The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

"I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will." 

One night, Mia Dennett enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. At first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life. 

When Colin decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota instead of delivering her to his employers, Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them. But no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter. 

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a propulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems.

I don't think it is fair to compare this book to Gone Girl because Gone Girl was a physiological thriller, whereas this could only be really classified as a general thriller novel. 

I don't mean to imply that it wasn't good, because I actually enjoyed it (and finished it in just 2 days). I just don't think there was as much character / plot depth as other thrillers, which made it a nice easy read.

It was pretty easy to pick early on how it was going to play out, but there were still a couple of surprises at the end.

Read my review on Goodreads

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

“That's what love is, Ben. Love is sacrifice. I got this tattoo the day I felt that kind of love for your father. And I chose it because if I had to describe love that day, I would say it felt like my two favourite things, amplified and thrown together. Like my favourite poetic line mixed into the lyrics of my favourite song”

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist. 

I'm a sucker for a bit of romance every now and then, and t's even better if the female character is strong, funny and independent weather than weak/helpless in a damsel in distress situation. Even though life had a few downturns for Fallon, and her confidence had taken a beating, she was still strong and independent enough to move across the country and not fall helplessly in love with the first guy that showed her attention (but really, who could resist Ben forever). She was strong and witty and I would love to see more female characters like that.

The ONE and ONLY thing that I thought was a tad disappointing (*Slight SPOILER ALERT*) was in the final chapter, when Ben and Fallon met up the last time, she said she wasn't there to forgive him because he didn't do anything wrong...then SHE apologised. I disagreed with this and the fact she was then begging him to forgive her made me gag that such a cool chic ended up being so pathetic.

I don't think you can read a book like this thinking 100% realistically, because if you did, you would have to question their dedication to only meeting up on November 9 and not succumbing to contacting each other on social media when they were desperate (i.e. when planes were delayed and family members were in accidents). 

But other than that, I loved every minute I was reading their story. 

Read my review on Goodreads.

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

“Some people stay broken. Some pick up the pieces and put them back together with all the sharp edges showing.”

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.

As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding...

I am going to have a serious book-hangover from this one! I was hooked from the first couple of pages, and I devoured it in about 24 hours.

The writing was so detailed that I could easily  picture myself in The Garden surrounded by the other butterflies (NOOOO, thank you!) but the surprising thing was that I was more enthralled than disgusted by the disturbing topic, purely due to the way it was written.

All of the characters were spot on with the parts they played, and Inara was the best of all. Strong and fiesta but refreshingly intelligent in all ways. 

I want to go back and read it again.

Read my review on Goodreads