The Gift by Freida McFadden

Okay, PUMPING the brakes on Freida McFadden after this one. Nothing at all against her personally and we all know I love her content but his novelette was Not. It. I was truly, truly not a fan. If I gave this story two stars, I'd be VERY generous. Mood shift complete! Time to switch up the genres for a bit! Stay tuned...

The Housemaid series books 1&2 by Freida McFadden

 GUYS!! I read both of the Housemaid books by Freida McFadden over the last few days (yes, I'm on a Freida McFadden kick if you haven't noticed) and I. AM. FLOORED!!! I had heard a lot about the series being some of her best works so of course I had to try it out. I was NOT disappointed! I also like that the second book melds perfectly with the first book BUT it feels like you could read it without having read the second book at all. It was just written so in detail that if you happened to pick it up first by accident, it wouldn't be the biggest deal. If you love mystery, thriller and suspense books.. you MUST try Freida McFadden. I'm feeling a mood shift coming on so different genres to come, but I'm going to continue to ride the McFadden wave until it dries out ✌

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

 This is my first venture onto the "Freida McFadden" train and I was not disappointed. After Iron Flame, I entered a severe book hangover. For those of you who don't know what a "book hangover" is, it's when you have to take time to get over a book before you can do anything else, or in this case, move on to another one. Any time I hit a book hangover, I read a suspense or mystery novel because it keeps me engaged. This book got me RIGHT out of my reading slump. 

This book followed a couple who went to an abandoned home (not dilapidated, actually abandoned) to view it and potentially buy it but they get stuck there for several days because an unexpected blizzard hits while they're waiting for their agent. They find a key, let themselves in and find that it was owned by a famous author and psychotherapist who went missing several years ago and all of her stuff is still in place, buried under years of dust. When mysterious things start to happen and a hidden room is found, several secrets are uncovered. I won't say anything else.. this is worth the read. Next stop on the Freida McFadden train? The Housemaid series. Let's go!

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

*potential spoilers, do not read if you haven't caught up*

I cannot express how I'm feeling right now. Okay, let me preface this with the fact that this book was INCREDIBLY hard for me to get through. & I spoke to some of my bookish friends and other reviewers and I'm not alone in that. I won't speak for everyone, but for me, it has a lot to do with how dense the war information was. Also, on a more personal level, I don't take much interest in the war aspects of books but I love fantasy and I understand that it comes with the territory so I'm not dogging it. This book was incredible, but it left me with SO MANY QUESTIONS. And like everyone, I had to go  back and reread the last two chapters and now I've found myself going down the neverending RABBIT HOLE that is book 3 theories and I don't know how I'm going to sleep at night 😂