The It Girl

  Now I can see why this book was nominated by readers in the Goodreads Choice Award Best Mystery & Thriller category last year—it’s a killer psychological thriller! The It Girl is told in alternating before and after chapters beginning at Oxford University (did you know Oxford comprises 39 separate colleges?) when freshman Hannah Jones meets her new roommate. April Coutts-Cliveden is sophisticated, wealthy, the ultimate “it” girl. “She had the kind of beauty that hurt your eyes if you looked at her for too long but made it hard to tear your gaze away. It was, Hannah realized, as if a different kind of light were shining on her […]

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The Twilight World Review

  “Our tasks are to remain invisible, to deceive the enemy, to be ready to do seemingly dishonorable things while keeping safe in our hearts the warrior’s honor.” ~ Werner Herzog, The Twilight World. Although German filmmaker Werner Herzog has produced, written, and directed over sixty feature- and documentary films, The Twilight World is Werner Herzog’s debut as a novelist. As the Imperial Army prepares to withdraw from Lubang Island, Philippines in December 1944, Japanese intelligence officer, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, is ordered to hold the island until the army returns. At first, he is with three other soldiers, but one-by-one they succumb to the jungle. They ignore leaflets announcing the Japanese […]

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Amy’s May 2022 Reads

Only one 5-star review this month, but once again, Ruta Sepetys takes the top spot. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys Please remember that when adversity is drawn out of the shadows and recognized, we ensure that human beings living under oppression—past and present—know they are not forgotten. Together, we can shine a light in dark corners of the past. Together, we can give history a voice.—Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You. Ruta Sepetys’s latest novel is set in Romania in 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe, but tyrannical dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who has been in power for twenty-four years, still governs by isolation and fear. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams […]

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