YVO’S SHORTIES #19: The Good Daughter & Wires And Nerve Vol. 1

Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around two titles I have been meaning to pick up for a while now… I’m almost ashamed to admit I had never read a Karin Slaughter thriller before even though she’s one of the most popular authors of one of my favorite genres. I’m so glad I finally got to remedy that! The Good Daughter made me an instant fan of her work. Wires And Nerve on the other hand didn’t manage to convince me… I loved Marissa Meyer‘s original series The Lunar Chronicles, but this graphic novel mostly fell flat for me.

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Title: The Good Daughter
Author: Karin Slaughter
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
First published: August 8th 2017
Publisher: William Morrow
Finished reading: February 19th 2018
Pages: 528

“The truth can rot you from the inside. It doesn’t leave room for anything else.”

Like I said before, I am almost ashamed of the fact I had never read a Karin Slaughter book before. And that is with her books being wildly popular and belonging to one of my favorite genres… So I really had no proper excuse not to do so. But no longer, because now I’ve tried her work I have become an instant fan. WOW! That woman can write… It was without doubt a highly intense read with a lot of complicated, disturbing scenes and elements. The plot is well developed, intense, rich and will take you on a very emotional ride. Karin Slaughter isn’t afraid to put down the ugly facts and details right there on the table for everyone to see, and trigger warnings are in place for violence, abuse and rape among other things. The school shooting scenes are also a painful reminder of what happened in Florida recently… There is no denying the story and it’s many subplots, twists and turns are brilliantly executed and I take my hat off for it. Say hello to my very first 5 star read of 2018! It’s been a while since I read such a rich, complex, shocking and well developed psychological thriller. Highly recommended!

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Title: Wires And Nerve Vol. 1
(Wires And Nerve #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Science Fiction
First published: January 31st 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Finished reading: February 17th 2018
Pages: 238

“I don’t think humans realize how fragil their bodies are. So many injuries that are minor annoyances to be would be fatal to my friends.”

I’m a big fan of the original series The Lunar Chronicles, so this new graphic novel series has been on my radar ever since I first heard about it. So when I was in the mood for a graphic novel the other day, I remembered I had this one waiting to be read and finally picked it up. Wires And Nerve Vol. 1 takes place after the original series has ended, which is great for fans of the series as we can see how things will continue. BUT. It can also be seen as a huge spoiler for those who haven’t read or finished the original series yet. So I highly suggest not starting Wires And Nerve until you have finished reading Winter! As for the graphic novel… While it was great to visit the original characters again, I do think a lot of them felt really different from the way they behaved in the original books. Take Thorne: he was one of my favorite characters, but I seriously couldn’t stand him in the graphic novel. Also, I wasn’t a big fan of the graphics in general. The lack of detail, overly simply graphics and overall blue tone just didn’t manage to convince me. Which is strange, because I normally love anything blue… The plot itself is quite interesting, as it gives us a healthy dose of action as well as some insight as to how things continue. I also loved that Iko is the main star in Wires And Nerve, since she is one of my favorites, and she seriously kicks ass in this first volume. BUT. As a whole, I do feel this graphic novel was quite a disappointment and doesn’t live up to The Lunar Chronicles.

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YVO’S SHORTIES #5: The Hate U Give & Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Time for more Yvo’s Shorties! This time around I will be reviewing two of the last high ratings of 2017… The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which was my last 5 star read last year and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which turned out to be another excellent read. Both have been recommended to me numerous times; thank you for convincing me to read both of these!

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Title: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Genre: YA, Fiction, Contemporary 
First published: February 28th 2017
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Finished reading: December 20th 2017
Pages: 444

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

I know everybody and the neighbor’s cat have been recommending this book to me since even before The Hate U Give was published, but to be honest this only made me hesitant to pick it up myself. I have a love/hate relationship with hyped books, but after THUG came out as a Goodreads Choice Awards winner I thought it was about time for me to check it out. And WOW. I’m so glad I finally did so! This book is definitely an exception to the rule and absolutely worth the hype around it. Brilliant writing, plot, character development and such an important topic! I feel words cannot describe just how important this story is and everybody should just read it. Because The Hate U Give isn’t just another YA contemporary novel… With this book, Angie Thomas not only manages to portray the main characters brilliantly and create a realistic plot and scaringly accurate image of race problematics, but also address issues related to this topic. The Hate U Give serves as a general eyeopener as well as an insight of what it would be like living the lives of the main characters. The writing itself is brilliant, very easy to read and engaging, making it impossible to put down this story until you reach the final page. Because trust me, you will want to know what will happen to the main characters. The Hate U Give is highly praised with a reason, and I will be joining this wave of praise in the future.

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Title: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
First published: May 9th 2017
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Finished reading: November 7th 2017
Pages: 332

“If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”

This one was another recommendation I have been looking forward to read… Then again I love my quirky and unique characters. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine managed to completely blow me away, and not just because of the excellent writing and character development. Because Eleanor Oliphant is without doubt one of the most unique main characters I’ve had the pleasure to meet and she will stay with me for a long time. Basically her whole character is what makes this book into such a hit and fans of quirky characters will be able to fall head over heels in love with her. The writing and pace were a perfect match for this story and I managed to fly through Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine in no time at all. Gail Honeyman also has a few plot twist bomb surprises in store, so make sure to get yourself comfortable when you pick up your copy and get ready to be surprised. Because the whole mystery around Eleanor’s past definitely adds a little suspense to this quirky, endearing, sad and very well written story. More than recommended!

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

ALL THE STARS: My 2017 Favorites @MeganLMiranda @roofbeam @emily_barr @aharmon_author @jeffzentner @veschwab @Huckelbridge @jodipicoult @rahdieh @EDonoghueWriter @chicnerdreads @juliebux @rachelcaine @angiecthomas

Confession: I have been dreading writing this post for weeks now. I’m sure I’m not the only one with the feeling of hopelessless when it comes to compiling a list of 2017 favorites… I mean, there are so many books worth mentioning I really didn’t know where to start. Out of the 189 books I managed to read last year, no less than 17! books received a full 5 star rating, 38 books a superhigh 4,5 star rating and a further 43 books a 4 star rating, which still means I pretty much loved reading it anyway. How to decide which of these 98 books should appear on this list? Where should I even start?

So I decided to cheat. Yes, you heard me, cheat. Below I will feature a list of the seventeen books I decided to give a full 5 star rating last year. Not that the other books that received a 4,5 or 4 star rating don’t deserve to be on here, but the list would be neverending otherwise right? 😉

First a little note to say that two authors seem to stand out and managed to have not one but TWO of their books on this list! Who? Victoria Schwab and Rachel Caine, without doubt two of my favorite authors I can highly recommend to everyone. Although all authors mentioned on this list are also on my list of favorites. ❤

And now on to the complete list in the order I read them during 2017. Because there is no way you can make me pick my absolute favorites among these. 😉 Basically, this list will be a copy of the series of IN THE SPOTLIGHT posts I wrote back in September (#1, #2, #3) with two extra titles I added to my list of 5 star books afterwards. Check out these posts or my review for my full rambles about each of these books!

ARC REVIEW: Killman Creek – by Rachel Caine @amazonpub @rachelcaine

Title: Killman Creek
(Stillhouse Lake #2)
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
First published: December 12th 2017
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Finished reading: December 10th 2017
Pages: 348

“You never understand how vulnerable you are in this age of social media until something breaks against you, and then… then it’s too late.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

I first discovered this series earlier this year when I had the chance to read an ARC copy of Stillhouse Lake. I found myself being completely blown away by it and the story went straight to my list of all time favorites. The writing! The plot! The suspense! A psycho serial killer! Badass main characters! Every single element of Stillhouse Lake was perfectly executed and together they formed one hell of a thriller. I guess you can imagine the sequel Killman Creek was one of my most anticipated releases and I squeeled like a little girl when I opened the email with the invitation to read an ARC.  And not just because of the gorgeous cover; I was dying to find out what both Gwen and Melvin were up to next. I didn’t think it would be possible to reach the same level of brilliancy of the first book… But I was wrong. I was hooked from the very first page and the story didn’t let me go until the very end. Or more especifically: I was left with a huge book hangover… Because Killman Creek definitely ends with a BANG.

The sequel has a slightly different focus in general and has a lot more action and gruesomeness than Stillhouse Lake. I personally could really appreciate this escalation in violence and action and it suits the situation the characters find themselves in and their development in general. I don’t mind a little action in my thrillers either, but I can see why some would be put off by this change. Trigger warnings for those who are sensitive to gruesome and torture scenes! But trust me, this series is absolutely worth your time if you enjoy a good serial killer thriller. Not only is the story both engaging and brilliantly written, the plot is also well developed and the character development excellent. I won’t give away too much to avoid spoilers, but it was intriguing to see them react to the different (dangerous) situations. The ending was explosive and left me wanting for more… Book number three will definitely be right on the top of my 2018 most anticipated releases! And I can highly HIGHLY recommend this series to fans of the genre. Be ready to get your socks blown off.

WARNING: Possible spoilers! Please don’t read this summary if you haven’t read the first book of this series yet. I’ll keep the summary super short but it’s impossible to keep it completely spoiler-free…

Gwen Proctor might have won a battle against her ex-husband and serial killer Melvin Royal, but the war is not over. Especially since he somehow broke out of prison and is now able to hunt them down actively. And after she received a text saying she won’t be safe anywhere now, she knew she had to do something to protect the lives of her children. And Gwen will do whatever it takes… Even if this means using unorthodox methods or putting her own life in danger.

Earlier this year, Stillhouse Lake had earned an immediate place among my all time favorite books, and the sequel Killman Creek has only reconfirmed my love for this series. A mindblowingly good serial killer thriller packed with plot twists, action and a healthy dose of suspense and creepiness… Both the writing and character development are excellent and I personally liked the increased intensity and action in Killman Creek; I feel it helped demostrate the escalation of the whole situation and all its consequences. And that ending! I will be waiting impatiently for book number three to find out what will happen next. Serial killer thriller fans, read this series!

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Favorite 2017 Reads #3

With less than three months left in 2017, I thought it was about time to put some of my favorite reads of this year in the spotlight. Out of the 160+ books I’ve read so far, I managed to add a total of 15 new 5 star reads to my list of favorites. That’s a lot of books to talk about in just one post, so I’ve decided to split them into three IN THE SPOTLIGHT posts in the order I read them. I wrote about the batch number 1 and number 2 a little while ago and now it’s time for the final 5 titles… Click on the links below to go to the full reviews.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Favorite 2017 Reads #2

With less than one hundred days left in 2017, I thought it was about time to put some of my favorite reads of this year in the spotlight. Out of the 160+ books I’ve read so far, I managed to add a total of 15 new 5 star reads to my list of favorites. That’s a lot of books to talk about in just one post, so I’ve decided to split them into three IN THE SPOTLIGHT posts in the order I read them. I wrote about the first five 5 star reads a few days ago, and now it’s time for the second batch. Click on the links below to go to the full reviews…

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Favorite 2017 Reads #1

With less than one hundred days left in 2017, I thought it was about time to put some of my favorite reads of this year in the spotlight. Out of the 160 books I’ve read so far, I managed to add a total of 15 new 5 star reads to my list of favorites. That’s a lot of books to talk about in just one post, so I’ve decided to split them into three IN THE SPOTLIGHT posts in the order I read them. Before I continue with the first five, another fun fact: I also had 33 books with a 4,5 star rating (almost perfect) and another 37 books with a 4 star rating. Looks like 2017 has brought me a lot of good books so far!

And now on to the first 5 books with a 5 star rating… Click on the links to go to the full reviews.