I-Spy Headassery, A Catwoman On Xanax, & Slasher Movies 101

Guess who's back!

I know, I know, this is my second time coming back from the dead, but this time it's for good! Earlier this year I tried to bounce back from a hiatus but honestly, I just wasn't ready. Being in a slump had me reading less and less and the desire to blog was completely gone. So I went with the flow and all of a sudden things began to change. I found myself picking up more books and of course that made me want to spill all the tea, so here I am, finally ready to get my blog back up and running.

As of late, I've been reading nothing but thrillers. There were 3 that stood out to me the most, so I decided to throw together some not-so-mini reviews to discuss them!

The Woman In The Window 

4 1/2

Over-hyped books can be aggy as hell. You have this whole clan of readers raving and pushing books down your throat because OMG THEY'RE SO GOOD, but sometimes they don't actually end up being that way. [Did I just expose myself?] It's hard going into these types of titles with zero expectations, so I've trained my mind to be completely neutral until I've read enough to form my own opinion. This was the exact case with The Woman in the Window. Everyone and their auntie has read and loved it, and of course, I wanted to be in the same boat. But was I?

From the first chapter, I knew I was going to enjoy this. Anna, in my opinion, was a pretty interesting character. Here we have this pill popping, alcohol chugging lady, that spends a great deal of time spying on her neighbors. I mean, yeah this was odd af, but I couldn't help to be intrigued by her nosiness. This was my first time reading from the perspective of a character that suffered from Agrophobia, and while I really loved how it was the foundation to the plot, how she was able to get a handle of it didn't really seem that realistic to me. It was just too much of a coincidence for my liking. One thing that made this book exciting was that Anna became a bit unreliable. There were times where I wanted to believe my good sis, but with all the questionable things she was doing, and with everything that was going down, it was difficult to do so. Anna being untrustworthy played such a huge role with one of the plot twists, that I was literally blown away. I didn't see it coming by a long shot and it made the story that much more juicy. You guys know I love a good scandal! The second twist is what really nagged me the most though. The reveal will still have you like "Hold up bish!" and although I had a little suspicion all along, it wasn't really who, but the reason behind it that made it kinda . . . stupid? Maybe underwhelming is the better word. 

Anywho, my friend Eric @ericwilf13 pointed out a possible reference to The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and when I think about it, the ending has to have some sort of relation to the movie. The rooftop, all the greenery, the killer's end? If A.J paid homage to one of my all-time favorite films, I swear I'll love him for life. All in all, The Woman in the Window might not be the most original in its genre, but it's fast-paced, entertaining as hell, and made me want to know what would happen next. I definitely recommend it!

Final Girls & The Last Time I Lied

3 1/2

Riley FUCKING Sager.

I became a big fan of Riley back in August when I read Final Girls. I'll admit it wasn't the best thriller I've ever read, but as a debut title, the potential was definitely there. In this story, we get a feel for the last female standing trope as our main character Quincy, is the sole survivor of a massacre that happened 10 years prior. Like herself, two other women survived their attacks which led the world to deem them as, you guessed it, the final girls. The biggest problem I had with this story, was that I couldn't stand any of the characters. Typically I can tolerate maybe one or two unlikeable characters in a book, but a whole cast? Nah. Quincy our MC was a little . . . special. Like Anna in The Woman in the Window, she indulged in "cocktails" her version being Xanax and grape soda, so constantly being doped up, mixed with her memory loss, also made her an unreliable character. As I said before, I live for this type of thing, and it would have been my jam if she wasn't aggravating as hell. When Sam, another Final Girl steps onto the scene and forces Quincy to remember what happened in her past,  they both embark on a journey of stupidity and honestly I could not fucking deal. What saved Riley from a true drag session were the flashbacks. Guys listen, they were glorious! I'm talking 90's slasher vibes, very reminiscent of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Halloween, it just had that perfect scary movie feel that I love. The writing was beyond atmospheric, something I've learned that Riley does well, especially in The Last Time I Lied.

4 1/2

Chile, you would've thought this book was written by a completely different author. It was lightyears ahead of FG -- anything that was lacking in that story was definitely made up in this one. I'm trying to avoid saying too much about these books since it's best to go in not knowing anything, but in The Last Time I Lied, we follow our main character Emma as she's invited back to a camp she attended as a teen. The kicker? This is the same camp where 3 of her friends disappeared never to be found again. We bounce from past to present, creepy things go down, then boom shit goes left. My absolute favorite thing about Riley is that his writing is captivating af. He has a way of pulling you in from start to finish and with those horror movie vibes, his books end up being so much fun to read. Riley has easily become an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait until the release of his third title. If you're looking for some good thrillers, I highly suggest giving these a go!

Have you guys read these titles or have any others you want to rec? Let me know!