Reading with Carlie

This week we're looking at mysteries and thrillers with some less than trustworthy women. We know we can't trust them - they're hiding their faces! Does this mean they're lying? Let's find out. An Anonymous Girl Release Date: January 8, 2019 Quick Synopsis: Jess enjoys her job as a makeup artist in New York Cit y but it isn’t the most lucrative career. When she overhears a client discussing plans to bail on a paid psychological study, Jess steps in to fill the spot. At first, Jess finds the questions in the study to be incredibly personal and invasive. But, as she begins to work more closely with the study’s creator, Dr. Lydia Shields, she starts to lose her inhibitions. As she falls deeper into the work, it becomes harder to tell what’s real and what’s been manufactured as part of the study. And maybe Dr. Shields wasn’t as trustworthy as Jess first thought... My Thoughts: This is the follow-up to Hendricks and Pekkanen’s ...

After Gone Girl, it seemed like every thriller that was released had the word "girl" in it. These days, a new theme has emerged - see if you can spot it. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager Release Date: July 3, 2018 Synopsis: Emma Davis knows that returning to Camp Nightingale is a bad idea. Her time there as a child ended in tragedy when her four fellow cabinmates went missing. Still, she obsesses over the missing girls she once knew, and when she's recruited to come back to the camp for the summer, she can't resist. But, as she starts to dig deeper into the past, she realizes that the danger might not be gone, even after all these years. My Thoughts: This book was phenomenal. If you love thrillers, as I do, you'll know that there are some books that are only good because of the twist. You trudge along, kind of confused, until the author throws in some wild twist that makes up for the lackluster start. That is not the case with this book...

When college freshman Greer Kadetsky meets feminist icon Faith Frank, she is sure that her life is going to take off. In Faith, she finds a mentor who understands her passion and ambition, so she follows her to New York, eager to join the ranks of powerful women setting out to make the world a better place. Do not be fooled by the title - this book is not another version of The Feminine Mystique . Sure, there are some underlying feminist themes but at its heart, the book is really just about people trying to live their lives as best they can - I wouldn't read it looking for a big, new takeaway or aha moment. With Faith, we have an imperfect hero, someone who made compromises along the way to achieve her goals. It's up to you to decide if she made the right choices. The book focuses not just on Greer but also on Zee, her best friend, and Cory, her high-school boyfriend, as they graduate from school and come to find that life doesn't always go as planned. The coming-of-age...

Mike Hayes, our narrator, is in love with the mysterious Verity. Sure, she isn't with him at the moment. Maybe, technically, she is engaged to another man. But Mike has played these games with Verity before. He knows to stay patient and wait for her signal - only then can they live happily ever after. This one is heavy on the psychological aspect of the psychological thriller. Rather than a sharp, sudden twist in the story, the novel features an incredibly satisfying slow burn. When you finally understand what is really going on, you won't be able to put the book down. It is dark and stays dark, so if you prefer your thrillers wrapped up in a neat little bow, this is not for you. 4/5

The town of Sparrow is haunted. Hundreds of years ago, the townspeople executed three young women accused of witchcraft. Now, the women return each year to exact their revenge by luring young men out to sea, never to return. Penny Talbot, who lives with her mother, expects this year will be no different. However, when she meets newcomer Bo Carter, she finds herself at the center of the action, desperate to keep him out of the hands of the sisters. But who can Penny and Bo trust? I really enjoyed this novel. The sisters are an interesting combination of witch and siren and prove to be, at least somewhat, sympathetic villains. There is a major twist/reveal about halfway through, and while it isn't entirely unpredictable, I found myself glad Ernshaw took the story in that direction. My only, very minor hangup, was the ending - not bad, just not my favorite. Overall, I think this is a fun novel that I'd definitely recommend. 4.5/5

In The Cruel Prince , Jude is a human being raised in the  High Court of Faerie with her two sisters, one of whom is half-faerie. While she is desperate to fit in with the cold and cruel Fae, she is tormented by the beautiful Prince Cardan and his friends. Her twin sister begs her to keep her head down, but Jude doesn't like to take things lying down. As she is drawn further into the politics of the royal family, she'll risk her life even further to protect her family and ensure the future of the High Court. 5/5 In The Hazel Wood , Alice grew up on the road with her mother, bouncing from place to place. But, no matter where they run to, bad luck always seems to find them. When Alice's mother goes missing, she realizes that their problems might not be of this world. The answer may lie in the dark fairytales that Alice's grandmother wrote, earning her a small but loyal following of those lucky enough to get their hands on her book. Alice teams up with one such f...

In this debut novel from Renee Shafransky, divorcee Nora lives in the small town of Pequod, New York, where she works for the local paper. Her ex-husband, Hugh, is an artist who uses his personal life to inspire his art, like the time he impregnated Helene while still married to Nora.  Hugh moves his new family to Pequod and Nora, unable to avoid them, fantasizes about the happy couple meeting a violent end. Of course, when Hugh and Helene are murdered, the police start looking into Nora as the prime suspect. But how can she convince them she's innocent when she has no memory of the night in question? Despite the memory loss premise and unreliable narrator, this novel has more of a traditional mystery structure than some of the newer psychological thrillers. There were a few red herrings that were left unresolved in the conclusion, or mentioned once and never again, which took away from the ending for me. This book was enjoyable on the surface but ultimately not the kind of...

This novel follows the Birch family as they spend Christmas together at their family estate in the British countryside. The catch? They're under quarantine; eldest daughter, Olivia, has just returned from treating patients of an epidemic in Africa, and now the whole family is under house arrest to make sure she doesn't spread the deadly disease. Told from the perspective of each family member,  the book reminds you that although your family may drive you crazy, they really are just trying their best. You can never tell what's going on in a person's head. I thought this novel had a cute premise, and I loved the cover, so I was excited to read this debut. However, I had a hard time with this one. While Hornak tries to present each character with their own flaws and insecurities, it definitely felt like some characters were more flawed than others. I really disliked the ending; to be honest, it kind of ruined the book for me. So, definitely not my favorite, but it had i...

This latest novel from young author Chole Benjamin tells the story of the Gold siblings. The four children visit a psychic in 1969 and walk away with a shocking piece of information - the exact day that each of them is going to die. The reader then joins Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya individually, as they navigate the joys and tragedies of life, each weighed down with this alleged knowledge of the future. This book is well-written with complicated, realistic characters. I particularly loved the unique careers of all four of the siblings. The narrative itself was melancholy and profound, something I don't generally gravitate towards. There were definitely times I found myself wishing something more would happen and the ending left me feeling kind of empty. Sure, there's a lesson to learn from the experiences of the Gold children and I'm sure many people will appreciate the way that Benjamin conveys that moral takeaway.  But, while I enjoyed the experience of reading t...