding something…and no one is willing to divulge their secrets.  Winter’s approaching, and this often means snowstorms that keep drivers from being able to see the road, along with a grandfather clock that stops and starts at 3am, and we can’t forget the stories in Ghosts of the Moors – all of these things are slowly doing their best to drive Grace slightly mad. 

The sense of menace is real in this story, and the setting only adds to it and brings it more into being.  The mysteries surrounding Adam’s disappearance, Ben’s secret, and Meredith’s less than honest welcoming attitude are all eventually revealed.  My only disappoint me is that it didn’t have a bit more touch on Wicker Man/Harvest Home theme to it.  My only complaint that dropped this down from a five star review was the constant use of “tears streaming down her face” in reference to Grace when she was crying (which happened frequently).


If you have any questions, comments or recommendations you can contact me at simplicity.kindreth@gmail.com
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