Review: WHEREVER SHE GOES by Kelley Armstrong
Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong 
Published by Minotaur Books on June 25, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Pages: 292
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
WHEREVER SHE GOES Review
Kelley Armstrong’s newest book Wherever She Goes is a gripping psychological thriller that explores the lengths one woman will go to when she believes the police aren’t doing their jobs.
Single mom Aubrey Finch is in the neighborhood park one day and meets a young woman and her little boy. After some brief small talk, they go their separate ways, but the next time, Aubrey is in the park, she sees the same little boy being pulled unwillingly in an SUV which then speeds away. There’s no sign of his mother anywhere, so panicked and concerned for the boy’s safety, Aubrey phones the police. When they arrive on the scene, the reaction Aubrey gets is not at all what she is expecting. Because there’s no parent around reporting that their child has been abducted, the police refuse to believe Aubrey’s story and even go so far as to accuse her of being a mentally unstable attention seeker. Aubrey knows what she saw, and so, frustrated by law enforcement’s lack of action, she decides to take matters into her own hands to bring the little boy home safely…
Wow, what a wild ride this was. I had tremendous sympathy for Aubrey for so many reasons. I can’t even imagine trying to report something as important as a child abduction to the police and having them blow me off. I also honestly can’t imagine law enforcement behaving so irresponsibly, but it definitely serves as an effective device to move the story along and spur Aubrey into amateur sleuth mode. Even more so than the way she was treated by the police, however, my sympathy for Aubrey lies in the fact that she is newly divorced and trying to make it on her own without help from anyone. Her own child is living with her ex-husband full time now (Aubrey’s idea) because she’s living in a not-so-great neighborhood where the rent is cheap in hopes of saving up money for a better home that is more suitable for a child. I commend her for her independence in this matter but also felt bad for her because not having custody of her child immediately opens her up to all kinds of judgment from strangers. Everyone assumes she has done something terrible to not have her child living with her.
Aubrey also has her fair share of secrets that she has been hiding for years. I’ll admit that the fact she’s hiding something about herself, coupled with the way people kept questioning her sanity did give me pause as to whether or not Aubrey was a reliable narrator. I liked her so much though that I wanted her to be right so I was glued to the book to see what, if anything, she would find when she started looking for proof that there really was an abduction. The author does a fantastic job building up suspense here because when Aubrey starts trying to locate the woman she met in the park that day, she opens up a can of worms that is way more than she bargained for.
My only real complaint about Wherever She Goes is that I actually felt more invested in Aubrey’s personal dramas and in finding out about her past than I did in the abduction storyline. Both were interesting, of course, but the witnessing of a crime and having no one believe your story just felt a little stale to me, like it has been done many times before (The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window immediately come to mind). Aubrey’s personal story grabbed my attention and held it more since it was the more unique of the two.
Even with that one little quibble though, Wherever She Goes is still a very entertaining read. There were plenty of plot twists to keep me guessing and I found the ending to be very satisfying. I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers and domestic dramas.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a brand new psychological thriller about the lengths one woman will go to in order to save a child.
“Few crimes are reported as quickly as a snatched kid.”
That’s what the officer tells single mother Aubrey Finch after she reports a kidnapping. So why hasn’t anyone reported the little boy missing? Aubrey knows what she saw: a boy being taken against his will from the park. It doesn’t matter that the mother can’t be found. It doesn’t matter if no one reported it. Aubrey knows he’s missing.
Instead, people question her sanity. Aubrey hears the whispers. She’s a former stay-at-home mom who doesn’t have primary custody of her daughter, so there must be something wrong with her, right? Others may not understand her decision to walk away from her safe life at home, but years of hiding her past – even from the people she loves – were taking their toll, and Aubrey knows she can’t be the mother or wife she envisions until she learns to leave her secrets behind.
When the police refuse to believe her, she realizes that rescuing the boy is up to her alone. But after all the secrets, how far is she willing to go? Even to protect a child.
About Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.
Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.
Review: WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power
Wilder Girls by Rory Power Published by Delacorte Press on July 9, 2019
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
WILDER GIRLS Review
Rory Power’s Wilder Girls is an atmospheric read that takes a hard and disturbing look at what happens when a mysterious plague-like disease called the Tox infects the entire population of an all-girls boarding school. When Wilder Girls opens, many are already dead, both teachers and students, and the entire island has been in quarantine for eighteen months. Boats periodically come and drop off supplies for the quarantined survivors, but aside from that and the occasional promise that the CDC is doing everything they can to find a cure, there is no contact with the outside world.
The whole idea of the Tox drew me in right away. Powers does a wonderful job of creating an eerie and terrifying atmosphere by plunging her readers right into the action and showing us what the Tox has done to the girls. Even with our first glance around the school, we see a girl whose arm has suddenly grown reptilian-like scales on it, another girl whose eye has sealed shut and now appears to be growing something beneath the seal, and even a girl who appears to have grown a second spine that protrudes out of her back. And that’s just scratching the surface of ways this disease is manifesting itself. The mood is dark and desperate, there aren’t nearly enough supplies being sent, and most social conventions have flown out the window as the name of the game is survival. I read somewhere that this book is considered a feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies, and from those first moments, I definitely felt a similar vibe between the two books.
I also liked that the opening scenes really got my wheels turning with question after question and even got my inner conspiracy theorist humming. What the heck is the Tox? Why are everyone’s physical symptoms so different? Why the total isolation, without even radio contact? Is the government responsible for the tox? If not, is it something alien? And on and on, you get the idea. This is a book that will definitely make you think and it’s also a quick read because you’ll find yourself just dying to get all of your questions answered.
In addition to being fascinated by the deadly Tox, I also really enjoyed the friendship of the three main characters, Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. These three girls are very loyal to each other and do everything they can to make sure all three of them have the best chance of survival. When Byatt unexpectedly disappears. Hetty and Reese make it their mission to find out what has happened to her. What they find as they search for her is every bit as disturbing as the Tox itself and adds tremendous tension and suspense to what is already a book that you won’t want to put down.
*****
So why only 3.5 stars if this book has so many great things going for it? Well, I did have a few issues with it. The first is that I didn’t find the explanation for the Tox to be thorough enough for my liking. As interesting as it was, I felt like it was explained in a very vague way. Also, even though I liked the dynamic of their friendship, I didn’t feel emotionally invested in the three main characters. I don’t want to say that I didn’t care about what happened to them because that’s not true, but I just felt like they were at arm’s length and would have preferred getting to know a little more about each of them. One final issue I had was the ending, which was just way too open-ended for my liking.
Wilder Girls really is an entertaining read, especially for horror fans and if you don’t mind an open-ended read. I wanted more from it since it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but it’s still a good read overall. Be forewarned though that it is violent and gory, there are many deaths, as well as mentions of self-harm and suicide. It’s not a read for the faint of heart.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
Top Ten Tuesday – My Top 10 Favorite Socially Awkward Book Characters
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 Character Freebie (any topic you want that deals with book characters!). I decided to focus on some of my favorite characters in literature, my socially awkward little cinnamon rolls. Every time I come across a character who is super awkward around others, I feel a sense of kinship with them. I love these characters because they reinforce to me that I’m not alone in my awkwardness.
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My Top Ten Favorite Socially Awkward Book Characters
1, NINA HILL from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Nina is my new favorite socially awkward character. She’s an introvert who prefers the company of books and her cat Phil over people and I fell in love with her when I read this book recently.
I actually have a giveaway running for this book if you’re interested in meeting Nina. Check it out HERE.
2, NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM from the Harry Potter series
Neville, especially in the early books in the series, is just the sweetest, most awkward little bean.
I always wanted to wrap him in bubble wrap to protect him from bullies like Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
Ove has no idea whatsoever how to relate to people. He’s just so grumpy and awkward that it’s actually endearing.
4, KHAI DIEP from The Bride Test
Khai Diep is adorable but his autism makes it so hard for him to process emotions
and to relate to other people, especially women. Thank goodness he has Esme to show him the way.
5, CHARLOTTE GORMAN from The Accidental Beauty Queen
Charlotte is another bookish girl after my own heart. She may be the accidental beauty queen,
but she is also the queen of awkward encounters, especially when it comes to members of the opposite sex.
Fanfiction and online life is so much easier than dealing with real people,
or that’s what Cath Avery thinks anyway and I kind of have to agree with her.
7. LARA JEAN from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Lara Jean’s anxious, especially around boys she likes
and most especially when embarrassing things happen to her. So very relatable.
8. BIRDIE LINDBERG from Serious Moonlight
Raised somewhat isolated and homeschooled, Birdie has not been well educated in the fine arts of how to interact with people.
She gets bonus points for being the one who wants to expand her own horizons and learn how to better relate to people by getting her first job.
9. RISHI PATEL from When Dimple Met Rishi
Rishi is a hopeless romantic and just so ridiculously adorable in his awkwardness. He’s another sweet boy that I just wanted to wrap
in bubble wrap to protect him from the wrath of Dimple. He was just so clueless about her that I seriously thought she was going to hurt him, lol.
10. SIMON SPIERS from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Okay, so maybe Simon isn’t as awkward as some of the other picks on my list,
but he definitely has some awkward moments as he and Blue are getting to know each other.
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Who are some of your favorite socially awkward characters?