I'm about a week late with this post. Whoops! So before I delay any longer... January's installment of GOOD/BETTER/BEST/WTF is brought to you by the letter P for procrastination and the number 8 for how many books I read from January 1st -January 31st, 5 of which appear below.
Touching Evil and Facing Evil (Circle of Evil Books 2 and 3)
by Kylie Brant
I picked the Circle of Evil series by Kylie Brant because I enjoyed her work so much last month. The first book, as you'll read below, was the much better book of the three. It truly hooked you into the story. But sadly the two follow-ups felt a little forced at times. That isn't to say they weren't good reads - they were. I just can't put them at the top of my list for January, is all.
Basically the killer in book 1 was not caught... or at least not entirely. (You'd have to read it for that to make sense). And so the story kind of drug on when it probably could have concluded just fine in book 1. Sure, I got the closure just the same but I found myself often thinking, "Wow, did we really need to go here?" Save a few interesting bits, I felt mostly underwhelmed and ready for the series to be over. Oh, and the SICK found in book 1? Didn't hold a candle to books 2 and 3's level of sick. *shudder* Maybe the author was trying to one-up herself. She succeeded, at least in that regard. These earn the GOOD rating from me overall.
Chasing Evil (Circle of Evil Book 1) by Kylie Brant
This book was SICK. And I don't mean "cool" like slang. I mean SICK as in twisted. Even for me. It follows an agent in Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation and a forensic psychologist who are investigating the murder of six unidentified bodies. The murders are extremely sadistic and puzzling and their digging eventually results in the psychologist being kidnapped by the killer. The best part at that point is her sheer will to survive. The girl power level is high! I was rooting for her as if I was a part of her story and couldn't believe some of the unexpected plot twists throughout the novel. I gave it my BETTER rating and was very eager to read the sequel and then the finale book.
Twist of Faith by Ellen J. Green
Holy smokes! HO...LY. SMOOOOOOOOOOOKES. Okay, now that's out of my system. Y'all! I picked Twist of Faith from this month's Amazon First Reads and once again I chose a winner. The twists (ha) and turns in this novel were awesome and I could not put it down. I flew through the pages in less than two days and highly recommend it to you if you like suspenseful thrillers.
The main character is Ava, a young woman fresh out of college who is desperately trying to solve the mystery of her life. Literally. Her life is a mystery. She knows she was adopted and her adoptive family refuses to tell her any details about her "previous" life, claiming cluelessness as to where she came from and why she was abandoned. After her adoptive mother dies, Ava comes across a photograph of an old house that only creates more questions. She enlists the help of two friends, one a police detective, to help her unlock the secrets of her past... and that's where things get WILD.
You're either gonna love how the story wraps up, or you're gonna hate it. I feel like there is no in between. I personally loved it. I think it was a deliciously confusing plot that wrapped up nicely at the end but still with a lingering feeling of doubt. Clearly this book is my BEST choice!
Christmas Nights (Diamond Creek, Alaska Novels Book 6)
by J.H. Croix
Y'all know how much I love a good fluff read. I pick them often for a sweet change of pace. Well, I read this one back at the very beginning of January when I wasn't quite ready to let the soft and cuddlies of Christmas go away... and lawd was it a bunch of cheddar! A heroic rescue, a whirlwind romance, a moose attack... I mean it had it all. And it was gloriously goobery. It had some love (and some steam, if you get what I mean) so I kept at it until it was finished but I ended up rolling my eyes at it and absolutely will not pick up any of the other books in the series. Just not for me right now! This book therefore earned my WTF rating for, again, "WTF DID I JUST READ?!"
There ya have it! Stay tuned for my next post, which smells suspiciously like old library books...
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