BOOK REVIEW: Violent Triumphs by Jessica Hawkins

Violent Triumphs by Jessica Hawkins

(Book 3 of the White Monarch Series)

MY REVIEW

Violent Triumphs is an action-packed, evocative, gripping, heart-wrenching, tragic, beautifully written, and highly original piece of work. 

You should all be well-aware of my love for Jessica Hawkins and the White Monarch series by now. I am utterly obsessed and there's never been another book I've been more impatient to read than I was this one. (For the record--it was worth the wait.) 

"Sometimes, if you want to learn to be ruthless, you have to start by ripping out your own heart."

The White Monarch is an three-part series about the daughter of one of the most powerful cartel kingpins in all of Mexico.

You can read my review for the first two books in this series here and here.

"I wouldn't be allowed in Heaven, but I swear on all that's holy -- I'd rattle the gates until they let me have you."

The thing I love most about this series is that it's unique. The story hasn't already been done a million times--which makes it interesting, and powerful, and suspenseful, and thrilling. 

Violent Triumphs is about --

Love and war.

Betrayal and sacrifice.  

Triumph and defeat. 

Death and rebirth.

It's a story about a metamorphosis. 

It's impossible for me to share more about this story without spoiling it for you. So, you'll just have to trust me when I say this entire series is truly superb and you need to read it... NOW.

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Learn more >>> author's website

"Bienvenido al inferno.
Welcome to Hell, my friends.
It happens to look and feel quite a lot like heaven." 

FINAL RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

My self-curated White Monarch Playlist

Unfoolish - Ashanti

Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars

Tragic Endings - Eminem (feat. Skylar Grey)

Let Me (Acoustic) - Belle Mt

Electric - Alina Baraz (feat. Khalid)

Hate to Love You - The Revivalists

Never Let Me Go - Florence + the Machine

Sail - AWOLNATION

Live or Die - Noah Cyrus & Lil Xan

Hold On - Chord Overstreet

Judas - Cage the Elephant

I Know Places - Taylor Swift

Wreak Havoc - Skylar Grey

Take Me to Church - Hozier

Ember - Katherine McNamara

Heathens - Twenty One Pilots

Bad Girls - M.I.A.

Santeria - Sublime

Glycerine - Bush

I Have Questions - Camila Cabello

 *An ARC of this book was provided to me by the author. The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of the blog owner (me) and have been written in my own words.

BOOK REVIEW: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides really surprised me... in a good way! The author did a fantastic job of keeping me in the dark. I had so many "Oh, I see what's going on here..." moments that were followed by "Okay, you got me that time but now I REALLY see what's going on..." moments while reading this book.

In fact, I never actually did see what was going on until mere moments before Michaelides plainly reveals it. To which I must say...

I love a well-written psych thriller that keeps my brain asking question after question all the way up until the very end. Because it's so hard to find them!

The Silent Patient is broken down into five parts (+ a prologue) and is told from the alternating perspectives of a "silent patient" named Alicia and her psychotherapist, Theo. The prologue provides the reader with Alicia's backstory -- the context of her daily life, as well as her marriage, and the events leading up to the traumatic event that triggered Alicia's silence -- and is told in the form of a diary written before the event. From that point forward, the story is largely told from Theo's POV in first person narrative, with an occasional entry from Alicia's diary mixed in here and there.

Short, palatable chapters, and alternating point of views, create a story that is unputdownable and easily consumed. More importantly, the author's ability to keep his readers guessing until the very end makes The Silent Patient well worth the read.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Initiation by Nikki Sloane

The Initiation by Nikki Sloane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW! THE INITIATION ended with a cliff drop so dark, twisty, and treacherous that I'm hanging on for dear life.

First and foremost, Nikki Sloane's talent is on full display throughout the entirety of this book. She grabs your attention and refuses to let it go, even after the final page.

This trilogy will not be for everyone, so take heed. Although Sloane has created a strong and powerful female lead in Marist, her villains are merciless. It's nearly impossible to discern their true intentions, and I read the book from start to finish desperately trying to figure them out.

I must patiently wait for the next book to know for sure, but something tells me that Royce still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Le sigh. 

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BOOK REVIEW: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks

Psychology majors, like myself, should thoroughly enjoy reading AN ANONYMOUS GIRL. It's loaded with psychology study and theory references like The Hawthorne Effect, The Invisible Gorilla, and The Prisoner's Dilemma. There are several others that aren't mentioned by name but clearly served as inspiration (at least in some aspect). Like the Stanley Milgram Experiment on obedience and the Stanford Prison Study on conformity, for example.

If nothing else, AN ANONYMOUS GIRL illustrates how quickly things can go south when psych studies are not ethically sound.

"We all carry the weight of secret regrets--the strangers we see on the street, our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends, even our loved ones. And we are all forced to constantly make moral choices. Some of these decisions are small. Others are life-altering. These judgments seem easy to form on paper: You check a box and move on. In a real life scenario, it's never as simple. The options haunt you. Days, weeks, even years later you think about the people affected by your actions. You question your choices. And you wonder when, not if, the repercussions will come."

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

BOOK REVIEW: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS is about a group of strangers who attend a ten day retreat at a famous health resort know as the Tranquillum House.

The nine strangers:

Frances: A middle-aged romance novelist
Lars: A tall, dark, and handsome divorce attorney 
Heather, Napoleon, & Zoe: A midwife, her chatty husband, and their 20-year-old daughter 
Tony: A grouchy, old man who once played professional football 
Carmel: A recently divorced mother of four 
Ben & Jessica: A young married couple having marital problems

Each guest has a different reason for attending the retreat (to lose weight, to transform their life, to reach enlightenment, to avoid reality, etc), but they soon find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and must come together to save themselves. 

I want to preface my thoughts by saying that I adore Liane Moriarty. She is one of my absolute favorite authors. I've read every book she has published and will continue to read her work in the future.

Similar to Moriarty's previous novels, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS has a unique and relevant storyline, and I found it nearly impossible to put down. However, this has been my least favorite of her books, by far.

The first half is really slow, a few chapters were a bit too "woo woo" for me, and twelve POVs is about ten too many.

I still think it's worth the read. For the clever and snarky commentary, if nothing else.

"Some celebrity couple had come to this place and saved their marriage. They had "achieved inner peace" and got back in touch with their "true selves." What a load of crap. They may as well have handed over their money to Nigerian email scammers. Ben had a horrible feeling the celebrity couple might have got together on The Bachelorette. Jessica loved celebrities. He used to think it was sweet, a dumb interest for a smart girl. But now she was making too many life decisions based on what celebrities did, or what it was reported they did; it was probably crap anyway, they were probably getting paid to support products on their Instagram accounts. And there was Jessica, his poor innocent, hopeful Jessica, soaking it all up." 

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

BOOK REVIEW: Our House by Louise Candlish

Our House by Louise Candlish
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I’VE READ ALL YEAR.

OUR HOUSE is a spellbinding story that will surprise you over and over again. I honestly can’t remember the last time a book surprised me as much as this one did.

Fiona (known as Fi) lives in a darling suburb outside of London that is known for its beautiful landscape and skyrocketing property values. Despite the strained relationship with her estranged husband Bram, Fi has been coping relatively well with their separation and trial run custody agreement. That all changes when she arrives home early from a trip to find a family in her driveway with a moving truck. Not only does the family claim to legally own her home, but her possessions, estranged husband, and two children are also missing.

The narrative of OUR HOUSE is told from the alternating perspectives of Fi and Bram in very unique and differing formats. Fi’s story is shared in the form of a guest interview on a crime podcast called The Victim, while Bram tells his version of events in the form of a suicide letter. (No spoilers here; the reader learns this in the first few chapters.) The unreliability of the narrators adds to the suspense and mystery of the story, and Candlish does an amazing job of tying it all together in the end, by using the perspective of a third, neutral narrator.

As OUR HOUSE begins to unravel, one nightmare after another is revealed. Fraud, blackmail, secrets, lies, infidelity, betrayal. They all twist and turn until you find yourself lost inside a labyrinth. It’s a cautionary and terrifying story about how one hidden truth can turn into a tsunami of lies and destroy everything in its wake.

OVERALL: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SUSPENSE: 😬😬😬😬😬

*A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. This review is my honest opinion written in my own words.


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BOOK REVIEW: Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

OUR KIND OF CRUELTY by Araminta Hall is told from the perspective of an obsessed and delusional stalker named Mike.

Mike thinks he's playing a game of cat and mouse with his ex-girlfriend and love of his life, Verity. In reality, Verity (or V) has moved on with "the most eligible bachelor in London," and is engaged to be married in the coming months. When V sends Mike an invitation to the wedding, Mike is convinced the invitation is a calculated move in an ongoing, twisted game they've named Crave. Now, it's Mike's move.

I can't delve into plot specifics without spoiling the story, but I'll share what I can.

Our Kind of Cruelty is divided into three parts.

PART ONE

The backstory. The reader learns about Mike's traumatic childhood, how he met V, the highs and lows of their EIGHT year relationship, and the dynamics of the silly games they play. It sets the stage for what's to come and gives the reader a foundation for Mike's later actions.

PART TWO

The main event.

PART THREE

The story comes full circle when the main event is retold from the inside of a courtroom.


I had a hard time putting this book down, so it definitely deserves a few points for holding my attention. However, there were a good number of things I found problematic.  

First, let's talk about Mike. This man has little to no social intelligence and misinterprets the most basic of social cues on a near constant basis. Yet, despite his OBVIOUS social ineptitude, the author would have us believe that Mike rakes in million dollar bonuses every year at his high profile banking job.

V's character is just as incongruent as Mike. If the author's objective was to make Verity a sympathetic character, the author does a poor job. The reader isn't given ANY information about her personality, her thoughts, what motivates her (...to, you know, send a stalking ex-boyfriend an invitation to her wedding when she should know EXACTLY how he would respond to that? They dated for eight years!)

We don't know if Verity is genuine or honest. Did she ever care about Mike at all? And if she never cared, WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE POINT OF THIS STORY?

Did V take advantage of Mike's lack of social skills and mold him into the type of man she could easily manipulate? Is it fair to condemn a man based on his actions if he was motivated by your manipulative behavior? 

OUR KIND OF CRUELY is more depressing than it is disturbing, and I would have preferred a more resolute ending. However, I'm sure this will be a popular read among book clubs (as there is much to discuss!) 

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️

*A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.