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Book Review:: Not Quite Dead Yet | Holly Jackson

What do you do with the time you have left after you find out a traumatic brain injury will kill you within days? For Jet, it is catching the one who did this to her. Solving her own murder.

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson Book Cover

After a vicious attack that left her for dead, Jet is determined, despite objections from her family, to refuse surgery that will almost certainly kill her, to unravel the mystery of her attack. With the help of her oldest friend, Billy, they track down every lead and analyze every lie until they get to the truth. Jet’s injury informs the urgency of their search. Finding her killer is her dying wish and last request, and Billy would do anything for her.

Wow – what a ride. A seemingly normal cuburb family is surprisingly dark and twisted, and history is never erased, only buried, ready to be uncovered again someday.

This story is exciting and tragic, and I couldn’t stop turning pages. Jet’s fate is sealed, but that doesn’t make her story any less interesting. In fact, it maybe makes it more interesting. If it weren’t for her insistence and knowledge of those around her, who knows if the case would ever be solved? No one cares more about a crime than the victim herself, right?

Readers of crime mysteries will love this unique take on a murder investigation. Slam dunk, Jackson.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Not Quite Dead Yet
Author:: Holly Jackson
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Bantam
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 13h
Audiobook Narrator:: Alex McKenna
Published:: July 22nd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Ghostwriter | Julie Clark
Closer Than You Know | Debra Webb
Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
A Sea of Unspoken Things | Adrienne Young

Book Review:: The Unraveling of Julia | Lisa Scottoline

Julia, still grieving the loss of her older adoptive parents, finds out she is the recipient of an old Italian villa from a woman she’s never heard of. At first she is convinced it is a misunderstanding, but once she arrives in Italy it becomes clear that there’s been no mistake, and that perhaps Emilia Rossi knew something Julia didn’t.

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline Book Cover

There are many mysteries to uncover in the old Italian villa, about the proprietress and the family that once lived there. Julia begins almost immediately having vivid visions once she arrives that has her convinced there is a tether somewhere there of Julia’s biological family.

Like any good psychological thriller, the lines of reality get a little bit blurry, and almost everything we think we know is constantly in doubt. Who is this woman who left Julia this decrepit property? Did she really have ties to an ancient Italian duchess with a scandalous history? Are either or both of them of any relation to Julia? And why is she feeling so much pressure to sell and leave the past to be buried with the old crone who left it to her?

This book explores something I don’t often encounter in books: a spiritual intuition. Astrology, horoscopes, intuition, and even communicating beyond the veil as a medium. I tend to believe there is a spiritual realm of some sort of which we normally do not have access to. I love the idea that sometimes, under the right circumstances, or with the right people, we can connect over that bridge. If you are fully anti-‘woo-woo’, you will probably not enjoy this book.

While I did really enjoy this story, it didn’t really grab me fully under its spell. Theoretically I really enjoy the idea of this book, but I just wasn’t able to fully sink in the way I like. It might have been a timing issue, or something about trying to juggle so many theories without knowing up from down for so much of the novel. Was it a good book? Absolutely. Will I continue to read every Lisa Scottoline book I can get my hands on? Also yes. If you’re a fan of the ol’ psychological thriller, I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy about The Unraveling of Julia.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Unraveling of Julia
Author:: Lisa Scottoline
Genre:: Psychological Thriller
Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 12h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: July 15th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline
The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley
Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister

Book Review:: Sounds Like Trouble | Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith

Sounds Like Trouble is the second book in a fun contemporary mystery series co-written by Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith. Jackson and Mackenzie are back at it, this time officially partners in a joint PI firm, and there is just as much drama this time around.

Their last case caught the attention of some very intimidating crime lords, who “ask” Jackson and Mackenzie for some help with a little problem they have. There’s a package they need tracked down – discreetly.

This pair is electric. They’re sassy, capable, and oh-so-compatible. The level of action and danger is just as high as it was in book one. It’s a breakneck pace that will keep you flying through the pages!

I hope this is just the latest in a looong list of installments in this series, because it is such a breath of fresh air. If you’re looking for a fun and refreshing read this summer, please don’t sleep on this series!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Sounds Like Trouble (Sounds Like A Plan #2)
Author:: Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith
Genre:: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: Atria Books
Length:: 256 pages
Audio Length:: 6h
Audiobook Narrator:: Jaime Lincoln Smith & Angel Pean
Published:: July 8th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Sounds Like A Plan | Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It | Elle Cosimano
All the Missing Pieces | Catherine Cowles

Book Review:: All the Words We Know | Bruce Nash

Talk about a one-of-a-kind mystery novel! All the Words We Know by Bruce Nash is a fever dream of an experience. Readers are inside the mind of a mentally deteriorating woman who lives in an assisted living facility where something just isn’t right. Do her conspiratorial ideas have any basis? Or is her unwell mind playing tricks on her as she edges closer to the last ending?

All the Words We Know by Bruce Nash Book Cover

I’ve never read a book quite like this one. Stream of consciousness through the lens of someone who can’t remember words in most of her thoughts. It’s a little disorienting at the beginning, but as things ramped up, I found I couldn’t ‘look away’.

Rosie is frequently visited by her two children, who seem concerned at her state of health. She has forgotten almost everything about her life, and it was so interesting and heartbreaking as hell to experience her, in real time, remember she was once in love, that she was once a person who was loved, once upon a time.

It’s a terrifying premise. In a place that has full control of you (including your medications), when you are so helpless…gah. The elderly are so vulnerable, and this novel made me feel for them more than ever.

This is what we know (probably): Someone died falling from a window, others are also dying (it is an end of life facility), Rosie has forgotten the password to her accounts, and her son loves her very much. We also know that the doctor in charge is telling her son how concerned he is for her recent behavior and decline, her medications are adjusted, and she has this deep resounding feeling of something not being right, and not knowing why.

Wow. For a book where I didn’t know what the heck was going on 100% of the time, it was quite impressive. I’m inclined to dock a star or two for how difficult it was to stay grounded in a novel where everything is so disjointed and garbled, and it is quite repetitive, but I think I’ll stick to 5, because I am blown away by the concept and it was consistent all the way through.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: All the Words We Know
Author:: Bruce Nash
Genre:: Mystery
Publisher:: Atria
Length:: 240 pages
Audio Length:: 7h 46m
Audiobook Narrator:: Abbe Holmes
Published:: July 1st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4.5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife | Anna Johnston
Counting Miracles | Nicholas Sparks
The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Book Review:: Sunburned | Katherine Wood

Actions have consequences, and the law doesn’t care about good intentions. Sunburned is a brand-new novel that will have you glued to the pages as a high-stakes mystery is solved.

Audrey is a discovery agent. She helps dig up facts for court. But she wasn’t always. Once she was just a girl in love with one of the brothers of the family she grew up with, with a mother who had a recent devastating cancer diagnosis, and extraordinary coding skills. What would you do, if you had the means and opportunity to have a chance at saving her?

Now years later, her mother is gone and she is estranged from the two brothers, when her ex-lover calls. Now a billionaire, he wants her to track down who is blackmailing him. It’s not just his own morally brackish decisions coming back to haunt him, the dirt they have on him will bring back to light the events of that summer long ago that has the potential to implicate them all.

What a nail-biter! The narrative jumped back and forth between Audrey’s blackmail investigation in the present and the shared past of the characters long ago. The tone is quite dark, but it never made me so uncomfortable I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue (I’m a pretty sensitive thriller reader). I thought it was very compelling, and I never did quite land on guessing how the whole thing would end.

This is absolutely a great beach read for those who love thrillers. Maybe if you’re going to be scuba diving anytime soon though…pick something else! That scene was absolutely the most intense of the entire thing. I loved this book, and I’m excited to find more from Katherine Wood!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Sunburned
Author:: Katherine Wood
Genre:: Mystery/Thirller
Publisher:: Bantam
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 12h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: July 1st, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Villa | Rachel Hawkins
Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
Saltwater | Katy Hays

Book Review:: The Night We Lost Him | Laura Dave

I’m coming to realize that Laura Dave is one of my favorite authors right now. She’s an excellent atmospheric writer. The tone of her books is clear from the first page and blankets the entire narrative in a somber and mysterious aura. It’s right up my alley. Couple that with excellent character work, interesting narrative concepts, and prose as smooth as butter and you’ve got yourself a five-star book all day long.

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave Book Cover

Nora is a strong woman who will be okay no matter which way the story turns. But the death of her father, and her estranged brother’s insistence that there is more to the story, brings up deep personal conflicts within her that she suddenly needs to explore. It is this train of story that we need closure on, and not necessarily the mystery surrounding her father’s death – but because she can’t reconcile her own issues without understanding his last days, we need to know that too. It’s brilliant story building, and I was hooked all the way through.

My one complaint is something that probably makes her books all the more marketable: they’re not longer. I could read 450+ pages of one of her stories happily, and I know she’d fill it all in with scintillating details that would only enhance it all. However, she fits a damn good story into these 320 pages, and I have to call that just about perfect.

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Details

Title:: The Night We Lost Him
Author:: Laura Dave
Genre:: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:: S&S/Marysue Rucci Books
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 7h 49m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan
Published:: September 17th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Villa | Rachel Hawkins
I Think I Was Murdered | Colleen Coble & Rick Acker
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline

Book Review:: Read Between the Lines | Emily Kerr

The grouch in the library may not be as bad as he seems…

Read Between the Lines by Emily Kerr Book Cover

Kat is ready for love, and she thinks she’s finally found it through a local dating app. Her new beau is in the military, but he’s finally coming home and they’ll get to meet face-to-face for the very first time.

Then he asks for some money. For a flight! To make their date she bought a new dress for! Just this once!

Red flag.

He’s a scammer. She tries to report him to the app, but they swear he’s a real person and dismiss her. Still feeling uneasy, she decides to take things into her own hands by investigating. Luckily there’s a big grumpy ex-cop who frequents the library she works at who might be just the one to help her.

This story is all about solving the mystery of who this scammer is and getting him shut down. There’s also a little bit of romance on the side. Really, I was hoping for a lot more romance.

For Leo, the grumpy ex-cop who holes up at the library, there wasn’t a lot to work with. He has a bare-minimum backstory and it wasn’t enough to really sink into. For Kat, it’s easy to sympathize with her situation, but again, we don’t actually learn all that much about her. It’s not an actual mystery/thriller…it feels kind of blurry.

In the end the mystery is solved and love is found. There are certainly cute moments, but there wasn’t anything really swoon-worthy. Three stars from me.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Read Between the Lines
Author:: Emily Kerr
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: One More Chapter
Length:: 384 pages
Published:: June 13th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

I Did Something Bad | Pyae Moe Thet War
Sunshine and Spice | Aurora Palit
Splendid Little Schemes | Robin Strong

Book Review:: The Ghostwriter | Julie Clark

Once upon a time, two children were murdered in their home. Siblings. Leaving one brother, not home at the time, alive. No one was ever convicted. This tragedy is the foundation Olivia’s life is built upon.

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark Book Cover

The surviving sibling is Olivia’s father, Vincent. He’s become a global sensation for his horror novels, but before that, he was sensational for being the lead suspect in his siblings’ murders. Olivia and her father had a falling out years ago, and she separated herself from him as much as she could. She even married a man she didn’t love in order to change her last name. Blood runs thick though, and she ended up in the same industry as her father, ghostwriting books for other famous authors. Now, on the edge of financial ruin after a big scandal, the only job available is from Vincent Taylor, and he said she’s the only one he’ll work with. It’s the first time returning home for Olivia, and she wants to get back out as soon as possible, but when she gets there, she realizes she might be able to finally learn the truth. Is her father a killer? Or was he always telling the truth about that night?

What a compelling psychological thriller! The backstory of this novel is so rich and murky at the same time. Enough details to create that dark misty tone for the past, but not enough to give away the store.

I always love the devices authors use to add doubt to the information the reader receives, so we don’t know what’s real and what may be a lie. In this case, Olivia’s father has a disease that affects his mind, and we all know human memory is fallible anyway. I love that feeling when reading a book like this that you never really know what the reality is, and what is fabricated. It leaves a lot of room in your mind to sort through evidence and form new theories up until the very end.

In this story there are quite a few scenarios that seem likely as Olivia learns more about her family history. It’s the story of one family’s darkest hour, and it has been shrouded in mystery and doubt all these years.

The characters are believable and well formed, the writing is clear and atmospheric, the plot is complex and interesting, and just look at that stunning cover!

I’m very happy to have received this book for early review via the publisher through netgalley, and I’m excited to have another author’s backlist to add to my TBR!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Ghostwriter
Author:: Julie Clark
Genre:: Mystery Suspense
Publisher:: SOURCEBOOKS Landmark
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: TBA
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: June 3rd, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
The Truth About the Devlins | Lisa Scottoline
The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins

Book Review:: The Gravedigger’s Almanac | Oliver Potzsch

If you have any interest in exploring some of the earliest practices of modern criminology, this is the mystery for you! Oliver Potzsch’s newest release, The Gravedigger’s Almanac, is a twisted historical mystery that will remind you of the late great Sherlock Holmes.

The Gravedigger's Almanac by Oliver Potzsch Book Cover

Leo is a new resident of Vienna, having fled his hometown in shame. He’s got some money and an interest in an emerging realm of study that is criminalistics. Photography, deductive reasoning, logical fallacies…he’s putting all of the strategies to use on a new case of brutal murders in the cultured city.

I love a good mashup of historical fiction and mystery. This will teach you something while keeping you hooked into a quite sinister string of killings. It is quite a complex case that will have Leo and his associates chasing down lead after lead to solve the heinous crimes. The Gravedigger’s Almanac has the perfect balance between interesting historical facts and compelling narrative. I was enthralled!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Gravedigger’s Almanac
Author:: Oliver Potzsch (Translated by Lisa Reinhardt)
Genre:: Historical Mystery
Publisher:: HarperVia
Length:: 404 pages
Audio Length:: 13h 49m
Audiobook Narrator:: Rupert Bush
Published:: May 27th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Bone Garden | Tess Garrison
The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristin Vukovic
The Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon

Book Review:: Closer Than You Know | Debra Webb

Retired cop Vera Boyett is back in her hometown, closer to her sisters, and closer to the secret they’ve been keeping since they were kids. She’s not there long before the sheriff calls her up to help on a case that has ties back to a serial killer she helped investigate and convict a decade ago, The Messenger. Strange things start happening before it becomes clear: Vera is the next target of this torture killer.

Closer Than You Know by Debra Webb Book Cover

Wow, this novel is quite the ride! This is the second book in the series, which I didn’t realize when I signed up for the arc. While the book did a great job rooting the reader in what was happening without having read the first book, it felt a little too explain-y at times, so I feel like having the full context of book one would have helped with that.

This felt exactly like a TV show episode. Back in the day I was really into Bones, and this brought me back. Vera has a history with the sheriff in town which was actually really steamy. Though this is a crime thriller, the romance was a very nice edition for this romance-loving girlie.

There are a lot of things going on in this story. There is the killer still behind bars, a copycat of some kind, and this shadow of the secret Vera and her sisters are keeping…from everyone. Layer in the personal dramas and you’ve got a very busy book here. At times it felt a little too fast paced, which says to me I’m not connected enough to what is going on.

If you’re a fan of crime thrillers, I think this novel is right up your alley. Though I didn’t connect with it as much as I like, it did feel like skilled writing and a properly tangled and exciting plot that will keep you guessing all the way through.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: Closer Than You Know (Vera Boyett #2)
Author:: Debra Webb
Genre:: Mystery Thriller
Publisher:: Thomas & Mercer
Length:: 317 pages
Audio Length:: 10h
Audiobook Narrator:: TBA
Published:: May 6th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars