What I've Been Reading Lately (no spoilers)

First, I am so sorry to keep updating info about this switch from Feedburner to Follow.it. But I noticed today that my last two email notifications went directly to my spam folder. So, if you are signed up for email notifications and you haven't received any for the last two post, try checking your spam folder and marking it "not spam". This has been such a nightmare!

Each time I finish a book, I make a mental note to write about it later. And then I don't. And before long, I am overwhelmed with stuff to write about! (This is exactly what happens with my email and with blog comments--I read them and make a mental note to reply later. Such a bad habit.)

I finished another book today, so I decided I need to catch up. I don't know if anyone is interested in reading about what *I'm* reading, but I write this blog to keep notes for myself as well.

I've been reading a LOT lately. I don't know what happened, but I can't even remember the last time I turned on the TV. I read for an hour or so when I wake up in the mornings. I read when I have time throughout the day. I've been reading in the evenings before bed and then I end up staying up way too late. I've also been reading on the treadmill (something I've never done). I increase the text size on my Paperwhite so I can see it while I run. The time goes by SO fast that way.

I tend to go through phases with books, usually alternating between memoirs and mystery/thrillers. Right now, I'm definitely into the mystery/thriller books. I recently read one that I immediately gave a five-star rating on Goodreads. I'll start with that one...

(Links to Amazon are affiliate links, which means if you were to purchase from that link, I may get a small commission; but I always recommend checking your library first! I was able to borrow all of these.)

'The Last Flight' by Julie Clark

I came across this book randomly while searching for a different book on Amazon. I don't know why it caught my eye, but it sounded interesting. I was completely engrossed from the very first page. I'm not kidding when I say that I could not put this book down!

Here is the basic gist of the book (without spoilers). Keep in mind that I will not do the description of this book justice, so even if it sounds remotely interesting, definitely check it out.

A woman (Claire) seems to have the perfect life; in reality, she just can't take it anymore. Her husband (a very well-known philanthropist/politician) is abusive and Claire wants to get away from him. However, she is afraid for her life if she tries to leave, so she spent a year planning a clean break, with the help of her only friend. 

On the day she is to leave, there is a mix-up and she finds herself in a situation at the airport. A woman (Eva) overhears Claire on the phone and realizes Claire is leaving her husband. The two women begin talking and eventually, they decide to switch boarding passes. They've already cleared security, so nobody will check their ID's again. Eva wants to leave her life as much as Claire wants to leave hers. Switching boarding passes can give each of them a big opportunity for a clean start.

When Claire arrives at her destination, she learns that there was a plane crash--and it was the plane that she was supposed to have been on. She is horrified for Eva, but knowing there is nothing she can do for her now, she tries to start a new life. Everyone who knew her will think that she died on that flight, because as far as the flight manifest goes, she was on that flight. She begins by going to Eva's house (they'd switched ID's as well, so she had the address). There, she begins to piece together Eva's reason for leaving, and it's nothing like what she expected.

I'll leave it at that so I don't spoil anything. But if you are looking for a book that keeps you turning pages at a fast pace, try this one! (And definitely don't read any spoilers beforehand.) A lot of mystery books lack a powerful ending, which is why I rarely (if ever) give them five stars. This one was powerful, which is what makes it most memorable to me.

'One of Us Is Next' by Karen M. McManus

This is the sequel to 'One of Us Is Lying'. (Here is my review for that.) As you know, I LOVED 'One of Us Is Lying'. This sequel was good, but nothing like the first one. The first one was extremely clever and well-planned by the author. I also fell in love with those characters. The sequel had likable characters, but I didn't feel the same way as I did with the first.

The basic plot of this one is that someone is texting the students of the school with a game of Truth or Dare. A student is selected to choose truth or dare, and if they don't do it, a big secret of theirs will be revealed to everyone. A student winds up dead and the main characters are trying to figure out what happened and why.

'The Boy From the Woods' by Harlan Coben

I really loved a few of the characters in this and I was so sad when I saw that there wasn't a sequel! But I saw on Twitter that Coben is working on a sequel--I can't wait to read it. When looking through my books on Goodreads, I saw that I read a lot of Coben's books--but I don't remember them at all! I read several of them in 2015. Clearly, I like his books quite a bit if I keep reading them.

This book isn't so much about "the boy from the woods" (named Wilde); Wilde is actually a man who was found in the woods when he was just a kid and nobody knows (including himself) who he is, where he came from, or why he was found there, feral and alone. In this book, he helps to solve a current case of a missing teenager.

A teen girl goes missing and she was known to be an outcast at school. Nobody really takes it seriously except for one boy who didn't like that she was bullied (he didn't stand up for her, and his guilt about that pushes him to try to get people to take it seriously). Then another classmate goes missing. And I can't say more than that without spoiling.

I liked the characters in this (particularly Wilde) more than the actual storyline, but overall, it was a fun read. I had trouble keeping some of the characters straight, which is why I wish I'd known about the x-ray feature on my Kindle!

'Don't Let Go' by Harlan Coben

After reading 'The Boy From the Woods', I wanted to read another Coben book. I was disappointed there wasn't a sequel, so I just looked for one of his books that was available at the library and this is what I ended up with.

I can't say that I really loved this book. I only gave it three stars because I wasn't into the storyline once I got about halfway through. It's extremely far-fetched and kind of reminded me of sci-fi (except it's not sci-fi--I really don't have a way of describing it without spoiling).

A detective (Nap) has never really felt closure after his twin brother's death when they were seniors in high school. He'd died under odd circumstances (possible accident, possible suicide...). Nap's girlfriend took off without a word after Nap's brother died and he hasn't seen or heard from her in 15 years--despite the fact that the two were madly in love. Nap was clueless as to what happened and why she left, and has been searching for her and wondering about her ever since.

A new murder investigation leads to a clue about his ex-girlfriend that had left and now he wants to find out exactly what happened on the night his brother died. The book has a strong theme of conspiracy theories (which I think is why I didn't enjoy it as much). The answers he gets in the end were a surprise to me (nothing shocking, but I didn't guess it ahead of time)--I always like to be surprised, but I am good at guessing the endings, so a surprise is nice. Overall, I'd say this was a good mystery book--just not my taste of topics.

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I've read all of those since June 23rd--that says a lot! I just started another today (I needed something to read on the treadmill). I'm glad to be reading again; even though I'm not reading educational books, I feel better about reading than I do about watching TV. Hopefully I can keep finding interesting books :)