Thriller Thursday Reviews: Rock Paper Scissors & The Stalker
Happy Thriller Thursday everyone! It’s Sharon here and this week I am excited to share my thoughts on Alice Feeney’s new book Rock Paper Scissors and Sarah Alderson’s new book The Stalker. I really loved both of these books and it wasn’t until I was writing these reviews that I realized both books are set in remote areas of Scotland and both are centered around a married couple that is being stalked LOL. Visiting Scotland is on my bucket list, and after reading these books if I ever do get to visit, I am going to make sure that the area I visit is well populated 😀
Rock Paper Scissors Goodreads Author: Alice Feeney
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
Publisher: Flatiron Books
I am such a fan of Alice Feeney’s writing because she always keeps me on my toes with plot twists. I have loved all of her books, so I was very excited to read her latest book Rock Paper Scissors. I have to say this book did not disappoint and is by far my favorite.
Adam and Amelia Wright, along with their black lab Bob, are taking a much-needed weekend getaway to Scotland. Amelia won the trip in a raffle, and the destination is a secluded chapel in a remote town in Scotland. This weekend is just what their marriage needs and will be a make or break. They drive through a snowstorm to reach the chapel only to find it was not what they were expecting. There is no heat, the place is dusty, all the bedrooms are locked except for their room, though the freezer is full of ready-made meals to heat up and the wine cellar is fully stocked. When they see that their bedroom is decorated almost exactly like their bedroom at home, and then the power goes out, Bob goes missing, and Amelia see someone looking in the window, it becomes clear that Amelia winning this trip was not luck, but someone wanted them there. Who would go to all this trouble of getting them there? What is their alternative motive?
I loved the way that Feeney presented the story. We get chapters that are told from the POV of Adam and Amelia, so we get to know their thoughts on everything that is going on and also learn secrets they both are keeping. We also get chapters from the mysterious person that set this weekend up. I love how these chapters brought suspense to the book, and as I was reading these chapters I kept trying to figure out who this person was and what their motive was. There are also chapters that are from letters that Adam’s wife writes him every year on their anniversary but never lets him read. From these letters we get an inside look on what their marriage was like and what went wrong.
I was also fascinated by the neurological disorder that Adam suffered from. Adam has Prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness), he is unable to recognize facial features. Alice Feeney does a great job explaining what Adam sees when he looks at someone and those descriptions really creeped me out. I cannot imagine what it would be like to not recognize anyone that I know.
I really cannot say anything more about what happens during their weekend and the secrets that are revealed because that would just spoil the entire book. I will say that I loved the creepy atmosphere of this book. The beginning of the book gave me the chills with the creepy setting of the chapel. I was so engrossed in reading that I did not see or expect the plot twist that happened. This twist took the book in a whole new direction and made me stop and digest what I had just read. The creepiness was gone and was replaced with a high dose of suspense and tension that kept me on the edge of my seat for the rest of the book. 4 ½ stars
The Stalker Goodreads Author: Sarah Alderson
Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Publisher: Avon
When I read in the synopsis that Sarah Alderson’s new book, The Stalker, was about a newlywed couple spending their honeymoon on a remote island and that they were being stalked by someone who wanted them dead, I knew this book was right up my alley and I had to read it.
Liam and Laura have been married for a couple of months but postponed their original Greece honeymoon after the sudden death of Laura’s mother. They are now ready for a romantic getaway and have booked a private island off the coast of Scotland. The only way on or off the island is by private boat that will pick them up at the end of the week. What starts off as the perfect honeymoon, however, soon turns into a nightmare, as Liam and Laura discover that there is someone else on the island and this person wants them dead.
I loved how right off the bat the eeriness starts when a couple of local men tell Laura some stories of the island’s history, which makes Laura feel uneasy about the island. As they are enjoying their first couple of days and exploring the island, Laura cannot shake the feeling they are being watched and those feelings turn out to be true. When they are exploring an old, ruined castle, they find that someone has been living in one of the rooms. From the look of the room, they assume it is just a homeless person that made their way to the island and took up residency. But that night while they are having an intimate moment in-front of the fireplace in their cabin, Liam sees someone watching them through the window. The person is gone by the time Liam goes out to check, but that night as they slept someone has scratched ‘devil’ into the window glass. The next day they go in search of this person and while they are gone, the power is cut from their cabin and most of their food is stolen. With no way off the island, no food, and a psycho that is after them, Liam and Laura are in for the fight of their lives.
I loved the vivid descriptions Alderson gives of the island. I could just feel the creepy atmosphere flowing off the pages. This book is told mainly from the POV of Laura, but we also get some chapters from the POV of the stalker, and it was these chapters that really gave me the chills. Reading those chapters really added to the suspense and tension of the book.
As the tension and suspense mounted as Liam and Laura were trying to stay alive until the boat returns to pick them up, there is a plot twist that takes the book in a whole new direction. I was so caught up in what was happening that I did not see this twist coming and literally sat there with my mouth open after I read it. The pace of the book really picks up then and I was on the edge of my seat as I was reading.
I really cannot say much more about what happens because I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you enjoy stories that have a creepy, eerie setting, and a plot twist that will throw you through a loop, then I recommend Sarah Alderson’s The Stalker. 4 stars
Top Ten Tuesday – Bookish Pet Peeves
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Bookish Pet Peeves. I almost skipped this topic because I just couldn’t imagine that I could come up with ten things that really annoyed me, but man, once I got rolling, I surprised myself as to how many bookish pet peeves I actually do have. Some are related to books themselves, but more are related to my interactions with other people while I’m reading. (Side note: Excuse the awful photos. I took most of them myself and did it late at night with no time to properly stage or edit).
My Top 10 Bookish Pet Peeves
1. Series covers that don’t match. I love to collect hard copies of my favorite series, but I absolutely hate it when I end up with mismatched covers. The one pictured is my own fault honestly because I ordered the wrong cover for the first book and have yet to go back and replace it, but I will do it at some point because it bothers me every time I look at my shelves and see that mismatched book, lol.
2. Stickers on books. Seriously, why is this even a thing? The only thing worse than the sticker itself is that even if you can manage to get it off without tearing the cover, you end up with ugly, sticky gunk everywhere. To borrow a phrase from Marie Kondo, this does not spark joy.
3. When all of my library holds become available at the same time and there’s no way humanly possible to get them all read before they’re due. Again, my fault because I always have the maximum number of holds allowed, but still annoying…
4. Movie or TV Tie-In Covers. I don’t even know why these bother me so much but they always do, haha. I guess I just typically prefer the original cover that was designed for a book.
5. People talking to me while I’m trying to read. I can understand walking in the room and starting to say something before realizing that I’m reading, but if a person then continues to talk, assuming that what I’m doing is worthy of being disrupted? Just NO.
6. When I lend people books and they either don’t return them at all or take forever to return them, and/or they return them damaged.
7. People who ask me why I love to read so much and then proceed to tell me all of the reasons why they hate reading. Why do they think I care?
8. Love Triangles in Books. I’m sure there are plenty of authors out there who write them beautifully, but I still just usually get annoyed by them. I’m looking at you, Red Queen.
9. Insta-Love in Books. Even though I’ve developed a newfound appreciation for romance during the pandemic, I’m not quite a romantic enough to believe in Insta-Love so it typically annoys me when I come across it in books.
10. When my cat sits on my book or kindle while I’m trying to read. No, not really, I actually think it’s hilarious, lol. I just couldn’t think of a real pet peeve for number 10 so I figured I’d share a pet instead. 🙂
* * * * * *
Question: Do we share any bookish pet peeves?
Reviews: EIGHT PERFECT HOURS & THE SWEETEST REMEDY
It’s the start of another new week and I’m finally sharing the last of my September ARC reviews. I’m closing out with two great ones too, especially if you’re a fan of women’s fiction and romances of the slow-burn variety.
Eight Perfect Hours Goodreads Author: Lia Louis
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Publisher: Atria Books / Emily Bestler Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Eight Perfect Hours is a charming and heartwarming story about the power of fate and about living your life to the fullest. This was my first time reading a novel by Lia Louis and it was just delightful from start to finish.
The story follows Noelle Butterby, a young woman who is headed home from an event at her former college when she finds herself trapped on the interstate because a blizzard has closed the roads. Noelle has no food, no water, her phone is dead and so is her phone charger. She desperately needs to phone her very anxious mother and let her know that she’ll be later getting home than expected, but has no options. That is, until a handsome stranger named Sam knocks on her car window and offers to lend her his charger. Noelle is hesitant to agree since he’s a stranger but her desperation finally gets the better of her and she takes him up on his offer. Sam and Noelle end up chatting and bonding for the next eight hours until the roads finally open up. They part ways without exchanging numbers, never expecting to see each other again since Sam lives in America, while Noelle is in the UK.
Fate apparently has other ideas though and Sam and Noelle keep bumping into each other in the most random of places. Noelle is a romantic so she starts to feel like this is fate’s way of telling her Sam is the one. I thought both Noelle and Sam were adorable together so I of course was rooting for fate to keep on pushing them together so that something could happen between them. It’s a slow burn romance though. Both Sam and Noelle are dealing with a lot of things personally, including parents who are getting older and starting to struggle physically and mentally, so in a lot of ways, a romantic relationship is just in the way. Fate doesn’t care though and through every twist and turn of their lives, somehow Sam and Noelle keep finding each other. I swear it was so cute every time it happened. They got to the point where they would just grin and shake their heads, and I would just find myself sitting there grinning right along with them.
There are definitely some more serious moments, especially as Noelle is still working through some painful memories that the school event had returned to the forefront of her mind. Overall though, Eight Perfect Hours is just the sweetest and most heartwarming story and I highly recommend it to all of the romantics out there! 4.5 STARS
The Sweetest Remedy Goodreads
Author: Jane Igharo
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Publisher: Berkley Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed Jane Igharo’s debut novel Ties That Tether. In that book Igharo delivered a heartfelt, thought-provoking, and dramatic story about a young woman caught between following her heart and meeting her family’s expectations. I was eager to get my hands on a copy of her newest book, The Sweetest Remedy in hopes of getting another equally compelling story to fall into, and I’m excited to say that Igharo delivers big!
The Sweetest Remedy follows Hannah Bailey, a young woman who is the product of an affair between her white mother and a Nigerian man. Hannah only met her father once, when she was 9, but then he never came back. Hannah has therefore lived her live feeling like a piece of herself was missing and wondering what was wrong with her, that her father didn’t want to be part of her life. When he passes away, Hannah is therefore pretty shocked to receive an invitation to come to Nigeria to attend his funeral and meet the family she never knew she had, including several siblings. And what a life changing trip it turns out to be.
For those going into this story looking for a romance, it’s there and while it’s lovely, it does take a backseat to Hannah’s journey. Her journey is all about discovering and embracing her Nigerian roots, learning about her culture, and bonding with her siblings. I really liked Hannah and felt bad for her growing up feeling like her father had abandoned her, so I enjoyed this journey for her because she got to fill in so many pieces she had always felt were missing from her life.
That’s not to say that the journey was all smooth sailing. Some members of her father’s family were far more welcoming to Hannah than others, and there were a couple that were downright hostile, blaming Hannah for ripping their lives apart because they never knew she existed either and hated feeling like she had come to Nigeria to steal what was rightfully theirs. It’s hard for them to believe that their father was simply trying to right what he saw as the biggest wrong of his life, leaving Hannah alone and also keeping his children apart, living as strangers. I’m a sucker for a good family drama, so I was glued to the pages watching Hannah navigate these emotional minefields and try to win over everyone in her new family.
If you enjoy emotionally-charged stories about family, love, and finding oneself, I highly recommend The Sweetest Remedy. 4 STARS