Shattered

Maxine Revere is her name.

Cold cases are her game.

But this time.....

She has a federal agent on her side.

In this dynamic crossover novel, we see Max and Lucy Kincaid working their hardest to find a killer they know is still out there. They both have personal stakes in this collection of cold cases. These cases came across Maxine's desk when longtime friend John, called for help clearing his wife's name. She couldn't possibly have killed their son. The proof? 3 other cold cases where a young boy was killed in a similar manner. One of those boys was Lucy's nephew and best friend. 

Justin was killed when the two of them were seven and a half years old. This monster took her nephew, ruined a marriage, and confused the family for almost 20 years.... until now.

Fair warning because I'm about to post spoilers.

You guys all know, I love the Maxine Revere stories and have since the first one randomly showed up on my doorstep. However, this one was incredibly predictable. I quickly learned from other reviews that it wasn't near as predictable to them as it was to me. It was obvious, to me, from the first mention of no sexual assault during the kidnapping and murder that the person of interest would be a woman who also lost a little boy. The second they mentioned drugs in the system, it was even more obvious that it was a woman. Then they say he was buried with his favorite stuffed animal and my mind was screaming LOOK FOR A FREAKING WOMAN.

So while others found this suspenseful and a shocking twist, I knew.

I've done extensive research in infanticide and mothers who kill their children.

I also have degrees in Criminal Justice AND Psychology.

But I am by no means discrediting Allison Brennan because this book was still absolutely fantastic and the amount of research she must have put into this book is astounding. 

Looking for the rest of the series?
Maximum Exposure (Maxine Revere prequel)

Notorious (Maxine Revere #1)

Compulsion (Maxine Revere #2)

Poisonous (Maxine Revere #3)
Two To Die For (Maxine Revere novella)
Abandoned (Maxine Revere #5)

Secret Keeper

The fabulous Jane Alvey Harris has written a PHENOMENAL addition to the My Myth Trilogy!

In book one, Riven, we meet Emily, her family, her friends, and all those in the Third Realm. We see her struggle with a variety of issues that ultimately land her in a rehab/psych ward.

 But in Secret Keeper.. oh man, Emily grows.

Reading her story as it unfolds and hearing all the things she's learning about herself is actually incredibly hard for me to explain. Jane does such an amazing job of portraying a real character with real flaws, who is going through something that happens far more often than it should. Emily is relatable, not because we've gone through the same experiences, but because she's feeling emotions that we all feel.

On another note, this book deals with a wide variety of mental health issues such as PTSD, depression, and victimization; not to mention the stigma that comes with each of those struggles. But each aspect of these illnesses are so perfectly described for the given situations. As a psych major, I can definitely tell the amount of research and knowledge put into this book and I'm so beyond grateful that Jane sent me a copy!

I loved Riven. 

I loved Secret Keeper.

And I'm bound to love Primed as well. 

I hope all of you will pick up these fantastic reads!

Looking for the series??

Riven (My Myth #1)

Want to know more about Jane?

Meet Jane Harris!

The Glass Forest

So I was lucky enough to win a contest through PageHabit (in January/February, whoops).

I chose the mystery box which included The Glass Forest!

 

The story begins with the suicide and disappearance of Ruby's parents. When her Uncle Paul gets the news that his brother is dead and his niece is now an orphan, he knows he has to drop everything and go help her. So he packs up his wife and kid and treks from Wisconsin to New York at the drop of a hat. Paul's wife, Angie, isn't much older than Ruby herself. But she knows that Ruby needs a mother and she's more than prepared to step into that role. 

 

The book is told through a variety a viewpoints: Ruby, Angie, and my favorite, Silja. Silja is Ruby's missing mothers but what I find most interesting about her perspective is that it's told over the course of 16+ years. The alternating views and time frames really help shape the story. With all the information given by these women, it's not hard to see where the story is going. I caught on fairly early on in the book, but there were a few twists that I wasn't expecting. 

I fear that if I keep writing, I may start giving things away.

But overall this was a fairly decent read that I'd definitely recommend to my friends! 

The Fates Divide

Okay, it took me W A Y too long to read this book.

My review for Carve the Mark was mostly opinion. Actually, I don't think I even gave you guys a plot, just what the planets were called and the main gist of the premise. So I kind of think I'm going to write another review like that for The Fates Divide.

It's not that I don't love being in this little galaxy that Veronica Roth has created, because I absolutely love it and she definitely develops the planets even more in this book. It's just not a series I would sit down and devour. I mean, it is only a duology and I think that's good for this type of book. However, I wish that the soujourn was the basis of the books instead of the currentgifts. Sure the currentgifts are super interesting and when you tie them in with the fated families, it makes for some interesting reading. But I think the soujourn would be more interesting. We'd get to see the main characters visiting all the planets and finding a way to combine or trade resources (kind of like in Divergent where each faction is responsible for one aspect). 

Now that being said, there's not near as much action in this book as there was in the first, BUT the scenes with action are written so much better. Not to mention character development!! Oh boy, in Carve the Mark we only got to read from Cyra and Akos point of view, whereas in The Fates Divide we get to read from Cyra, Akos, Cisi, A N D Eijah! The dynamic of switching from each character made the story so well rounded and honestly may be the only reason I kept reading. 

All in all, this book wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible.

If you made it through the first one, you'll like this one better.

Looking for the rest of the series?

Carve the Mark (CTM #1)

Looking for other books by Veronica Roth?

Divergent (Divergent #1)

Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Allegiant (Divergent #3)

Four (Divergent #4) 
The End and Other Beginnings

Chosen Ones

GIVEAWAY ALERT!! (CLOSED)

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
To honor the release of The Fates Divide, I'm giving away ONE FREE COPY of Carve the Mark!!
Here's how to win!

¤ FOR ONE ENTRY ¤ 

Tell me your FAV SERIES below

¤ FOR AN ADDITIONAL ENTRY ¤ 

SHARE this on your wall

¤ OPEN TO USA RESIDENTS ¤ 

^ Including apo/fpo/dpo ^

¤ must be 18+ years ¤

Giveaway starts now! Winner will be chosen on May 31st!
¤ not affliated with vroth, ig, blogspot, google ¤

Check out my review for Carve the Mark, then enter to win!!

First Look Excerpt

Carve the Mark

Good luck everyone!

The Wisdom of Psychopaths

I know what you're thinking.

"The Wisdom of Psychopaths, how does that make sense?"

Well let me tell you, it makes SO MUCH sense.

So my senior year I took a Social Psycho-Physiology class.

Reading this book made me reminisce about all the things I learned in that class and how grateful I am to have been able to follow along with books like this without being weighed down by the technicality of it all.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths is based on the idea that maybe we are all capable of having psychopathic traits, it's just a matter of context. How we use these traits are a definitive aspect of our personality. Dr. Kevin Dutton write about how many people of power have the same traits as many career criminals. The idea is that their endgame is the same, but how they carry themselves and get to that point is what truly differentiates a psychopathic inmate from a successful CEO.

The way I learned to think of these traits is by imagining it as a switchboard. We have ability to either flip the switch on or off depending on the situation and Dr. Dutton discusses that immensely in this book. He also uses image of a mixing board to describe psychopathic traits. He explains it as psychopathy being turned up louder than other traits, such as empathy. By using this description, he allows us to see psychopathy in a new way, one that shows how these traits can be beneficial in some careers. 

Overall, this was an incredibly interesting read. 

Huge shout out to my friend Tommy for loaning me his copy of The Wisdom of Psychopaths!

Rage (The Bachman Books)

For those of you who don't follow my bookstagram page (a_readers_diary), I have been DYING to read Rage, the only problem is I could only find copies for $400. Luckily enough, the library had an older copy of The Bachman Books, meaning Rage was included!! So needless to say, I'm not planning on reading all four books, just Rage.

 

Now, Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King, pulled Rage off the shelves and out of publication in the late 1990's because it was associated with several school shootings. Since the book was about a teenager holding his class hostage after shooting two teachers, King decided enough was enough and pulled it.

So, lets meet Charlie Decker.

Honestly, I liked him.

He had a hard time growing up. He was always picked on for one reason or another, whether it be at school, the playground, or at home. That's right, parents can be bullies too. But one day, he snapped and by snapped I mean, assaulted a teacher with a wrench. When he finds out he's set for expulsion, he knows now is the time. It's now or never. He sets his locker on fire, shoots the teacher, and begins taking over the class. Another teacher gets in the way?

*bang*

Not anymore.

Charlie's in charge now and he wants everyone to know it.

Once his classmates realize what's going on, they're unsure of what to do.

Take him down?

Fear for their lives?

Or maybe just go along with his plan?

When the class begins chatting, they learn just how many secrets their little town has.

They find ways to hurt each other without Charlie having to pull he trigger again.

It's not hard to lay everything out in the open, but what's going to happen after this?

I think that's why I enjoyed this book so much.

It's not heart in your throat traumatic.

It's not graphic at all.

It's almost as if you're a bystander just taking it all in.

Which is how I imagined Charlie felt, I think the idea was he didn't realize what was happening until it happened. He didn't want to do these things, but something inside of him wanted that power. He wanted people to know he was just along for the ride, whatever happened was truly up to the class. He even says at one point that he knows he's lost control over them. I think that's when the fog cleared and he realized he was hurting. 

I also feel obligated to say that I wanted to read this book 30,000 times more once I realized it was out of print. Something about telling me I can't have a book just makes me want it even more.