Darcia Helle's Blog, page 8
October 9, 2022
Book Review — SHE’S NICE THOUGH: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good by Mia Mercado
AN NPR BOOK-OF-THE-DAY • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STAFF PICK • A NYLON MUST-READ • A FORTUNE NEW BOOK TO READ IN AUGUST
“And, at the center of it all, am I actually nice or am I just performing a role I think I’m expected to play?” Mia Mercado is a razor-sharp cultural critic and essayist known for her witty and hilarious dissections of the uncomfortable truths that rule our lives. In this thought-provoking collection of new essays, Mercado examines what it means to be “polite,” “agreeable,” and “nice.” She covers topics from the subtleties of the “Bad Bitch” and why women dominate the ASMR market, to what makes her dog an adorable little freak and how you know if you’re shy. This is a book about the unspoken trick mirror of our “good” intentions: the inherent performance of the social media apology, celebrating men when they do the bare minimum, and why we trust a Midwesterner to watch our stuff when we go pee.
Throughout, she ponders her identity as an Asian woman and asks what “nice” even means—and why anyone would want to be it. With writing that is as precise as it is profound, and cultural references that range from trash reality television to the New York Times Sunday-morning crossword puzzle, Mercado uncovers weird, long-overdue truths about our frailties and failings. In the end, she sees them not as a source of shame but as a cause for celebration. Filled with revelations that range from the silly to the serious,
She’s Nice Though offers a mind-bending glimpse into the illusions and delusions of contemporary life—and reveals who we *really* are when no one is watching.
Fun read alert!
She’s Nice Though is a collection of essays exploring the inner critic and the societal forces that push girls and women to be nice at all costs.
Mia Mercado is unflinchingly honest throughout these witty, insightful stories. Her personal experiences are surprisingly relatable to most women, and perhaps some men.
I laughed, a lot. Mercado’s writing style is engaging and entertaining, making even the heavier topics enjoyable to explore.
I received a free copy from Harper One.
The post Book Review — SHE’S NICE THOUGH: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good by Mia Mercado appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — THE PERFECT BROTHER by Chris Patchell
A scandalous liaison. A killer on the loose. Can a young woman save her sibling from going down for murder?
Vancouver, Canada. Software engineer Indira Saraf refuses to march to her traditionalist parents’ old-world drum. Resentful of her brother’s golden-boy acceptance but still a devoted sister, she encourages him to confess his secret affair before he ends up married to a woman he doesn’t want. So she’s horrified when his student and lover is slain and he’s arrested for the gruesome crime.
Repurposing her own AI technology to prove his innocence, the unorthodox rebel scours the dead college girl’s life for clues. But when Indira discovers another missing co-ed and the suspects pile up, she learns the hard way that her digging has drawn deadly attention…
Can she hunt down the culprit before she takes a fatal fall?
The Perfect Brother is a chilling standalone suspense thriller. If you like strong heroines, complex family relationships, and dangerous twists, then you’ll adore USA Today bestselling author Chris Patchell’s riveting tale.
Release Date: September 27, 2022
My ThoughtsThe Perfect Brother is slow-burn, thoughtful suspense tackling some compelling topics.
Indira is an independent woman from a traditional Indian family. She lives on her own, works in IT, and mostly ignores her mother’s constant attempts to set her up with the ideal Indian man.
Amar, Indira’s brother, is the golden child. He’s engaged to an Indian woman he barely knows, having agreed to his parents’ arranged marriage. He’s respectful of tradition and follows the rules.
Or so they thought. It all comes tumbling down when he’s arrested for the murder of a female student at the college where he teaches.
While the murder mystery keeps us guessing, we also delve into the pressures caused by family expectations, the secrets we keep, and the illusion of privacy in our electronic world.
*I received an ARC for the Partners in Crime book tour.*
The post Book Review — THE PERFECT BROTHER by Chris Patchell appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
October 8, 2022
Intense New Crime Fiction! THE ZERO NIGHT: A Jonathan Stride Novel by Brian Freeman
A woman has been kidnapped.
Now Jonathan Stride must decide if her husband wants her back … dead or alive.
After nearly dying of a gunshot wound, Jonathan Stride has been on leave from the Duluth Police for more than a year. When his partner, Maggie Bei, gets called about a suspicious abduction involving a local lawyer, she tells Stride it’s time for him to come back.
Attorney Gavin Webster says he paid $100,000 in ransom money to the men who kidnapped his wife. Now they’ve disappeared with the cash, and she’s still missing. Gavin claims to be desperate to find her—but Stride discovers that the lawyer had plenty of motive to be the mastermind behind the crime.
Even as Stride digs for the truth about Gavin Webster and his wife, he must also deal with a crisis in his own marriage.
His wife, Serena, is struggling after the death of her mother, the abusive woman she hadn’t seen in twenty-five years. When she loses control at a crime scene and draws her gun on a fellow cop, Serena finds herself kicked off the Webster case. Alone at her desk, she begins hunting through old police files and starts to ask questions about a mother’s death that was written off as suicide. That death haunts Serena like an echo of her own childhood—but her obsession with it takes a terrible toll.
As Serena shuts him out of her despair, and his own investigation grows increasingly tangled, Stride wonders whether going back to his detective work was the right decision. But all he can do is keep moving forward. Because Stride fears the Webster kidnapping may be only one part of a horrific murder conspiracy.
And it’s not over yet.
My ThoughtsHoly intensity!
The Zero Night is dark crime fiction with a heavy emotional component.
The content is deep and complex. I had to keep putting this book down because the emotional turmoil was killing me. But then I had to pick it right back up because I had to know.
I confess to cursing the author a few times (sorry Brian!) because he seemed to take great pleasure in torturing me.
This is the kind of writing that puts you right inside the story with the characters. I felt it all, emerged emotionally drained, and loved every single moment.
Oh, and the ending! 
Perfection!
The Zero Night is book 11 (!) in the Jonathan Stride Series. I haven’t read the others (how did this happen?!), and I had absolutely no problem jumping into the series.
Now I’m hooked and I have to go back and buy the first 10!
Huge thank you to Blackstone Publishing for sending me an ARC!
The post Intense New Crime Fiction! THE ZERO NIGHT: A Jonathan Stride Novel by Brian Freeman appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — BAD CREE by Jessica Johns
In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman’s dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.
When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow’s head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.
Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too—a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina—Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.
Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams—and make them more dangerous.
What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina’s death?
Release Date: January 10, 2023
My ThoughtsBad Cree is a character-driven story of grief, familial relationships, and Cree traditions, with a strong supernatural component.
The writing style is engaging. I was immediately fascinated by the young woman’s ability to seemingly travel into her dreams. The dark, psychological aspect had me on edge.
But pacing soon lagged, and the middle of the book meandered too slowly. Poor communication—or often the complete absence of communication—within this otherwise close-knit family directly resulted in many of the mishaps and misunderstandings, drawing things out unnecessarily.
I would’ve liked to get to know the family better, and to spend more time learning about their traditions and beliefs.
The final quarter of the book came alive, sucking me back into the story and giving me chills.
*I received an eARC from Doubleday books, via NetGalley.*
The post Book Review — BAD CREE by Jessica Johns appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — LOCUST LANE by Stephen Amidon
For fans of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Stephen Amidon’s Locust Lane is a taut and utterly propulsive story about the search for justice and the fault lines of power and influence in a seemingly idyllic town. Can anyone be trusted?
On the surface, Emerson, Massachusetts, is just like any other affluent New England suburb. But when a young woman is found dead in the nicest part of town, the powerful neighbors close ranks to keep their families safe. In this searing novel, Eden Perry’s death kicks off an investigation into the three teenagers who were partying with her that night, each a suspect. Hannah, a sweet girl with an unstable history. Jack, the popular kid with a mean streak. Christopher, an outsider desperate to fit in. Their parents, each with motivations of their own, only complicate the picture: they will do anything to protect their children, even at the others’ expense.
With a brilliantly woven, intricately crafted plot that gathers momentum on every page, this is superb storytelling told in terse prose—a dynamic read that is both intensely gripping and deeply affecting.
Release Date: January 17, 2022
My ThoughtsI had high hopes for a dark, intense read, but it turns out that Locust Lane wasn’t a book for me.
My running thought throughout the story: “So much drama!”
None of the relationships are in the least bit healthy. Lots of wealthy people doing stupid stuff, like a bad reality TV program.
We have a ton of POV characters flitting in and out, and none of them are at all likable. Honestly, I didn’t care if they all died.
Pacing is slow.
The big reveal of who did it and why wasn’t surprising, given the personalities and relationship dynamics.
The ending is left ambiguous, open to interpretation, which is a tactic I’m never fond of.
But the writing itself is engaging, and sometimes I’m overly cranky, so give the book a try if the premise appeals to you.
*I received an ARC from Celadon Books.*
The post Book Review — LOCUST LANE by Stephen Amidon appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — ALL THE BLOOD WE SHARE by Camilla Bruce
A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old West bound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history.
The winds shift nervously on the Kansas plain whispering of travelers lost and buried, whispering of witches. Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn.
At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate’s messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope and her mother’s potions cure their little ills—for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh.
But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft—or vanish themselves.
Release Date: November 22, 2022
My ThoughtsAll the Blood We Share is historical fiction based on the Bloody Benders, a real family of serial killers in the Old West.
The book’s premise fascinated me on its own, but even more so because a version of this story actually happened. Women are rarely known to be serial killers, and here we have a family with two of them.
I thought the setting and atmosphere were extremely well done. I could envision the vast expanse of the land, the disconnect from city life, and how easy it might be for a pretty, devious female to con lonely men.
I loved the author’s vision of the family, regarding their personalities and how they related to one another. These were some messed up genetics.
Unfortunately, I didn’t connect well with the writing style. I can’t say why, exactly. Something didn’t click for me, and I didn’t feel the emotions from the characters or their actions. Consequently, this was an interesting read that didn’t hit me as hard as it should have.
*I received an eARC from Berkley Publishing, via NetGalley.*
The post Book Review — ALL THE BLOOD WE SHARE by Camilla Bruce appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — LAST WORDS: A Mark Novak Novel by Michael Koryta
Markus Novak just wants to come home. An investigator for a Florida-based Death Row defense firm, Novak’s life derailed when his wife, Lauren, was killed in the midst of a case the two were working together. Two years later, her murderer is still at large, and Novak’s attempts to learn the truth about her death through less-than-legal means and jailhouse bargaining have put his job on the line. Now he’s been all but banished, sent to Garrison, Indiana to assess a cold case that he’s certain his boss has no intention of taking.
As Novak knows all too well, some crimes never do get solved. But it’s not often that the man who many believe got away with murder is the one calling for the case to be reopened. Ten years ago, a teenaged girl disappeared inside an elaborate cave system beneath rural farmland. Days later, Ridley Barnes emerged carrying Sarah Martin’s lifeless body. Barnes has claimed all along that he has no memory of exactly where — or how — he found Sarah. His memory of whether she was dead or alive at the time is equally foggy. Tired of living under a cloud of suspicion, he says he wants answers — even if they mean he’ll end up in the electric chair.
But what’s he really up to? And Novak knows why he’s so unhappy to be in Garrison — but why are the locals so hostile towards him? The answers lie in the fiendish brain of a dangerous man, the real identity of a mysterious woman, and deep beneath them all, in the network of ancient, stony passages that hold secrets deadlier than he can imagine. Soon Novak is made painfully aware that if he has any chance of returning to the life and career he left behind in Florida, he’ll need to find the truth in Garrison first.
Quick and simple, along with an apology to the author because I know negative reviews suck.
I intensely disliked the main character, who was selfish and brash, and had no redeemable qualities I could find. I don’t think I was supposed to dislike him so much, but spending time with him as the lead was far more irritating than enjoyable.
Pacing is slow. Way too much detail on caves and spelunking (caving). Yes, caves are at the center of the plot, but I didn’t need an entire and repetitive lesson that felt like a how-to guide.
I’m sure some people will love this book. I was not one of them.
*I did part of this book on audio, via Scribd, and the narrator does an excellent job.*
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Book Review — COLD SPECTRUM: A Harmony Black Novel by Craig Schaefer
Criminologist Harmony Black is a witch with a loaded Glock. Her partner, Jessie Temple, is packing fierce lupine heat. Together, they’re part of Vigilant Lock, an elite FBI black ops group dedicated to defeating criminals with supernatural connections. But when they uncover a demonic conspiracy in the highest ranks of the government, it appears that everything Harmony and her friends have worked for, fought for, and risked their lives for might be a lie.
Framed for a casino massacre, Harmony and Jessie are on the run—in the real world and in their own. From the seedy casinos of Atlantic City to the steamy bayous of Louisiana and the imposing facades of Washington, DC, there’s not a soul on earth they can trust.
The only way they can clear their names is to take down the conspiracy from within and uncover the truth behind a secret that both the government and the powers of hell want to keep buried.
Unfortunately, this series has gone downhill for me, which is very much an issue of personal preference.
If you haven’t read the first three books, you need to. Cold Spectrum doesn’t work as a stand-alone. Lots of pieces from the previous books come into play here. In fact, it’s been a few years since I read book 3, and I had trouble understanding what was going on here because I didn’t remember all the details from before.
We don’t have much character development. Knowing anything about these characters relies heavily on having met them in the previous books. Also, we have a whole lot of characters, which would be confusing if you’re just jumping into the series. This was confusing for me, and I’d been introduced to most of them at some point in past books.
I did love the twist in the plot’s direction.
The plot is action-heavy, so again, personal preference. For me, this would work extremely well as a TV show or movie, but I’m not a big fan of overblown action at the expense of complex characters.
The writing is quite good, as always, hence the three stars.
The post Book Review — COLD SPECTRUM: A Harmony Black Novel by Craig Schaefer appeared first on Quiet Fury Books.
Book Review — KEEPER OF ENCHANTED ROOMS by Charlie N. Holmberg
A house of haunted history and ill temper. Make yourself at home in this beguiling novel of love, magic, and danger by Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.
Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.
Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.
Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.
Release Date: November 1, 2022
My ThoughtsKeeper of Enchanted Rooms was exactly the fun, magical read I needed!
This complex story has many layers, while managing to feel light and whimsical. We have a unique magic system, characters you can’t help but love (and hate!), and a touch of romance that’s anything but sappy.
I’m excited that this is the first book in the Whimbrel House series. We’re given a solid ending, which I appreciate. No major cliffhangers. And I can’t wait for book 2!
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October 7, 2022
Book Review — A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER: A Sunshine Vicram Novel by Darynda Jones
Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed, because there’s just too much going on right now. There’s a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There’s her persistent and awesomely-rebellious daughter Auri, who’s out to singlehandedly become Del Sol’s youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there’s drama with Levi Ravinder―the guy she’s loved and lusted after for years. The guy who might just be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him―and Sunshine―for good.
Like we said, the new day can take a hike.
The blockbuster conclusion to the bestselling Sunshine Vicram trilogy, A Hard Day for a Hangover will have readers laughing and cheering to the very last page.
Release Date: December 6, 2022
My ThoughtsA Hard Day for a Hangover is the third and final book in the Sunshine Vicram Series. I’m shattered because I love Sunshine and Levi!
First, if you haven’t read the first two books, stop here and go read them. I strongly recommend reading these books in order.
This series is character-driven mystery/suspense, with some romance, humor, and lots of witty dialogue. Sunshine Vicram makes murder fun!
I have to be honest here, though. While I still immensely enjoyed this book, it was my least favorite of the three. I felt we had way too much of Auri’s POV (Sunshine’s teenage daughter), giving the book a strong YA, Nancy Drew vibe. I also wanted more of Levi, who was absent throughout much of the story.
Also, I felt the ending was too abrupt. I would’ve been fine with the ending if this series was continuing on, but with this being the last book, it felt unfinished.
But don’t let my nitpicking deter you. This is still a solid, entertaining read.
Oh, and it would make a great TV series. Hey, Netflix! Are you paying attention?
*I received an eARC from St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley.*
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