snugglesandpages's reviews
246 reviews

"𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢? 𝙄𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙞𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙞𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙗. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣..."

This book... This audio! 👏👏
My first 5 ⭐ of 2023! 
Why didn't I read this one sooner!!

The Night Swim delivers two compelling and brutal sexual assault cases, twenty five years apart. The way these two stories flawlessly intertwine while still maintaining their own weight was a stand out for me. 

The mixed media components of this book made it a thrilling and unique experience. Between Rachel's investigation, her podcast chapters, Hannah's letters and chapters recalling the past, I was utterly invested and felt so many emotions reading (listening to) this. It is equally confronting as it is thought-provoking and will capture your breath until the very end. 

I own the physical copy of The Night Swim, however at the trusted advice of my dear friend @whiskersandwords__ and I listened to this on audio, which I HIGHLY recommend you do too.

Get ready crime podcast lovers, because there will be another Rachel Krall book coming later this year! 

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"𝙄𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙄'𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙄'𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙖. 𝙄 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙩. 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙫𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚. 𝙄 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥, 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚, 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪." 

I'll admit, I picked this one up on audio because I was gifted an ARC of the The Wedding Crasher, and even though the male narrator's take on the FMC's voice wasn't great, I loved it anyway. 🥰

Read if you
- Enemies to Lovers
- Ex-Fiancé’s Brother 
- Forced Proximity (co-workers) 
- reverse grumpy x sunshine 
- POC representation
- Laugh-out-loud banter 

The circumstances of Lina and Max's relationship are hilarious and their chemistry and banter were fantastic, making for an easy and enjoyable read. 

I loved Lina’s family and the insight into Brazillian-American/ Immigrant culture. I googled all of the food mentioned and am so keen to try them one day! 

I also read that the rights have been acquired to turn this gem into a movie! Yes, please! 👏 

This is one of those stories that you can't say much about as it may give it all away. 

It's a slow and tense psychological thriller with a lot going on. Between the toxic drama at work, the return of an old ex, and her husband and sister's (Clair) suspicious behaviour, things start to take a dark turn for Amber. 

Confined to a hospital bed and in a Coma, Amber graps onto snipits of conversations, willing her fractured memory to piece together what really happened to her. But not everything is as it seems.

I really enjoyed the multipule timelines, switching from the present, the week leading up to Amber's accident and a series of childhood diary entries, all dropping breadcrumbs and leading to the twisty reveal.  

You can find this and a few of Alice Feeney's other books on Kindle Unlimited as well. 

"𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮! 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙩: 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙄 𝙘𝙧𝙮, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙢! 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚."

On the back of betrayal and heartbreak, Tessa becomes more assertive and independent, chasing her dream and planning her big move to Seattle with Vance Publishing. But Hardin's all-consuming fear that Tessa will someday leave him, has his sabotaging ways pushing Tessa to the breaking point.

It is very THICC at over 800 pages or 24hrs on audio, and at times felt like a revolving door of the same shite. Some pretty messed up things go down in book 3 that aren't in the movie and just seem to be brushed off like it's another day, this just didn't sit right with me.

FINALLY, Tessa grows a spine and stands up to Hardin's BS.👏 But gosh, she did my head in so much in this book 🤦🏼‍♀️ This toxic relationship is starting to grate my nerves. But, I'm invested now, so morals be gone...

The Pairs Affair is an enigmatic and suspenseful thriller about Harper, a young arts and culture Journalist who has moved to Paris after her longterm relationship falls apart. When talk of a serial killer hits the news, Harper uses the opportunity to prove she is more than just an art girl and soon finds herself hot on the killer's tail... Or is it the killer that is tailing her?

>>swipe for blurb>>

Pip Drysdale is just one of the Authors whose entire backlist is sitting on my shelf unread! Well not for much longer! I started off with her third novel, The Paris Affair and it did not disappoint.

Pip's writing style instantly drew me in with the blips of french spoken throughout only elevating the atmospheric setting of Paris further. I was surprised to learn about the darker side of the city of love, and how a missing person case is rarely investigated unless there is signs of foul play.

I really enjoyed Harper's first-person narrative. She's a little jaded when it comes to love but is a strong and gutsy female MC willing to take risks to get to the truth. I mean, she loves crime podcasts, carries around a lock picking set, and knows how to escape from the boot of a car. My girl Harper is prepared for real life 👏

While the first half of the book is slower in pace as it sets up the characters & the mystery at hand, it picks up in the second half with everything coming together in quick succession.

Oo and I discovered something really cool while reading too, the Instagram account mentioned in the book @new.girlinparis actually exists! Such a clever touch 👏

I definitely connected with Pip's writing style and am super excited to be starting Pip's new release, THE NEXT GIRL with a few booksta besties today.

I love a good domestic suspense, especially one that is fast paced and told from multiple points of view like The Personal Assistant.

📖 Alex is a Social Media influencer celebrating 1M followers on her Instagram account, unapologetically Alex. A mummy blog dedicated to encouraging her followers with positive energy. After a night of overindulging on champagne with her husband and Personal assistant A.C., Alex wakes up to an onslaught of negative comments across all her platforms. A controversial and very off-brand post had been uploaded to her account last night, slut shaming a teenage Disney star and her twin girl's idol. Only Alex doesn't remember posting it, and now her Assistant, the only other person with access to her account and who she entrusted with her deepest secrets, is mysteriously nowhere to be found.

💭 Told from multiple perspectives of Alex, her husband Patrick, and Personal Assistant Annie Clare, The Personal Assistant explores the dark side of social media and how fragile one's life can be if built on likes and shares. What you see is not always the truth and how easy it is to lose control to the narrative.

I really enjoyed Kimberly's writing style. Fast-paced and deliciously addictive. The game of cat and mouse had me hooked and I read the bulk of it in a single day. The way she expertly plants seeds of doubt and then flips the switch just when you think you've got it all figured out. I was definitely surprised at how it all came together in the end.

Thank you @harpercollinsaustralia for sending me an advanced copy of The Personal Assistant. I've now purchased Belle's entire backlist and plan to read them over the course of the year.

The Next Girl is a psychological thriller told from the first person perspective of Billie, a young 20 something paralegal with a taste for serving justice her way.

I really enjoyed the female vigilante concept of the story and it moved fairly quickly, but I got lost in the unnecessary and repetive explanations of processes about passwords, email forwarding, burner phones.

The conversational narrative style was cool, and is a great set up for an unreliable narrator, but Billie was so frustrating at times that I didn't care enough to connect with her story, and so overall this wasn't my fave.

Loathe to Love You delivers some spicy STEMinist fiction over three fast-paced and bingeable novellas. I loved how the friendship between Mara, Saide and Hannah intertwined with each story, and how each one of the MMCs were swoonworthy in their own way.

Under One Roof: ★★★★
Enemies to lovers & forced proximity, this was my fav of the three novellas. I loved everything about Ian & Mara and wish this story was a full novel.

Stuck With You: ★★★✮
Two rivals with a recent history are stuck in an elevator together. This one is heavy on the insta love which isn't really my thing, but the miscommunication was written well.

Below Zero: ★★★
It was cool to have our FMC Hannah working for NASA and the office scene was 🔥 but the damsel in distress/saviour angle didn't really do it for me in this one.

Thank you to @tandemcollectiveglobal for hosting another great readalong.

Apartment 303 is a slow burn psychological suspense. I felt for Rory and her struggles with OCD, PTSD and anxiety however the story was a little drawn out at times that it was hard to stay engaged. The paced picks up towards the last third of the book, with an ending I did not anticipate, but more so because it felt somewhat abrupt and out of nowhere. 

I enjoyed the Sydney setting and could picture the apartment building and surrounds clearly. I loved that Rory had an emotional support dog, Buster and the friendship she made with Farrah and the elderly security guards.


*Thank you to @harpercollinsau for sending me an advanced readers copy of Apartment 303.