bookreviews – Exclusory Style

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Let’s start off with a quick summary of this novel from Goodreads

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….
Goodreads

If psychological thrillers are up your alley, and you haven’t read this book yet, you’re truly missing out. I had heard nothing but good things about this book before I finally decided to purchase it from the bookstore, so I’ll preface this review by saying that my expectations were quite high.

Right when I got off work at 5pm on Thursday, signalling the start of my holiday break, I grabbed this book from my bookshelf, lit my favorite Illume candle and grabbed some iced coffee and got down to reading. I literally could not put this book down from the moment I started it. Honestly couldn’t have asked for a better reading experience. Alex Michaelides showed up and showed out with his authoring of this book. His writing style is what really drew me in, even though he could have researched mental health diagnoses and treatments more as his knowledge in this field was definitely lacking and somewhat annoyed me.

I’ve personally read so many thrillers that it’s honestly very difficult for me to be surprised but the end of this book truly left me speechless. The plot twist, if you will, was truly something I would have never expected. Although, I will say that you predict the ending correctly, you may not enjoy this book as much.

The alternating perspectives of the chapters really kept me on the edge of my seat and made me want to never put the book down until I finished it. I definitely felt the parallels and potential influence from Shutter Island in this novel, so if that film was one that you genuinely enjoyed, definitely give this book a try! This novel also reminded me of season 1 of The Sinner (on Netflix). It’s always a joy for me personally when I can draw parallels and connections to other forms of media I’ve consumed.

Let me know in the comments if this book is something that you’d be interested in reading.

Week in Review (7)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives from the past week on their blog.

This week’s Sunday Post will mainly consist of me talking about what book I recently finished reading and what I’m looking forward to reading next.

As I talked about in my previous post, I have finally decided to come back to my blog, which I have missed dearly, as I have the time (somewhat) to write posts on a regular basis. Let’s see how long I can keep this up for.

I recently finished After Anna by Lisa Scottoline (which I bought for $1 at a used bookstore….what a bargain!) and I am in the process of writing a book review for this book so stay tuned for that!

I cannot wait to get into reading Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. I bought these two books from Indigo Chapters a couple of weeks back. And of course I’ll be writing a review for each once I finish reading it.

Let me know what books you’ve recently read / are looking forward to reading, I’d love to hear!

Cannot Wait Wednesday!!! (5)

Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Wishful Endings! This is where bloggers discuss the books that they’re excited to read, as well as those that are not yet published. This meme is a great way to inform others of books that are yet to be released, and to hype the books up!

With the start of summer break, I have been looking for some new books to read and I thought that this one seemed quite intriguing. Hidden by Kelli Clare has just recently been published, and I have not seen it in my local bookstore as of yet, but look forward to hopefully finding it very soon. The following is a short excerpt of the novel from Goodreads:

“Small-town Connecticut art teacher Ellie James finds the intense connection she’s longing for when she meets Will Hastings, a seductive Englishman with an alluring darkness. But just days later, her sister and grandmother are murdered and she must confront the unthinkable: is Will a man she can trust, a killer—or both?

After surviving a near-fatal attempt on her life, Ellie makes a desperate move: she takes her young niece Lissie and runs to England with Will. There, fiery passion becomes possession, London paparazzi call her by another name, and assassins of a secret society close in after the stunning truth about Ellie’s family is exposed. When Will suddenly disappears after putting a ring on her finger, Ellie must find the strength to elude assassins, disentangle herself from the haunting lies she’s lived for twenty-seven years, and answer one pressing question: who is Ellie James?”

What do you all think of this one? I personally love mystery / crime novels, so this one definitely sparked my interest. Let me know what you think of Hidden and leave a link to your CWW post below.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (My Thoughts)

What a legendary start to an incredible book series! Rather than writing a review, I’ll be writing about what I thought about this amazing book because there is quite honestly no way I could adequately review such a renowned novel. First off, let me just say that I know that I’m most definitely late to the party regarding reading this novel, but better late than never, right?! I was hooked right off the bat as JK Rowling just has a way with words that is so eloquent and imaginative.

My favourite part of this book (and believe me, this was hard to decide on because I loved the whole book) was when Mr. Dursley was purposefully trying to ensure that Harry did not read the Hogwarts letter. The lengths he went to, so as to ensure that the letters did not reach Harry, are quite hilarious. But how can a muggle match up to a wizarding school? He actually thought he had a chance in making sure that Harry never received his letter. As if!!!

After reading the first book, I would say that my favourite character by far was Harry Potter (surprise, surprise)! I just love his personality and how he defeated ‘You Know Who’ when he was a baby. Let’s see if my favourite character changes once I read the next book.

I’m the kind of person who reads a book before watching the movie, but this wasn’t the case for this series unfortunately. I watched all the movies (not in chronological order) prior to deciding to read the novels. I truly regret this decision because I know tad bits of information about the future storyline while reading, but this does not hinder my curiosity to keep reading and immerse myself in these books. Now that I’ve started reading the books, albeit quite late, I have decided to read the book first and once I’m done, I watch the movie with my family to clear up any questions I had regarding the things I didn’t understand when reading. I feel as though this is the best way to truly understand and enter the wizarding world.

I guess you could say I’m a little obsessed at this point. I get so excited when I pick up the book. Reading is a fabulous stress reliever for me, now that university is back on. Reading these books helps me escape the real world, even if it’s just for a few hours, and I couldn’t ask for anything better.

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Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews where bloggers discuss the books that they have borrowed from the library or bought to add to their shelves. I personally think it’s a fabulous idea, so shoutout to them!

I have recently added two mystery / thriller novels to my shelf. The first one is One of Us is Lying, which I am reading at the moment. Next on my list is Watch Me Disappear. What drew me to these books was the various reviews I’ve read on them on other people’s blog, as well as the cover of the novels. I know, don’t judge a book by its cover, but when the cover looks nice, it really does intrigue you!

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I’m not really enjoying One of Us is Lying so far! I’ve already lost interest in it….. I will most likely stop reading it, and move on to the other fabulous books that are waiting on my shelf!

Have you read either of these novels? If so, what did you think of them?

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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

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★★★☆☆

I love how the cover of this novel goes with my blog theme! Anyway, this was an okay-ish book. Lots of twists and turns, however it was a little unrealistic for me. I had really high expectations for this book, and although the beginning of the book was fabulous, it honestly fell flat for me shortly thereafter.

Leonora Shaw is incredibly surprised when she receives an invitation to her old friend’s bachelorette party at a cozy cottage, or so she thinks. Leonora lives an isolated life as a writer who doesn’t communicate much with others. She can usually be found holed up in her house writing her novels, or sending emails to her publishers. She contacts one of her other friends, who is also invited to the party, and checks in with her to see if she is attending the party. Her friend tells her that she too has been taken by surprise after having received this invitation out of the blue. Nonetheless, Nora impulsively accepts the invitation and this simple action sets off a number of events that nobody saw coming.

Once Leonora arrives at the cottage, she notices that it actually isn’t much of a cottage. More like a creepy, sinister glass house located in the woods. As the days progress, there are some interesting interactions between the party guests, and Leonora notices that they are all not alone and that there is in fact someone else in these woods who is possibly watching their every move. Who could it be? Is it someone they know, or a stranger?

I can’t go into too much detail otherwise I will most definitely give away what the book is about. I honestly felt as though so much more could be added to this book because it seemed to skim over the surface in a lot of its most thrilling parts, which is mainly the reason as to why I rate this book 3/5 stars.

Have you read this novel? If so, what did you think of it?

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