Title: Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered Author: Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark Publisher: Forge Books Publication Date: May 28, 2019 Format: Hardcover Length: 266 pages
I wish this book would have been available 10 years ago. THIS MEMOIR IS A MUST READ FOR TEENAGE AND COLLEGE WOMEN. Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered has a whole chapter on red flags to look for in relationships and not apologize for keeping yourself out of risk. “Little girls are taught to be polite, to smile pretty and sit up straight, to be nice and accommodating. And then those little girls turn into grown-ass women who’ve spent years being polite to the detriment of their own wants, needs and safety,” (Kilgariff and Hardstark, p. 29).
Kilgariff and Hardstark also discuss the cult of booze and the cult of perfection. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “But when you get older, you learn the shittiest, most ironic life lesson: “perfection” is not a guarantee for happiness,” (Kilgariff and Hardstark, p. 109). Amen, sisters.
If you have dealt with addiction, cults, wrong choices, bad relationships or have been caught in the cycle of abuse, this book is for you. Even though I haven’t experienced addiction with drugs or alcohol, I know what it’s like to sit still, look pretty and try to be perfect, but not feel good enough. Countless women have gone through this exact same experience. We need to break the cycle for our daughters, sisters and friends. We are worth more than that. YOU are worth more than that.
From the author’s website:
My Favorite Murder is the hit true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Since its inception in early 2016, the show has broken download records and sparked an enthusiastic, interactive “Murderino” fan base who come out in droves for their sold-out shows worldwide.
A top 10 regular on iTunes’ comedy podcast chart, My Favorite Murder has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, Nylon and Rolling Stone magazine.
Aside from being avid true crime enthusiasts, Karen Kilgariff is a stand-up comedian and television writer and Georgia Hardstark is a writer and host for the Cooking Channel.
An Unwanted Guest is the cliche of murder mysteries. The setting is a cozy yet luxurious inn out in the middle of rural New York with no cell or internet service. The guests decide to arrive for their stay despite warnings of a huge blizzard over the weekend. The storm causes the power to go out, of course, and mayhem ensues. An Unwanted Guest reminds me of the game Clue. A little cheesy, but fun to play, or in this case, fun to read. I enjoy Shari Lapena’s thrillers, but I could also see her as an author of domestic fiction.
3 Bookworms (Good Read)
From the author’s website: Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, and An Unwanted Guest. She was a lawyer and an English teacher before turning her hand to fiction. (Her newest book release, Someone We Know, is available starting today, July 30th.) She lives in Toronto. Find out more at https://sharilapena.com/
Late summer is here which is hard to believe. I’m in the process of trying to get my daughter ready for the new school year. We are finishing her summer reading assignment and purchasing school clothes the next few weeks. We haven’t vacationed anywhere this year, however, we have visited the community pool several times. I lay out in the sun and read or listen to podcasts while she swims. It’s perfect and we have so much fun. For those that are taking last minute vacations before the start of school, I have two thriller recommendations for your beach bag.
Adam seems like the perfect guy-handsome, smart and successful. The only problem is the other woman-his mother. She does not want Emily around and will do whatever she can to sabotage the relationship. Emily doesn’t realize what she is up against until it is too late. She is starting to believe she will never find the happiness with Adam that she deserves. The Other Woman is a perfect summer escape read with a surprise ending.
The Other Woman is Sandie Jones’ debut novel. I will definitely be reading more of her works as they are published. The novel was completely readable and I enjoyed all of the crazy characters. I could tell by her writing that she enjoys her career and that she loves to surprise her readers.
Photo Credit: Macmillan
From the author’s website:
Sandie Jones has been a freelance journalist for over 20 years, interviewing celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Isla Fisher, Simon Cowell and Naomie Harris. Her debut novel, The Other Woman, is a psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between a woman and her partner’s mother. If Sandie wasn’t an author she’d be an interior designer as she has an unhealthy obsession with wallpaper and cushions! She lives in London, England, with her husband and three children. Follow her on Facebook.
Five Bookworms (Excellent Read)
I have always enjoyed novels by Megan Abbott and this one doesn’t disappoint. Kit receives a highly coveted job at the Severin Lab. She would like to be on Dr. Severin’s research team that will be conducting PMDD research. Kit believes she will have no problem being selected as she works additional hours and always arrives to work before anyone else. The only problem is her high school BFF Diane. Kit and Diane share a secret that can ultimately destroy their careers. Diane is chosen by Dr. Severin to work for the lab and be on the team. The two seem close friends. Kit and Diane are now caught up in lies and deceit to keep their secret safe forever.
Abbott’s characters are always intriguing to me. She shows the dark side of humanity while at the same time revealing how everyday situations can become so complicated that it leads good people to making poor choices.
Her work has won or been nominated for the CWA Steel Dagger, the International Thriller Writers Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and five Edgar awards, Currently, she is a staff writer on HBO’s new David Simon show, The Deuce, and is adapting two of her novels for television and feature film.
Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-14, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at Ole Miss.
Title: The Real Lolita Author: Sarah Weinman Publisher: Ecco Publication Date: September 11th, 2018 Format: Hardcover Length: 320 pages
I have never read Lolita or any of Vladimir Nabokov’s other works. I didn’t know Lolita was based on a true story about the abduction of a young girl named Sally Horner in 1948. Around this time, Vladimir Nabokov was working on a novel that he was struggling to finish. Lolita was the novel that was almost not. Nabokov himself was a mysterious author. He didn’t want the real life inspiration he used for the novel to be traced or discussed in scholarly works. He also didn’t want his own life to be written about at length. Nabokov lived through daunting times in history including the Russian revolution and World War II. He certainly had his secrets.
Sarah Weinman bases her book, The Real Lolita, on her own research. She studied Nabokov’s works, writings, letters and diaries. She read the few biographies there on Nabokov and Lolita several times to try and make sense of what Nabokov was trying to say. I enjoy doing research on authors myself so I loved The Real Lolita. There is something fascinating about when an author uses real life stories or experiences in their work.
Weinman’s The Real Lolita focuses mostly on Sally Horner. Horner was kidnapped at the age of 11 in Camden, New Jersey, once considered to be the ideal American town. Now Camden has one of the the highest crime rates in the country. During Horner’s time, child molestation was not commonly discussed or even aware of by many people. When Horner’s mother received the call one afternoon from a man, who identified himself as a parent from Horner’s school inviting her on a family trip to the Atlantic City, she would most likely not have thought it could be a child predator intent to harm her child. The man, Frank La Salle, spied Horner in a department store a few weeks prior. He convinced her he worked with the FBI and would not tell her mom or the police about the notebook she stole from the store if she went with him. He did not take her at this time because she was surrounded by several friends that had dared her to steal the notebook. Instead, he called her mother and convinced her to bring Horner to the bus station. Horner didn’t want to get in trouble so she did as was told. Horner spent 21 months traveling with him around the country as he completely brainwashed her into staying with him. He convinced those living around them that they were father and daughter. A neighbor in Dallas, Texas was suspicious of their relationship. She convinces Horner to confess the true nature of her relationship with La Salle. The neighbor called the authorities for help and Horner was returned to her mother.
Sally Horner, age 9 Photo: Camden County Historical Society
Press releases all over the Northeast are given after Horner is found. Several years later, Horner is involved in a car crash and dies instantly. It is during this time that Vladimir Nabakov is following her story. According to Weinman, he is piecing together Lolita, which becomes a #1 bestseller on the New York Times List in 1958. Nabakov wrote several pieces that involved an adult man with a young female child, with Lolita being the most famous piece he wrote. Lolita is written as a romance novel as are his other works with a similar topic. Instead of seeing Humbert Humbert (Lolita’s captor) as the predator he is, Nabakov seems to encourage readers to have pity on him. One of the primary reasons Weinman conducted her research is to discourage readers from embracing his novel and works that are similar in content.
Weinman wonders why he focuses on this particular topic. After conducting thorough research, she finds that he had affairs with several of his college age students, but does not find any evidence that he abused children. The Real Lolita brings light to Sally Horner’s story and the truth about the cost of abuse done to children.
Five Bookworms (Excellent Read)
Sarah Weinman Photo: CrimeReads
From the author’s website:
Sarah Weinman is the author of The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World, which was named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, BuzzFeed, The National Post, Literary Hub, and Vulture, and won the Arthur Ellis Award for Excellence in Crime Writing. She also edited the anthologies Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s (Library of America) and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives(Penguin).
Weinman, currently a contributing editor and columnist at CrimeReads, has written for the New York Times, Vanity Fair,the Washington Post, Topic, New York, the New Republic, the Guardian, and Buzzfeed, among other outlets, while her fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and numerous anthologies. Weinman also writes the “Crime Lady” newsletter, covering crime fiction, true crime, and all points in between.
Title: Growing Up Author: Russell Baker Publisher: Plume Publication Date: June 1982 Format: Paperback Length: 278 pages
Russell Baker’s memoir, Growing Up, is a heartfelt memoir that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Baker writes about growing up as a young boy during the Depression and his experience fighting in World War II as a Navy pilot. He was raised in poverty by a single mom for a majority of his childhood. He felt the pressure to be the “man of the family.” His family lived with aunts and uncles because that is the only way they could survive the Depression. Baker describes his relationship with his paternal grandmother, Ida Rebecca, a strong, domineering woman that raised 13 children in rural Virginia. She never accepted Baker’s mom, Lucy, and the two fought continuously over how to raise children. When Baker’s father passed away, Lucy moved her son and daughter to New Jersey to live with her extended family until their move to Baltimore. Uncle Harold and Aunt Sister, Ida Rebecca’s only daughter, lived in Baltimore as well in an apartment across the street from them. Uncle Harold was a huge influence in Baker’s life. He entertained Baker with stories about his time in the war. Lucy eventually met her second husband through Uncle Harold. Herb, Lucy’s second husband, was a good man who took care of the family. Baker was 14 when his mother remarried and he did not take to it kindly. He felt Herb was an intruder. Herb was a gentle, loving man who always had patience with Baker. He accepted Baker and ended up being a primary influence in Baker’s life. Herb purchased a home for the family in the 1940’s where his mother lived for 35 years.
Baker struggled in school and had no interest in the business world. His mother told him he would make a great writer, but he was embarrassed by his skill because he did not view writing as real work. Baker viewed writing as a skill for those that had other ways of making a living. Lucy didn’t think Baker “showed enough gumption.” She forced him into a job selling newspapers to help the family earn additional money. He didn’t think he would be good at sales. He complained to her once that the extra papers he was given weren’t selling and that people didn’t want to read the news anyways. His mother said, “For God’s sake, Russell, show a little gumption for once in your life. This is a world war. An idiot could sell newspapers today.” Another one of her favorite sayings was “The Lord helps those that help themselves.” He wasn’t able to collect money from clients that owed him for newspaper deliveries. Lucy became frustrated and collected every penny from them herself. She had no time for laziness or complaining.
Baker didn’t think he would be able to attend college due to lack of financial resources. One of his best friend’s from high school told him about scholarships. Baker tested into John Hopkins and was able to attend on scholarship tuition free. He eventually found success as a published author and journalist. His first Pulitzer Prize was for his column in the Observer. He was also a contributor for The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Saturday Evening Post and McCalls.
I haven’t blogged in over a month. Summer has been busy with my daughter’s schedule and I have been busy reading, of course. I read several thrillers/true crime books that I am excited to share about. If you haven’t noticed, I am a slow reader so takes me forever to finish a novel and then write a review. In between all of that is my everyday life plus I am always looking for new material to read. I have also been listening to several podcasts related to one of my favorite subjects-true crime. I’ll also catch you up on what I’ve been watching on Netflix. Don’t forget that Stranger Things premieres with new episodes on Thursday, July 4th!
Feel free to share your most recent reads in the comments and your own thoughts about the books I review!
Title: The Death of Mrs. Westaway Author: Ruth Ware Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press Publication Date: May 29th, 2018 Format: Hardcover Length: 368 pages I was not a huge fan of The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware so I wasn’t sure if I would like The Death of Mrs. Westaway. I ended up enjoying this mystery novel much more. Critics have called Ruth Ware this generation’s “Agatha Christie” which I can see why. Ware isn’t one of my all time favorite writers, but if I am looking for a good mystery her writing doesn’t disappoint.
Hal is a young woman who lives on her own and makes a living by being a fortune teller. She receives a letter one day that states she is the recipient of a large inheritance. Hal was not aware that she had family left. Her mother never mentioned family while she was alive and she does not know who her father is. She makes a visit to Trepassen house and soon has more questions than answers. Family secrets are here and she must figure out the mystery before her own life is at stake.
4 Bookworms (Great Read)
From the publisher: Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children.
Title: An Anonymous Girl Author: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication Date: January 8th, 2019 Format: Hardcover Length: 375 pages Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by Dr. Shields as a way to earn cash by answering a few questions. Farris finds herself entangled by Dr. Shields as she continues to visit and answer questions. Does Dr. Shields know more about Farris then she lets on? Farris’s guilt and paranoia continues to grow. Questions of morals and truth haunt her which leads her to realize she hasn’t truly left her past behind.
I enjoyed An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sara Pekkanen more than their debut novel together, The Wife Between Us. An Anonymous Girl is a stunning psychological thriller that will leave readers guessing until the very end and is one my favorite reads of the summer.
Five Bookworms (Excellent Read)
From the author’s website: Greer Hendricks is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of An Anonymous Girl and The Wife Between Us. The Wife Between Us has been optioned for film by Amblin Entertainment, with Greer and her co-author, Sarah Pekkanen, hired to write the screenplay. An Anonymous Girl has been optioned for television, with Greer and Sarah tapped to executive produce. Prior to becoming a novelist, Greer served as Vice President and Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Allure, and Publishers Weekly. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children. Read more at www.greerhendricks.com
From the author’s website: Sarah Pekkanen is the author of The Ever After, The Perfect Neighbors, Things You Won’t Say, Catching Air, The Best of Us, The Opposite of Me, Skipping a Beat, and These Girls. Sarah Pekkanen is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl, both co-written with Greer Hendricks. Pekkanen is the mother of three young boys. Her website is www.sarahpekkanen.com and please find her on Facebook Instagram and Twitter @sarahpekkanen!
Title: True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray Author: James Renner Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Publication Date: May 24th, 2016 Format: Hardcover Length: 300 pages I loved reading True Crime Addict. The author, James Renner, has several personal reasons as to why he is obsessed with true crime. His grandfather is a known child pedophile in their family. This leaves scars on him. Renner’s son starts having serious behavioral problems in school. Does his son carry the similar traits as his great-grandfather or is just his own paranoia? He discusses this in detail. A young girl named Amy Mihaljevic that he falls in love with as a child goes missing in his home state of Ohio. Renner himself was nearly abducted in the local park. He decides as an adult to build a career as a journalist.
Renner takes the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Test as an adult. His results are similar to that of Ted Bundy’s, but his psychologist tells him not to worry as many cops and CEOS would score the same, including Donald Trump.
After being fired by a newspaper due to worries over a lawsuit for writing a story about senator Kevin Coughlin, Renner found himself drawn to writing true crime stories again which led to his obsession with Maura Murray.
Maura Murray, a UMass student, disappeared one day in 2004 out in rural New Hampshire. Her car was wrecked and nearby neighbors called to inform the police. By the time the police arrived to the scene, Murray had gone missing. Prior to leaving, she returned her nursing scrubs and informed her professors that there was a death in the family, even though the statement was not true. She packed her belongings in boxes and left an email on top of them that states her boyfriend was cheating on her. She had credit card fraud and identity theft associated with her name. Renner discusses the possibility that she started over with a new life and the wreck was on purpose and used for distraction. He also discusses the possibility she was driving in tandem with another driver and they rescued her. Her ex-fiance, Bill Rausch, was known to be controlling and jealous. According to a mutual friend, Murray was pregnant and looking for a way to escape so she wouldn’t have to share custody with Rausch. Murray has never been found. Renner goes into detail about her case and what possibly could have happened to Murray.
4 Bookworms (Great Read)
From the author’s website: James Renner is mostly known for his true-crime journalism. As a reporter for Cleveland Scene, he uncovered new clues and suspects in the cold-case murder of Amy Mihaljevic. His work led to the successful closure of the Tina Harmon case in 2009. He spent months researching the Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus abductions when the girls were still missing and is haunted by the fact that he had Castro’s name in his notes. His true crime writing has been featured in the Best American Crime Reporting anthology. His selection was the first true crime article to use a dream sequence as a narrative device. Read more at http://jamesrenner.com/
Title: For Better and Worse: A Novel Author: Margot Hunt Publisher: MIRA Publication Date: December 11, 2018 Format: Paperback Length: 336 pages For Better and Worse was a fast paced read for me. Will and Natalie Clark bonded together as a couple in law school. They wondered if they could ever pull off the perfect murder. At first it was a joke between them as law students. Will never thought his wife would actually try to murder anyone until a secret came out in the community that put her young son at risk. Will must now protect his family from the community’s suspicions and police involvement.
Margot Hunt’s novel has all the ingredients for a thriller- an unhappily married couple with secrets, an innocent child put at risk and a popular, beloved leader in the community with secrets of their own. Hunt’s novel is somewhat cliche, but in a situation realistic enough that it draws the reader in. The novel is thought provoking and the reader wonders what choices they would have made in a similar situation.
4 Bookworms (Great Read)
From the author’s website: Margot Hunt is the pseudonym of a bestselling writer of twelve previous novels. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. Best Friends forever is her first psychological thriller. Her new book, For Better and Worse, was released in December 2018. Read more at https://margothunt.com/
Title Green River, Running Red Author: Ann Rule Publisher: Free Press Publication Date: September 28th, 2004 Format: Hardcover Length: 436 pages
From the Goodreads website: In her most personal and provocative book to date, the #1 bestselling master of true crime presents “her long-awaited definitive narrative of the brutal and senseless crimes that haunted the Seattle area for decades” (Publishers Weekly). This is the extraordinary true story of the most prolific serial killer the nation had ever seen — a case involving more than forty-nine female victims, two decades of intense investigative work…and one unrelenting killer who not only attended Ann Rule’s book signings but lived less than a mile away from her home.
Ann Rule was one of the best American true crime authors. Rule started as a Seattle policewoman and has a background in psychology and criminology. Her novels go in great detail about each crime scene and the background/history of each convicted murderer. Green River, Running Red is no different. The serial murder took advantage of prostitutes and runaways-women that were highly at risk. What is amazing is that he was able to get away with the crimes for so long and lead a normal life. No one in his life suspected that he was the Green River killer. He graduated high school and worked the same job for decades. His wife was known as a nice woman in the community. The serial killer did not have many friends, but no one at the time thought it was odd. He kept to himself. Ann Rule always writes in a way that the reader can understand how someone with his profile can be overlooked and gives logical reason for why police sometimes make human errors.
4 Bookworms (Great Read)
From the author’s website: AnnRule was regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, and the author responsible for the genre as it exists today. She came to her career with a solid background in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Both her grandfather and her uncle were Michigan sheriffs, her cousin was a Prosecuting Attorney and another uncle was the Medical Examiner. Raised in that environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She is a former Seattle Policewoman, former caseworker for the Washington State Department of Public Assistance, former student intern at the Oregon State Training School for Girls.
She and William “Bill” Rule had four children, and early in their marriage they lived in El Paso, Texas, and Youngstown, New York, before settling in the Seattle area. They raised their family in Bellevue, Washington, and Des Moines, Washington. Bill was also a writer, but he died of Melanoma at age 43 in 1975 before he could realize his dream of writing “The Great American Novel.” (The couple divorced a few years before Bill died.) Bill Rule taught creative writing at Foster High School in Tukwila,Washington.
During the last years of her life, Ann lived in Seahurst, Washington, on the shores of Puget Sound. She was the mother of four and also a grandmother.
Title: A Simple Favor Author: Darcey Bell Publisher: Harper Paperbacks Publication Date: August 28, 2018 Format: Paperback Length: 298 pages
A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell was an enjoyable read. I was not a fan of any of the characters. All of them are unlikeable and have selfish agendas which makes an interesting plot. Stephanie, mommy blogger, is on the search for her missing friend Emily. She asked Stephanie to pick up her son from school and hasn’t been in contact with family or friends since. Stephanie assumes she had a breakdown due to her highly demanding career in NYC. Her body is eventually found in the lake where her family retreats to each summer. The plot thickens as secrets about Emily’s past are revealed. The novel was made into a movie starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.
3 Bookworms (Good Read)
From the Goodreads website: Darcey Bell was born in 1981 and raised on a dairy farm in western Iowa. She is a preschool teacher in Chicago. A Simple Favor is her first novel.
PODCASTS I LOVE…
Crime Junkie is an amazing, addictive podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers and her friend/producer Brit. Each week they cover a crime they have researched/heard about or that a listener has suggested. RollingStone named Crime Junkie as one of the best podcasts of 2018. For more information, click here.
From the website:
My Favorite Murder is the hit true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Since its inception in early 2016, the show has broken download records and sparked an enthusiastic, interactive “Murderino” fan base who come out in droves for their sold-out shows worldwide.
A top 10 regular on iTunes’ comedy podcast chart, My Favorite Murder has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, Nylon and Rolling Stone magazine.
Aside from being avid true crime enthusiasts, Karen Kilgariff is a stand-up comedian and television writer and Georgia Hardstark is a writer and host for the Cooking Channel.
From the website: Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times. For more information, click here.
SHOWS I WATCHED IN MONTH OF JUNE…
Bird Box is a Netflix film starring Sandra Bullock. My husband and I sat down to watch Bird Box last night as we have heard so much about it. The film has to be one of the creepiest I’ve seen in awhile. Bird Box is the idea of what would happen if a virus was spread throughout earth causing people to want to injure themselves. The virus is passed by looking into the person’s eyes that is infected. I do not want to spoil the film so I won’t reveal any more details, but it is a film worth watching.
Madeline McCann, 3 years old, disappeared on May 3rd 2007 from the Praia de Luz resort apartment in Portugal. Her parents were at the resort restaurant( about 160 feet away) checking on their children every half hour. The apartment was accessible by the resort or street. At 10pm, Kate McCann, mother of Madeline McCann, went to check on the children and noticed Madeline was missing. Netflix’s documentary goes into detail about the disappearance of Madeleine and theories of what could have happened to her.
The Quirky Bookworm 