Book Review: The Price of Grace

Are you at all impressed at the reading streak I'm on??? For the first time this ENTIRE YEAR, I am caught up on my Goodreads challenge! I'm on track to finishing 150 books this year and that's pretty great because for a good couple of months I didn't think that was going to happen at all. HA!

The Price of Grace - Diana Munoz Stewart

Gracie Parish knows the true cost of trust. Rescued as a child by the infamous Parish family, she became a member of their covert sisterhood of vigilantes. Gracie saw her most precious relationships destroyed by secrecy. She learned long ago to protect her heart as well as her family's secrets.

Special Agent Leif "Dusty" McAllister will do anything to uncover the truth about the Parish family's covert operations. Dusty knows Gracie is his ticket in. He'll use everything he's got—fair, unfair, and just plain wrong—to break through her defenses. But the more he gets to know Gracie and her family's mission, the harder he starts to fall. Neither one is sure they'll get out of this with their lives—or their hearts—intact.

I always forget how much I love romantic suspense novels until I'm reading one and I ask myself why don't I read more of these?? I always enjoy them and this one is no exception. In fact, I have this sitting next to my books by Lora Leigh and Lisa Marie Rice because Diana Muñoz Stewart is on par with them. 
The great thing about this book is while it is book two in the Black Ops Confidential series, it works as a stand alone, too. That ended up being perfect because I read the first one, I Am Justice, last year and I really couldn't remember it. I know I liked it but the details were fuzzy. It's completely OK because the author gives you the highlights in this one so even if you aren't one to go back and read the first, you'll be just fine, pick this one up and have a good read. 
What impressed me in the first book was how the author gave us a really bad ass female lead who isn't a damsel in distress, and that carries over into this book. While these are different characters than in book one (which is why this is a fabulous stand alone), they are no less interesting and they keep you hooked. At first I wasn't actually sure that I liked Dusty because he came off as kind of an ass who would trample on anyone for his own agenda, and while that's what his plan is here, it spectacularly backfires and I kind of love it because someone needed to reel him in a bit. In book one I didn't love Justice because I felt like she was too alpha, but in this book I really did like Gracie. Gracie is exactly what I'd expect from a female character in a romantic suspense and, sue me, that's what I like. 
While this book comes in at 350ish pages, it is a FAST read. I'm not kidding. So much happens in this book all at once, you feel like you can't put the book down. I mean, a lot. It's also a little bit of a strange story, so it feels like you're trying to wrap your head around what's actually happening but at the same time saying, "Wait.... WHAT??" but more and more stuff is happening. Gracie's real identity is murky, at best, her family are all kind of off, and the idea that fighting oppression in women is best combated with... an army of vigilante women who commit violence is kind of odd and I don't really think that makes sense, but in a way... I get it? So even though this is a fictional book, it's a romantic suspense and you get all of that goodness, you also get to thinking about the current state of affairs in the world and what if this was real? Could you even imagine it? What if you were Gracie, how would you even handle all of this when your life is a really weird onion with bizarre layers you didn't know where there? 
Needless to say, I really enjoyed this. I'd say I liked this one more than I am Justice. There is a third book coming called The Cost of Honor, and I get to read that one too and I'm pretty dang excited. If you are looking for a book to shove in your purse to read between picking up kids or on your lunch break, definitely check this one out because you'll be completely entertained and absorbed into it. 

   

THANK YOU to Sourcebooks Casablanca and TLC  Book Tours for having me on this tour and sending a copy to me. This post contains affiliate links. 

Book Review: Invisible As Air

Invisible As Air - Zoe Fishman

Sylvie Snow knows the pressures of expectations: a woman is supposed to work hard, but never be tired; age gracefully, but always be beautiful; fix the family problems, but always be carefree. Sylvie does the grocery shopping, the laundry, the scheduling, the schlepping and the PTA-ing, while planning her son’s Bar Mitzvah and cheerfully tending her husband, Paul, who’s been lying on the sofa with a broken ankle. She’s also secretly addicted to the Oxycontin intended for her husband.

For three years, Sylvie has repressed her grief about the heartbreaking stillbirth of her newborn daughter, Delilah. On the morning of the anniversary of her death, when she just can’t face doing one…more…thing: she takes one—just one—of her husband’s discarded pain pills. And suddenly she feels patient, kinder, and miraculously relaxed. She tells herself that the pills are temporary, just a gift, and that when the supply runs out she’ll go back to her regularly scheduled programming.

But days turn into weeks, and Sylvie slips slowly into a nightmare. At first, Paul and Teddy are completely unaware, but this changes quickly as her desperate choices reveal her desperate state. As the Bar Mitzvah nears, all three of them must face the void within themselves, both alone and together.

I struggled through this one mostly because I really, really, really didn't like Sylvie. Paul was alright and, don't get me wrong, he had some pretty terrible tendencies and secrets in the aftermath of Delilah's death, but Sylvie... whoa boy, baby.

Now, I have never had a baby who was stillborn. I haven't. I've suffered a pretty awful miscarriage, I have died in childbirth and been irrevocably changed, but I've never handled a stillborn baby. Sylvie internalized her grief, and Paul kind of does too, and their then 9 year old son Teddy was kind of left in the wind, so to speak. Sylvie lashes out when people try to talk to her about Delilah because she believes SHE is the only one entitled to grieve as she is, and then gets mad that they aren't grieving enough and showing it. Sylvie and Paul's marriage is in a rut, Teddy is in middle school and completely awkward and trying to find his way and it all kind of begins imploding the day Sylvie takes one of the pain pills Paul was prescribed for his ankle.

At first Paul and Teddy don't notice anything other than she's happier and not lashing out at them as often. Once the prescription runs out Sylvie, fully addicted and in complete denial, starts making desperate choices, which leads to everything coming to a head.

Out of all the characters, I felt the most for Teddy. Maybe because he's my son's age and I know how confusing life is for a boy with puberty and all of these social changes but add on to that your mom basically being an addict and feeling like you have no control of anything, and I just wanted to give him a hug the entire time.

I also have to mention that in a way, I could relate to Sylvie in the beginning. The rage of knowing who didn't reach out at all, the ones who dropped off a meal and really quietly disappear from your life, the ones who don't really want to know when they ask how you're doing, or the ones who just awkwardly ignore the fact anything happened in the first place. Don't get me wrong, for as much as I didn't like Sylvie, I absolutely understood the desire to just be numb and slip away for awhile, to be able to turn off all the noise.

Overall? I'm going to give this one 4 stars. It has a few hiccups in it but I flew through this one because you constantly want to know what's going to happen. It flips from Sylvie, Paul, and Teddy's point of view so you can see all sides of this train wreck before it happen. An absolutely appropriately timed book given the crisis to prescription medication addiction and how the everyday addict is now becoming the PTA mom, the mom who leads the playgroup, your coworker, etc. I highly recommend this one.

A good option is to head over to the HarperCollins website to pick this one up- it would make for a really great book club read.

   

A huge thank you to William Morrow Books, Harper Collins, and TLC Book Tours for having me on this review tour. This post contains affiliate links. 

Book Roundup: The Athena Protocol and I Am Heathcliff

Honestly, I am never going to complain about having too many books to review, I just wish that there were more days of the week! Tomorrow I will have a recap of some fun family stuff so look forward to that. I have so many great books coming up for you and honestly, I don't know if your credit card (or library) can handle it. I don't. Something for literally EVERYBODY.

It's not too soon to start thinking about Christmas. Stop buying kids and people junk and toys- buy books. Books are so much more fun and gets your brain working. Here are a couple to consider:

The Athena Protocol - Shamim Sarif

Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world.

Athena operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill—so when Jessie can’t stop herself from pulling the trigger, she gets kicked out of the organization, right before a huge mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.

Jessie needs to right her wrong and prove herself, so she starts her own investigation into the trafficking. But going rogue means she has no one to watch her back as she delves into the horrors she uncovers. Meanwhile, her former teammates have been ordered to bring her down. Jessie must face danger from all sides if she’s to complete her mission—and survive.

I'm a fan of a good YA book, and this one delivers. So many teens have a hard time finding a book read and to that I say- try a thriller. A thriller is something we can all get into and it gives you that physical, almost anxious/panicky feeling when danger is right there and that's what keeps someone hooked. Make no mistake, this book gives you that. We have danger, human trafficking, we have an LGBTQ lead character, a female secret spy (!!!) and we have some relationships that keep it all twisty (a struggling parent/child relationship, and a bit of a romance that I didn't feel like was very front and center but kind of in the background). I really, really enjoyed this one and managed to finish it in the course of a weekend. This feels more like it could be compared to Divergent versus Hunger Games, and a little bit of The Darkest Minds. It's the grownups doing things they very much shouldn't and the teens having to make it right. I know this is marketed as YA but I'd really say this is more suited for high school and not so much middle school. Yes, I know middle school is reading more mature books but this one feels like it would make more sense to an older teen. At least an older teen could start to think of some of the greater implications of some of the topics brought up in this book. Also? This has a badass lead female, so if you are all about girl power, this is your jam! A solid 4 stars from me!

Shamim Sarif has partnered with Headwaters Relief Organization that works in disaster-stricken areas to educate vulnerable families about human trafficking, which sadly, is something incredibly common worldwide. If you order your copy of The Athena Protocol from the Headwaters Relief Organization, she will donate a portion of the proceeds to their global efforts to fight and prevent this hidden aftermath of disasters. If you are a teacher and/or librarian, or know one who teaches at the high school level, consider purchasing a copy (or more!) of this book from this site. I promise you it will get read and you'll be working for a great cause. If you want more information about this organization or cause, you can find their website HERE. 

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers and Shamim Sarif for my copy for review! Can we also comment on this cool cover and how much I love it?? 

I Am Heathcliff - Kate Mosse

16 modern fiction superstars shine a startling light on the romance and pain of the infamous literary pair Heathcliff and Cathy.

Short stories to stir the heart and awaken vital conversation about love.

If you are a long term reader of this blog you know that years ago I borrowed Wuthering Heights from my local library when I had a goal of reading nothing but classics for a summer challenge. I failed miserably and it turns out I didn't understand the book at all and I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I ended up reading a dumbed down version of the book, which was so bizarre but I at least understood it and I still didn't like it. 

BUT!

I really like short stories and if there ever is a time that I want to feel like I'm flying through a book, I read a book of short stories. The great thing about this one is that while there are 16 stories in here, it is just under 300 pages so most of the stories are only a few pages and you can easily get one or two done while you're waiting for your kid in the pick up line at school, or before bed. Each one is really interesting and different than the last, written by different authors, which also makes it feel fresh because each had a really different writing voice.

The great part of this isn't the readability of this, it's that the curator, and every writer within, recognize what a powerhouse Emily Bronte was and still is. She paved the way for every female writer since her and I am completely here for this if only for that reason.

Admittedly, a couple of the stories were not great and I didn't care for them, a couple of them were amazing and I wanted more of the story (more and more pages!) and from the writer. One was a bit odd to me, I can see where a few have some English humor to it that you might not catch right away, but it is just so well put together.

Overall? I'm giving this 3 stars, only because it's basically the average of each story in the book. I enjoyed this one and that's saying something because Wuthering Heights just was not my jam (because Heathcliff kind of felt like a creep and I don't know, it just didn't do it for me in any way but I tried to remember the time period and yeah... even still- can't like the guy). If you have a fan of the classics, maybe someone who likes a little twist to a classic or even re-tellings, and obviously massive fans of Wuthering Heights and/or Emily Bronte will enjoy this. It did her justice, just as it should.

I am so excited that The Borough Press and Harper Collins sent me this beautiful book for review! I feel so fancy and smart when people see it on my shelf or table. Ha!

   

This post contains affiliate links. 

Book Review: Loving Mr. Daniels

It seems like forever since I've done a Weight Loss check in, but I haven't really been exercising per say. I've really cut down on junk food and snacks, and I'm ridiculously busy now that school has started so when I started I was 212 pounds, and I'm consistently weighing in between 206 and 204, so I'm pretty happy about that. I certainly don't see it off my body or feel smaller, but a loss is a loss and I'm going to be happy about progress. I don't see the weight loss doctor until December so I'm just trying to make good progress on my own until then. But let's talk about this book.

I continue to be obsessed with this author and I won't even apologize. Frankly, I'm worried about the day I run out of her books - WHAT AM I GOING TO DO???

Loving Mr. Daniels - Brittainy C. Cherry

To Whom it May Concern,

It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.

When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.

When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.

Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.

It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.

It was ours.

And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for Loving Mr. Daniels.

-Ashlyn Jennings

Right off the bat, this book kind of reminded me of Eighteen by J.A. Huss, which I read way back in 2017. (I'm including the purchase links for that below because if you love romance you will likely really, really enjoy that one as well.) I know the teacher-student relationship trope is kind of taboo and people hate it but I kind of love it. I swear I'm not a freak! If this was my daughter I would be appropriately pissed off, CALM DOWN.

But a taboo romance is kind of my jam. I can't help it.

We have Ashlyn, fresh off the death of her twin sister and being unceremoniously sent to her dad's house (who she doesn't know very well), she isn't handling any of it well at all and is dealing with it mostly alone. Enter Daniel- fresh from the death of his dad, and his mom a year earlier, and a brother who was in prison and is now a little MIA, he isn't handling any of it well at all. The two lock eyes on a train, and then reunite at a bar over music and Shakespeare.

Basically love at first sight, and they both heal with each other and it's beautiful and your heart does all the swoops and stuff.

Then we find out he is actually her teacher during her senior year of high school (and her dad is assistant principal... awkward) and it kind of blows up. But then.. not really because even though they aren't doing it, they manage to stay connected through writing, music, and Shakespeare but also the exchanged looks that convey everything and nothing at all.

You find yourself rooting for these two because they are independently broken but together they are a beautiful whole. Everything is against them, though: the teacher/student thing, her dad, the secrecy, his brother (who shows up to cause trouble), drugs, death, finding themselves, etc. It's so much and this is maybe the first book that I really wasn't sure if they would end up together and it was such a roller coaster. The ending, though? Sigh. It was beautiful. So much trauma and sadness happens in this book and heartache to last a lifetime in just a short time span.

I will tell you that I loved both of these characters so much. I loved all of the secondary characters, flaws and all. I love Brittainy Cherry's writing that hooks you in but guts you at the same time. In all the best ways.

Truly- if you need a new book, even if it makes you look at your husband and wonder why the hell he can't be romantic and in love with you like Daniel is.... pick this one. Promise.

   

   

*This post contains affiliate links*

Book Review: Mad Dog

Thank god it's Friday. I feel like this week just took forever to get through and I'm just run down. I wish I could say my weekend will be all relaxed and restful, but no. I'm taking Olivia and her friend to a concert tomorrow and then Sunday, if it isn't cold and rainy, we might go to a pumpkin patch. At this rate it's not looking great so I might sleep all day. We'll see how I'm feeling. Yesterday and today has just been rough, constantly feeling like I have the flu when I know I don't, that's the stuff I wish I could change but it is what it is.

In preparation of the weekend, I have a book review for a rather short book that will leave you with some real thoughts.

Mad Dog - Kelly Watt

It's the summer of 1964 and the Supremes are the reigning queens of radio. Sheryl-Anne MacRae dreams of running away from her home on an apple orchard in southwestern Ontario to find her missing mother. But the teenager's plans are put on hold when her uncle and guardian, Fergus, the local pharmacist and an amateur photographer, brings home a handsome young hitchhiker. When Sheryl-Anne meets the guitar-toting Peter Lucas Angelo, she falls in love. But life in Eden Valley is not as idyllic as it seems. As the summer progresses, Peter is pulled deeper into Fergus's dangerous underworld--a world of sex, drugs, pornography and apocalyptic visions. Through the naive eyes of the ethereal 14-year old Sheryl-Anne, Kelly Watt explores themes of child abuse and sexual deviance, and the secrets, dissociation and denial that allow it to flourish. A Gothic tale told in vivid, often hallucinogenic prose, Mad Dog was a 2001 Globe and Mail notable book and Watt's first novel.

Well first and foremost, this book is absolutely not going to be for everyone. I had kind of an idea of what I thought it was going to be, but when I finished that last page my exact words to my husband were, "what the in the actual hell did I just read?!". I honestly have no idea where to start or where to go, that's where I'm at.

Um. OK, so we have Sheryl-Anne who is just a young teenager who becomes enamored with Peter as soon as he comes to the farm. He was a hitchhiker her uncle picked up and he's going to work there for a bit before he goes on his way to be a musician. So, right away knowing that Peter was quite a bit older than Sheryl-Anne, I'm thinking this was going to be a child abuse thing where he's a weird transient that takes advantage and leaves. Which, it's just so much more complex and bizarre than that. Turns out her uncle, Fergus, is a bit of a.... pervert? Cult leader? I don't even know how to properly describe him but something definitely isn't right on the farm because it's clear Peter is fascinated by Fergus and his life and sees Fergus as some kind of idol... kind of. The book takes place over the course of this summer and it goes from "aw... kid with a crush, we've all been there" to "holy hell- this is creeping me out".

It's almost too late by the time you realize what's going on and all of the dots are connected. I will say, that's kind of the charm of this book- your urgency to get to the end and figure out the puzzle is the same urgency Sheryl-Anne feels as her character is trying to piece everything together.

Overall... I'm reluctantly giving this a 3 star. It really disturbed me on a lot of levels, but I think it's really meant to. This isn't a case of "wow- this author is off the rails" it's absolutely a controlled ride off the rails- that's exactly where this author wanted us to go but is fully aware and in charge of the train, so to speak. You leave this book with the affirmation that you don't know anyone. The person you see out in the world is not the person behind their front door, it's all different and nothing is ever as it seems.

(Side note: this book is written a little oddly in which no quotation marks are used in conversation, so it took me a bit to get the hang of it. In hindsight it almost reads as someone recounting this story, if that makes sense.)

   

Many thanks to Kelly Watt and PR by the Book for sending me a copy of Mad Dog, and of course, this post contains affiliate links. If you pick this one up, let me know what you think- I want to know what you thought.

Book Review: No Judgments

It just dawned on me that this is going to be a series and I am HERE FOR IT.

No Judgments - Meg Cabot

When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake.

But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can . . . but to do so, she’s going to need help—help she has no choice but to accept from her boss’s sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell, the Mermaid Café’s most notorious heartbreaker.

But when Bree starts falling for Drew, just as Little Bridge’s power is restored and her penitent ex shows up, she has to ask herself if her island fling was only a result of the stormy weather, or if it could last during clear skies too.

I have to tell you that this is my first book from Meg Cabot and I absolutely loved this one so much that I have to read more. I have to read the rest of this series as they come out because now I'm hooked.

Here we have Bree (formerly known as Sabrina) who has run from her life in New York City following an incident involving the friend of her boyfriend which is all too common for women, and returned to Little Bridge Island. Just in time for the "hurricane of the century" to shake things up. Having never been through a hurricane like this, she reluctantly accepts helps from the locals to get herself to safety, only she worries the entire time about Drew. Drew is the hottie of the island, freshly broken up and as stubborn as Bree is, he's holed up at his home on the beach that he built himself and he's absolutely certain it will be just fine and hold.

At some point sparks fly and while Drew is all for it, Bree isn't sure she wants to take it any farther than a friendship but is that going to work when they decide to rescue abandoned in the hurricane evacuation process?

So... I loved this. Is it a little bit cheesy? Yes. Do you want to shake Bree and tell her to stop being so incredibly stubborn and just go with it? YES. Is it hard to put down and so much fun to read? Yes, it really is. I couldn't put this down and burned our dinner because I got distracted and neither Matt not the kids were pleased with this. I loved the hurricane, I loved all of the secondary characters we meet along the way, I loved rescuing animals, I loved Drew and how he wasn't super crazy macho but funny and sarcastic, and I love reading a romance that doesn't rely on a big blow up and make up. It definitely has the drama but Bree and Drew are written like normal people and these are issues normal people deal with in a normal way. I know "normal" sounds boring, but it definitely isn't and I really enjoyed this. It was a perfect read to lighten my load following all of the thrillers I've read lately!

Did you know you can buy books directly from HarperCollins? You can! You can find NO JUDGMENTS on there (and tons more, seriously- I can give you a shopping list).

   

The biggest thank you ever to William Morrow Books for sending me this delightful book and TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour. This post does contain affiliate links. If you give this one a shot, let me know what YOU thought!

Book Review: The Speed of Falling Objects

If you do nothing else this year- read this book. That's the preamble I'm giving you. We have to get right into this.

The Speed of Falling Objects - Nancy Richardson Fischer

Danger "Danny" Danielle Warren is no stranger to falling. After losing an eye in a childhood accident, she had to relearn her perception of movement and space. Now Danny keeps her head down, studies hard, and works to fulfill everyone else's needs. She's certain that her mom's bitterness and her TV star father's absence are her fault. If only she were more―more athletic, charismatic, attractive―life would be perfect.

When her dad calls with an offer to join him to film the next episode of his popular survivalist show, Danny jumps at the chance to prove she's not the disappointment he left behind. Being on set with the hottest teen movie idol of the moment, Gus Price, should be the cherry on top. But when their small plane crashes in the Amazon, and a terrible secret is revealed, Danny must face the truth about the parent she worships and falling for Gus, and find her own inner strength and worth to light the way home.

If you are a long time reader of my blog (thanks!) you know I don't mess around with my rating scale. I'm often picky, I've been told I'm too strict with my ratings. I'm totally OK with that because I feel like the human brain is pretty great and I refuse it's limited to just a few tropes we see over and over again, so I'm always looking for something different. Something I can't go and find ten variations of at the book store.

The Speed of Falling Objects is that book, I'm giving it 5 stars, and it will be on my top 10 list of best books this year. No question.

I'm telling you right now that even though this is a YA book- adults will LOVE it. Teenagers are going to love this (my two middle school kids are absolutely glued to this right now) and I feel like this is a story so many are going to relate to. I will warn you: people die in this book and there are a couple of spots that might be icky for delicate kids. Yes, I'm calling some kids delicate. I grew up reading R.L. Stine Fear Street books and I remember there was one where he detailed what a dead body washed up on the beach was like so if you can handle that, you can certainly handle this book.

Anyways.

The story is all about Danger Danny Warren, a girl on the cusp of her seventeenth birthday who after a childhood accident is blind in one eye. The majority of her life has been learning to adapt to the loss of vision and she once was a daring, brave girl and now she (rightfully so) is timid, unsure, and scared of everything. Her mom is a nurse who isn't an effusively loving mom and her dad who is mostly MIA but he happens to be a reality TV star (kind of like Bear Grylls) and she longs for the days of being close to her dad. When he calls and surprises her with a trip to the Amazon to be on his show (which she is a big fan of), she absolutely jumps at the chance but before she leaves she discovers something that puts her relationship with mom into a tailspin.

A doomed trip from the start she quickly realizes that it isn't going to be a father-daughter bonding trip but an episode of his show where she is the star along with... a teen heartthrob. You know this isn't going to end well but the story isn't all about this doomed trip, but the relationships you form in a crisis, being able to dig deep when you feel least capable, surviving incredibly dangerous and terrifying situations, and also learning that the person we remember in our head isn't always who they actually are. Every aspect of a person is seen differently by different people. You see confident, I see cruel and arrogant.

As a parent, it was actually painful for me to read Danny's thoughts as she's trying to understand her dad and his motives, learning some hard truths about the past she thought she understood, and justifying things along the way when you just want to shake her and tell her what the rest of us already know. I can absolutely see many kids identifying with her and that sense of abandonment and always wondering if it was something they did to make that parent stay away and it's handled so well here. 

I have to tell you as well, that even though the Amazon has never been on my bucket list, it for damn sure isn't now. I remember learning about it and how deadly it is but this was terrifying in spots and I'll tell you there isn't a chance I would have made it. NOPE. Hard freaking pass. I don't eat vegetables as it is, not a dang chance you'd catch me nibbling on grubs. GAG. Really, just typing that out made me gag you guys.

I had a hard time putting this one down and got it read in a little over a day and then my kids stole it and are taking turns reading it before bed. This really is an adventurous thriller that will keep you glued to the pages and you'll be so proud of these characters by the end. (Well, most of them. There's one that just... is the most selfish ever and their ending was just such a freaking cop out. One frog wasn't enough. Which makes no sense to you now, but it will when you read it.)

   

I cannot thank Ink Yard Press and Nancy Richardson Fischer more for my ARC of this. Truly. And you know the drill- this post contains affiliate links and happy shopping!