Welcome to What I’ve Been Reading Lately, a feature where I’ll be giving short reviews of what I’m currently reading:
This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
I’ll make it clear from the start: I did not kill Hugh Henry Van Boren. I didn’t even help…Well, not intentionally.
All Jess Choudhary wants is to keep her head down, do her work, and make it through high school without any problems. As a scholarship student–and one of only two students of Indian heritage–her future at the elite school depends on her ability to keep a low profile and spotless record. But when one of the most popular and richest kids in the school ends up dead in the exact same way as a character in a short story she wrote, Jess unintentionally finds herself at the center of the investigation.
And then Jess receives an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration.
As rumors run rampant about who the murderer could be, Jess knows if she doesn’t solve this mystery herself, she’ll finally have something in common with Hugh: she’ll be dead too.
I am gearing up for spooky season by starting off with a dark academia thriller and I chose a perfect one with this exciting debut from Ravena Guron! Shortlisted for The Diverse Book Awards, this book provides the tension and suspense that you are looking for in a thriller. However, it also contains a relatable teenage character that you want to continue to root for till the very end.
Mismatched: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Emma by Anne Camlin and illustrated by Isadora Zeferino
A teen social media star learns he can’t control everything in this delicious, queer graphic novel adaptation that relocates Jane Austen’s Emma to a modern-day high school in Queens, New York.
Evan Horowitz has it all: beauty, brains, and a not-so-secret flair for matchmaking! An Insta influencer with a talent for makeup and a taste for romance, he’s no stranger to playing cupid for those hopelessly clueless in finding love.
So when shy transfer student Natalia shuffles into school one day, Evan can’t help but get his hands messy! With so many matches to choose from, it’s not long before he sets a plan in motion for Natalia–much against the better judgement of his level-headed best friend, Davi.
But he takes things too far, creating a web of drama that spirals out of his control. Can Evan learn to put the people closest to him before his misguided ambition? Or will he lose them and his own chance at romance, too? (Credit: Little, Brown Ink)
I am a sucker for Jane Austen adaptations and this one is no exception. This one in graphic novel format but retelling a classic that doesn’t always get retold is enlightening and refreshing to see. Particularly with this one, so far, it is capturing the joys of Emma and why she is such a complicated but loveable character.
The Chamber by Will Dean
Six experienced saturation divers are locked inside a hyperbaric chamber. Calm and professional, they know that rapid decompression would be fatal and so they work in shifts, breathing helium, and surviving in hot, close quarters.
Then one of them is found dead in his bunk.
With four days of decompression to go before the locked hatch to the chamber can be safely opened, the group must watch one another’s backs at all times. And when another diver is discovered unresponsive, everyone is on edge. What…or who…is taking them out one by one? And will any of them still be alive by the time the four days is up or will paranoia, exhaustion, suspicion, and pressure destroy them all? (Credit: Atria Books)
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
Meet Judith: a seventy-seven-year-old whiskey drinking, crossword puzzle author living her best life in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Marlow.
Nothing ever happens in Marlow. That is, until Judith hears her neighbor shot while skinny-dipping in the Thames. The local police don’t believe her story. It’s an open and shut case, of course. Ha! Stefan can’t be left for dead like that.
Judith investigates and picks up a crew of sidekicks: Suzie the dogwalker and Becks the vicar’s wife. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.
When another body turns up, they realize they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…
For so long, I wanted to start this series for the longest and now with the PBS series starting soon and also the need for me to read this for an upcoming Dueling Detectives program, now is the perfect opportunity to do so!
What I Plan to Read Next:
Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox
Expected Publication Date: December 10
On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn’t being followed. His phone is dead, he has no money, no contacts, no one at all. Until he runs into a young woman named Bobbie who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon Pierce, who disappeared five years ago without a trace.
At Bobbie’s suggestion, Lynch goes to the Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. But far from tricking them, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He strikes the devil’s bargain with them – their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon.
But Lynch’s investigation goes too deep and uncovers the fact that Heydon Pierce was tangled up with some dangerous and powerful people in London. Everyone has their own motives to keep Heydon well buried in the past. In such a conspiracy of mirrors, there’s only one thing Lynch know for certain: the only person he can trust is himself. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Midnight Game by Cynthia Murphy
Six strangers. One night. But how many survivors?
When a group of six strangers who have only ever spoken on a creepy Deddit thread decide to meet IRL, they have one plan in mind: they are going to play The Midnight Game and summon the Midnight Man.
Rules of the game are simple: Do not turn on the lights. Do not go to sleep. Do not leave the building.
And once you start the game, you must finish it–there’s no other way out… (Credit: Delacorte Press)
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning. (Credit: Viking)
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University’s new Multimedia Art course, must find six students from all walks of life across the United Kingdom for her new master’s program before the university cuts her funding. The students are nothing but trouble from day one.There’s Jem, a talented sculptor recently graduated from her university program and eager to make her mark as an artist at any cost. Jonathan, who has little experience in art practice aside from running his family’s gallery. Patrick runs an art supply store, but can barely operate his phone, much less design software. Ludya is a single mother and graphic designer more interested in a paycheck than homework. Cameron is a marketing executive in search of a hobby or a career change. And Alyson, already a successful artist, seems to be overqualified. Finally, there is the examiner, the man hired to grade students’ final works–an art installation for a local cloud-based solutions company that may have an ulterior agenda–and who, in sifting through final essays, texts, and message boards, warns that someone is in danger…or already dead. And nothing about this course has been left up to chance. (Credit: Atria Books)
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