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The Drift by C.J. Tudor Publisher:  Ballantine Books an imprint of Random House Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Horror / Sci-Fi Read This If You Love: Stephen King or Blake Crouch Hope was like sand. The tighter you hold on, the more it trickled through your fingers. Society. Order. Infrastructure. All have broken down… The Drift , a semi-apocalyptic mystery, is a terrifying edge-of-your-seat horror novel. A virus has been unleashed on the world and two groups of people are trapped in separate transportation accidents. Mystery surrounds both of these groups as the story puzzles its way together. In the meantime, another group of people is awaiting the arrival of volunteers at a mysterious and secluded mountain-side retreat. Who will survive? Who are these people? And what exactly are they fighting? This book left my skin crawling! A horror story about catastrophe and survival that will leave you enthralled. It’s jam-packed full of action (if I’m being critical…maybe one too ma

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry Publisher:  G.P. Putnam’s Sons an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Time Travel / Sci-fi / Mystery / Thriller Read This If You Love: Fringe / The Vaults  by Toby Ball Looking for a mysterious time traveling twist of a read? Then The 22 Murders of Madison May  is for you. Madison May finds herself on the receiving end of unwelcome affection and obsession…over and over and over again. Felicity is the tenacious reporter covering Madison’s murder, but she gets pulled further into the story than she ever thought possible.  This book is equal parts thriller and sci-fi and reminded me so much of how I felt watching the first season of the TV show Fringe . At times, you aren’t sure what is happening, but there is ALWAYS something happening. It’s an edge-of-your-seat plot-driven read. It doesn’t require much effort on the reader’s part to be swept up in the story, and it is a very fast 322 page read that is fu

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett Publisher:  Atria Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Puzzle Mystery Read This If You Love:  Coded Mystery Books / Puzzles From the brilliant author of The Appeal , comes The Twyford Code ! I was super excited to read this book and absolutely inhaled every page. Hallett is quickly making her mark in the book world by re-defining how mystery novels are told. Just like how The Appeal  was told via text messages, The Twyford Code has its own unique style via transcripts of phone recordings. Clever, fresh, and engaging!!! Steven found a book forty years ago that led to the disappearance of his teacher. Fresh out of prison, he is now determined to find out what happened to her and unravel the mysterious code at the center of the found children’s novel.  Told via phone recordings, this approach soars across the page. I was completely immersed and thoroughly entertained by the case of characters, too. This book is a treasure trove for readers wh

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall Publisher:  Macmillan Audio an Flat Iron Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Suspense / Thriller Read This If You Love: Jennifer Hillier Of course, I believed. But there was no one there… Naomi, Cassidy, and Olivia were eleven years old when they were viciously attacked in the woods. They were heroes who helped to put away a serial killer. Twenty-two years later, the events of that fateful day are once again ruling their lives. They start talking about truths, but when you all have a different view, what is the truth? Yes, they were heroes, but they were also liars.  I listened to this book on audio and the voice performer (Karissa Vacker) did an absolutely great job with the voices and inflections. More than just a straight read, she embodied all the characters in the novel. At points, I had to double check and make sure that it was only her and not a complete cast of performers. I highly recommend listening to this on

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson Publisher:  Mariner Books / Harper Collins Publishers Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Murder Mystery Read This If You Love:  Agatha Christie, Clue , Knives Out Ernie is a writer of books about writing crime books. He is also the member of a very dead-body inducing family. Right from the start death comes knocking at his door. From there, we step through each family member to gain some knowledge and back story before we are thrust into a mountainside snowstorm bound family reunion. A reunion where, you guessed it, there is a BODY. Who killed this one? Who is the BODY?  Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone  is a mashup of an Agatha Christie novel and Clue . It’s perfect for fans of the Knives Out  movies. The chapters move along swiftly and you are constantly entertained by the wit of Ernie and the unveiling of secrets, lies, and layers. Throughout the novel, Ernie acknowledges the audience directly.

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Nonfiction Read This If You Love:  Linguistics, Cult Documentaries, Interest in Sociology As a sociology minor, I’ve always had a fascination with cults and cultish type societal groups. Cultish  explores the language behind what draws people into cults, whether it is the Moonies or #bossbabe culture. I found this book packed full of interesting insight into how language is manipulated to both attract and keep the devoted faithfuls. I consume a rather high number of cult documentaries (which is a subculture of cultish behavior in itself). In one of those documentaries, Montell appeared on screen and gave details regarding that particular topic so I grabbed a copy of her book.  The book is divided into parts and the first section delves into how “normal” people get drawn in and that it isn’t so much what the cult leaders say as how they deliver it. It’s all

All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre:  Mysteries/Thrillers Read This If You Love:  Listening to true crime podcasts 😱 It scares me when you do that… If you loved Willingham’s Flicker in the Dark , you won’t want to miss All the Dangerous Things .  When Isabelle’s son goes missing, she puts all her effort into finding out what happened. And when you are desperate for answers, everything and everyone is suspicious. That, in my opinion, makes for a good suspense novel. Combine that with the atmospheric descriptions of the future and past, and Willingham hit on a combo for a gripping mystery novel.  Side note: If you are an avid crime podcast listener, you will enjoy the winks at the community and I certainly had a very specific person in mind for the fictional podcaster of Waylon. (Dare to take a guess if you are also a podcast-obsessed listener?)

A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fable series) by Alix E. Harrow Publisher:  Tor.com Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Sci-fi/Fantasy Read This If You Love:  Wicked  / The Ten Thousand Doors of January Live as happily for as long as you have. - Zinnia Another piece of writing from the amazing writer, Alix E. Harrow. If you have been reading the blog, you will know that I absolutely fell in love with this author’s writing style and storytelling when I read The Ten Thousand Doors of January . (If you haven’t read it yet, get a copy now!) After finishing that book, I decided to read as much of her work as possible and read A Spindle Splintered , which is the first in the Fractured Fable series. A Mirror Mended  is the second in this series. Since we last saw her, Zinnia Gray has continued eluding death from her rare terminal illness. She has bought herself time by traveling through all the realms of Sleeping Beauty fairy tales. Her latest jump through the space-time continuum lands her

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins Publisher:  Macmillan Audio Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mysteries/Thrillers Read This If You Love:  Lucy Foley / Ruth Ware / Lisa Jewell And somewhere in the universe a pair of scissors snaps, sealing his fate. - Mary Does a house remember? When Chess invites Emily on a summer retreat to a villa in Italy, she jumps at the chance to reset her life. Maybe this will be good for her after so much turmoil and will help her write that next novel? However, this isn’t just any house, it is a villa that is notorious for what happened there in the 70s. But what DID happen in the 70s, and what is really happening now?  Tucked behind another beautiful Rachel Hawkins book cover lies a suspenseful tale. The Villa  is woven across two timeframes and multiple art mediums. Many reviews compare this book to those of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware. I wholeheartedly agree and this was by far my favorite of the author’s books. Fans of true crime, pop culture, and podcas