Read in May 2026
May felt like a return to an old reading habit. Up until now, I hadn’t read many thrillers or mysteries this year, but that suddenly changed this month. In total, I devoured six books within those genres, five of them as audiobooks. Not all of them were equally successful when it came to ratings, but I genuinely enjoyed the experience of reading them. And sometimes, that’s what matters most.
Therefore it may be no coincidence that May became my most productive reading month of the year so far. Audiobooks have a way of creating extra reading time, whether I’m walking, tidying the house, crafting, or doing something else with my hands. As a result, reading naturally finds its way into parts of my day that would otherwise remain book-free.
In total, I finished 12 books in May, accounting for 4,012 pages. That brings the average May book to 334 pages per book.
In addition, I also picked up 2 books that ultimately became DNFs. Before setting them aside, I still read a combined total of 260 pages.
The ratings for the books I finished covered the entire spectrum this month. Books ranged from 1 to 5 stars, resulting in an average rating of 3.0 stars. Not my strongest month in terms of quality, perhaps, but certainly one with plenty of variety.
As for target audiences, I read 2 Young Adult books and 12 adult books.
There was also quite a bit of variety in format, although audiobooks clearly dominated. In total, I listened to 7 audiobooks, read 3 e-books, and picked up 4 physical books. Of the 14 books I started during the month, 5 came from my own bookshelves.
Genre-wise, I ventured across 5 different genres: horror (1), romance (1), thriller (2), mystery (4), and fantasy (6).
Below you’ll find the list of books I read in May, together with my star ratings.
Click the link to jump to the synopsis and my review! As always, please be aware that both synopses and reviews may contain spoilers, especially when discussing later books in a series. Occasionally, I hide spoilers behind expandable sections or blacked-out text.
- Dare, Tessa – Romancing the Duke (Castles Ever After #1) ★★★★★
- Lally, Megan – That’s Not My Name 🎧 ★★★
- Knightly, Brigitte – The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #1) ★
- Jean, Emiko – The Return of Ellie Black 🎧 ★★★
- Abeysekara, Shalini – This Monster of Mine (This Monster of Mine #1) ★★
- Gong, Chloe – Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods #1) (DNF)
- Mas, Jasmine – Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore #1) 🎧 ★★
- Mas, Jasmine – Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore #2) 🎧 (DNF)
- Clarke, Evelyne – The Ending Writes Itself 🎧 ★★★★
- Meyer, Marissa & Moss, Tamara – The Escape Game 🎧 ★★★
- Barker, R.J. – Call of the Bone Ships (The Tide Child #2) ★★★★★
- Turton, Stuart – The Last Murder at the End of the World 🎧 ★★
- Cole, Alyssa – Just a Girl ★★★★
- Tremblay, Paul – In Bloom ★★
Dare, Tessa – Romancing the Duke (Castles Ever After #1) ★★★★★
Genre: Romance (historical)
As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities.
And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one.
Ugly duckling turned swan?
Abducted by handsome highwayman?
Rescued from drudgery by charming prince?
No, no, and… Heh.
Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. She’ll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six year-old woman who’s never even been kissed?
This one.
Revisiting Romancing the Duke came shortly after my reread of The Duchess Deal, and I specifically picked it up because I remembered it as another favourite. Now having read them both again so close together, I can’t unsee just how similar they actually are in tone, structure, and even certain story beats. These books are two variations of the same comforting romance, which for me is not a bad thing at all. I clearly have a preference, lol.
Much like The Duchess Deal, this book leans fully into Tessa Dare’s signature style: over the top, a little ridiculous, but incredibly charming and consistently funny. The romance is swoony, the dialogue is sharp and playful, and the whole reading experience has that effortless quality where you suddenly realise you’ve flown through half the book without noticing.
Ultimately, this was just pure fun. It doesn’t aim for realism or restraint, and it’s all the better for it. A charming, slightly absurd, and very entertaining reread that once again confirms why Tessa Dare’s books work so well for me. Zero notes, and very likely not my last reread.
🎧 Lally, Megan – That’s Not My Name ★★★
Genre: Thriller (YA)
Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there―or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He’s been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says.
When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it’s too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow…and the more danger they both are in.
I flew through That’s Not My Name as an audiobook. It’s the kind of story that immediately hooks you and keeps pulling you along, even when you already have a strong suspicion about where things are heading. I listened to most of it in only a couple of sittings because it was simply so gripping.
Looking back, there are quite a few issues with the story. Some twists feel overly dramatic and difficult to fully believe, and the decisions made by certain characters, especially the police, occasionally border on frustratingly unrealistic (at least, I hope so). The plot is also fairly predictable in places. Yet somehow, none of that really mattered while I was actually listening. The pacing is incredibly effective, and the emotional frustration and sadness running through the story kept me thoroughly invested from beginning to end.
This is one of those books where the reading experience itself ultimately mattered more to me than critically dissecting every plot hole afterwards. Yes, there are flaws, but I was having too much fun being caught up in the tension to care all that much in the moment. On top of that, I appreciated that the story also touched on some heavier themes and difficult conversations beneath the thriller surface. Overall, this was simply a very engaging, compulsively listenable thriller, even if it starts to unravel a little once you think about it too hard afterwards.
Knightly, Brigitte – The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #1) ★
Genre: Fantasy (Romantasy)
Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, finds himself in dire need of an expert healer. As fate would have it, that very healer is Aurienne Fairhrim, a member of his enemy Order, the Haelen.
Aurienne is desperate for funding to heal the sick, so desperate that when Osric breaks into her office to offer her a bribe for her healing services, she must accept. Even if she loathes him.
A forced collaboration the brilliant Woman in STEM is coerced into working with the PhD in Murders – much to Aurienne’s disgust. Despite being enemies thrown together, as Osric and Aurienne work together to solve not only his illness, but the mysterious reoccurrence of a deadly Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction which seems to only fuel the heat between them.
Romance tropes
Enemies to lovers
High interaction slow burn
Hypercompetent idiots
He falls first and harder
Evisceration as a love language
I picked up The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy because I was curious about the hype, Illumicrate had provided me with a gorgeous edition and the story seemed to highlighting romantasy elements I usually tend to enjoy: rival orders, enemies-to-lovers tension, magic, and entertaining banter. On paper, this should have worked for me. Perhaps not as a life-changing favourite, but at the very least as a highly enjoyable read. Unfortunately, the further I read, the more the entire experience became an exercise in fighting The Irresistible Urge to DNF rather than actual enjoyment.
My biggest struggle was the complete lack of depth in both the world-building and the characters. The setting is incredibly muddled, somewhere between Victorian and modern-day England perhaps, with for some unfathomable reason a lot of French influences and language thrown into the mix. The world-building itself is almost non-existent. Instead of organically introducing the world and its politics, the story relies heavily on the glossary at the beginning of the book to fill in the gaps. This is where its fanfiction origin really shows, because the author felt no need whatsoever to create something from the ground up, instead simply assuming readers will follow along.
The same issue extends to the characters themselves. Aurienne and Osric never evolved beyond surface-level archetypes, and their supposed enemies-to-lovers dynamic never felt convincing because their animosity is entirely based on belonging to opposing orders rather than any meaningful personal conflict or chemistry.
The humour also fundamentally did not work for me. Much of the banter relies on crude jokes and overly campy dialogue that quickly became tiring and increasingly juvenile. Serious moments rarely feel allowed to carry emotional weight before another joke undercuts them. Combined with a writing style that often felt overly theatrical and fanfiction-like, with awkward dialogue formatting, excessive parentheses and capitalisation of Random Words, and untranslated French words and phrases scattered throughout, the book gradually became more irritating than entertaining.
What ultimately made this such a disappointing read is that I kept waiting for it to click into place. There are genuinely interesting ideas buried within the world and magic system, and early on I kept convincing myself I might still warm up to it. Instead, the deeper I got into the book, the more repetitive and shallow the experience became. There is little actual plot progression for such a long novel, and because neither the world nor the characters were properly fleshed out, I found myself skim-reading large sections simply to get through it.
In the end, this felt very much like a story carrying over fanfiction sensibilities without successfully adapting them into a fully realised fantasy novel. I can absolutely see this working for readers who already enjoy this style of storytelling or are familiar with the author’s fanfiction stories, but for me, almost every aspect missed the mark. Honestly, I kept reading mostly because I wanted to justify keeping my beautiful Illumicrate edition and buying the matching sequel, but in the end I had to admit to myself that this simply did not work for me at all, and the book therefore will not be staying in my collection nor will I attempt reading the sequel.
🎧 Jean, Emiko – The Return of Ellie Black ★★★
Genre: Mystery
It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.
Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.
But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.
The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.
I listened to the audiobook of The Return of Ellie Black and found it immediately compelling. The mystery pulled me in right away, and for the first half especially, I genuinely couldn’t stop listening. Ellie’s perspective was particularly impactful, with the more gruesome and traumatic elements of her experience handled in a way that really highlighted the horror of what she had been through. I also appreciated the social commentary; especially around how missing persons cases receive very different levels of media attention depending on who the victim is.
However, as the story progressed, it started to lose some of that early tension for me. Certain developments and case resolutions became harder to buy into, with investigative leaps that required a lot of suspension of disbelief. The writing style also leaned much more YA than I had expected from an adult thriller, which affected how I framed the story overall.
I didn’t see all the plot twists coming. One in particular relied on a sort of reframing of earlier events, which ultimately felt a bit cheap and dulled its impact for me. It didn’t take away from how tragic the story is, but it did lessen the emotional payoff. Overall, this ended up being a solid but uneven read for me: gripping in moments, frustrating in others, and ultimately landing at a fairly middle-of-the-road 3-star experience.
Abeysekara, Shalini – This Monster of Mine (This Monster of Mine #1) ★★
Genre: Fantasy
Eighteen-year-old Sarai doesn’t know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, but she does know that her case was closed without justice. Hellbent on vengeance, she returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies, and is assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra. Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra is the most vicious of the four judges who rule the land – and the prime suspect in a string of deaths identical to Sarai’s attempted murder.
Certain of his guilt, Sarai begins a double life: solving cases with Kadra by day and plotting his ruin by night. But Kadra is charming and there’s something alluring about the wrath he wields against the city’s corruption. So when the evidence she finds embroils her in a deadly political battle, Sarai must also fight against her attraction to Kadra – because despite his growing hold on her heart, his voice matches the only memory she has of her assailant…
A dazzling Ancient Rome-inspired romantasy debut, This Monster of Mine is a bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love.
I genuinely expected to love This Monster of Mine. The combination of fantasy, murder mystery, and romance sounded like a delicious story, but unfortunately the execution never fully came together for me. I didn’t hate the experience, but it left me mostly detached and disappointed that my anticipation never quite paid off.
A large part of that came down to the world-building and writing style. The prose often felt somewhat clunky and difficult to fully sink into, to the point where my attention kept drifting while reading. At the same time, the world itself remained very vague and underexplained. There are many unfamiliar terms, magical concepts, and political structures introduced, yet very little context is given to make them feel tangible or immersive. Rather than intriguing me, the setting mostly felt empty and surface level.
The same issue extended to the characters and romance. I never really connected with Sarai, whose thoughts and decisions often felt inconsistent purely for the sake of prolonging the story. The romance also didn’t work for me at all. Instead of reading like a compelling slow burn, the dynamic mostly came across as awkward insta-lust, despite the surrounding circumstances making that attraction feel strange and unconvincing. Even the murder mystery element, which I had been especially excited for, felt overly predictable from early on.
In the end, this was simply an okay read for me. There are definitely interesting ideas present, but very few of them felt fully developed. The world, characters, romance, and mystery all remained shallow, leaving me emotionally uninvested in almost everything that happened. What surprised me most is that this apparently sets up a sequel, because the story itself already feels largely finished by the end. The major plot points are wrapped up, and since I never became particularly attached to either the characters or the world, I personally don’t feel any curiosity about continuing the series.
Gong, Chloe – Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods #1) (DNF)
Genre: Fantasy
Every year, thousands in the kingdom of Talin flock to its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace hosts a set of games. For those confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies, competitors across San-Er fight to the death to win unimaginable riches.
Princess Calla Tuoleimi lurks in hiding. Five years ago, a massacre killed her parents and left the palace of Er empty…and she was the one who did it. Before King Kasa’s forces in San can catch her, she plans to finish the job and bring down the monarchy. Her reclusive uncle always greets the victor of the games, so if she wins, she finally gets her opportunity to kill him.
Enter Anton Makusa, an exiled aristocrat. His childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace, and he’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Thankfully, he’s one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, flitting from body to body at will. His last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.
Calla finds both an unexpected alliance with Anton and help from King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to mend Talin’s ills. But the three of them have very different goals, even as Calla and Anton’s partnership spirals into something all-consuming. Before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for—her lover or her kingdom.
I picked up Immortal Longings because the premise genuinely sounded fascinating. Body jumping? Political intrigue? A deadly competition? On paper, this felt exactly like the kind of fantasy I should have loved. I had struggled with Chloe Gong’s writing before when reading These Violent Delights, but since the concepts behind her stories continue to intrigue me, I wanted to give her another chance.
Unfortunately, I ran into the exact same issue again: I simply could not connect with the writing style. Oddly enough, I can’t even fully pinpoint why. There is some info-dumping and the world-building and characters remain fairly underdeveloped, but I’ve read books that handled those elements worse and still enjoyed them due to the plot. Here, though, everything remained feeling strangely distant and emotionally flat. The writing never fully pulled me into the story, and reading gradually started to feel more like work than immersion.
By around page 132, I finally decided to DNF. I’m still genuinely intrigued by the ideas at the core of this story, but I realised I didn’t actually care about the world or the characters enough to keep pushing through. At this point, I think I can safely conclude that while Chloe Gong’s premises often appeal to me, her writing style simply isn’t for me.
🎧 Mas, Jasmine – Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore #1) ★★
Genre: Fantasy (Romantasy)
Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.
But the Fates disagree.
When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.
Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.
But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.
Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…
I listened to the audiobook of Blood of Hercules, and I honestly still don’t quite know how to feel about it. On one hand, the writing often felt incredibly juvenile, packed with modern slang, social media archetypes, and dialogue that frequently made me cringe. The Greek mythology angle is also largely a marketing hook rather than a meaningful retelling, which was somewhat disappointing given what the title and premise suggest.
And yet… I couldn’t stop listening. This was very much a trainwreck reading experience for me: objectively ridiculous, but somehow impossible to look away from. A large part of that credit goes to the audiobook narrators, who absolutely understood the assignment and delivered the story with exactly the right amount of energy, snark and commitment. Without that performance, I’m not entirely convinced I would have finished the book. Is it good? Not really. Was I entertained? Against my better judgement, yes.
🎧 Mas, Jasmine – Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore #2) (DNF)
Genre: Fantasy (Romantasy)
In this follow-up to Jasmine Mas’s BLOOD OF HERCULES, the stakes are higher and the villains darker than ever…
Every hero has their monsters.
And Alexis is bound to hers: tied eternally, irrevocably to the Underworld’s dark heirs in a marriage that has shaken the foundations of Olympus – and everything Alexis once believed. Reeling, she enlists in the Assembly of Death with her mentors, set on wrecking vengeance on her husbands and uncovering the truth behind her deadly powers.
She will soon teach them all that a god can’t be manacled. And a monster can’t be caged…
After my bewilderingly entertaining experience with Bonds of Hercules, I was curious enough to give the sequel a chance. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that my tolerance for this particular brand of chaos had already been exhausted by the first book.
The audiobook narration remained excellent, but this time that wasn’t enough to carry me through. After only a few chapters, I realised I no longer had the patience for the writing style, the over-the-top characters, or the overall tone, and decided to DNF. While the first book managed to keep me listening through sheer “I can’t believe this is happening” energy, that novelty had worn off by the time I picked up the sequel. Sometimes one trainwreck is enough.
🎧 Clarke, Evelyne – The Ending Writes Itself ★★★★
Genre: Mystery
Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.
Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.
Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.
It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.
I had an absolute blast listening to the audiobook of The Ending Writes Itself. The premise immediately appealed to me, blending an obvious homage to And Then There Were None with sharp, often biting commentary on the publishing industry. Despite most characters not being particularly likeable people, I was really surprised to realise how invested I became in them. I loved that each perspective felt distinct, not only through their personalities but also through subtle differences in voice and writing style, which worked especially well in audio format.
The murder-mystery aspect takes its time getting started, with the first murder occurring much later than I expected. Yet I never found myself bored. Before the killing began, I was genuinely curious to see how each character envisioned the ending of the story they were creating. Once the mystery properly kicked in, the pace only accelerated. While I found the identity of the culprit fairly predictable, I also got the sense that the book wasn’t necessarily trying to hide it as aggressively as a traditional whodunnit would.
I also adored the atmosphere. It captures some of the same claustrophobic tension found in classic Agatha Christie mysteries and gothic novels, while also maintaining a humorous, slightly absurd tone that reminded me of Knives Out.
Thoroughly entertaining, packed with memorable character observations, sharp industry satire, and an addictive writing style, this was one of those audiobooks I couldn’t put down and I’d happily read more books in this vein.
🎧 Meyer, Marissa & Moss, Tamara – The Escape Game ★★★
Genre: Mystery (YA)
Six months ago, season four of The Escape Game ended in horror when contestant Alicia Angelos was found murdered on set.
Now season five is underway, and new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test solving the show’s trickiest escape rooms. There’s Adi, the cryptographer; Carter, the math whiz; Beck, the wannabe game master, and . . . Sierra Angelos, the girl who got away with her sister’s murder. Or so everyone believes.
But Sierra’s not just here to win. She’s here for justice.
When the contestants begin uncovering clues that hint at the identity of Alicia’s true killer, it becomes clear that the stakes aren’t high in this competition, they’re deadly. If these teens want to win—and survive—the game, they must solve the biggest mystery of who killed Alicia Angelos?
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer and rising star Tamara Moss comes a twisty thrill-ride, filled with sabotage, betrayal, and puzzles to die for.
I came across The Escape Game by accident and its premise immediately caught my attention. A mystery centered around escape rooms sounded right up my puzzle-loving alley. I was hoping for something that would feel like a series of interconnected puzzle boxes for the reader to solve. In reality, the story isn’t quite that kind of puzzle mystery. While escape games play a major role in the plot, there isn’t much actual sleuthing for the reader to do.
That said, I still ended up having a lot of fun with this audiobook. The biggest strength for me was the cast of characters. I genuinely enjoyed all the POVs and loved watching this group gradually come together as a team. The developing friendships, especially between characters who initially seemed unlikely allies, were often more engaging than the mystery itself.
The murder-mystery and overall setup are admittedly quite shallow and require a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. Some plot developments felt contrived, the villain was almost cartoonishly evil, and the central premise starts to fall apart if you think about it too hard.
Still, this is one of those books where I found it easier to go along with the ride than to analyse every detail. It’s an over-the-top YA mystery that prioritises fun over realism, and as an audiobook it proved very entertaining. I was surprised that the ending leaves the door open for a sequel, given that the central mystery is fully solved and wrapped up. Still, despite the shortcomings, I would definitely keep reading, if only to spend some more time with these characters.
Barker, R.J. – Call of the Bone Ships (The Tide Child #2) ★★★★★
Genre: Fantasy
Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship, Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child find themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5
If The Bone Ships took some time to win me over, Call of the Bone Ships had no such problem. This is exactly the kind of sequel I love to see: one that builds on everything that came before while deepening the world, characters, and mysteries in meaningful ways. Far from suffering from middle-book syndrome, this installment strengthened my appreciation for the series considerably.
The world-building continues to be absolutely exceptional. Barker has created one of the most fascinating societies I’ve encountered in fantasy, a brutal matriarchal culture that feels both unique and fully realised. What impresses me most is how naturally it all fits together. Nothing feels gimmicky or included simply to make a statement. Instead, the social structures, traditions, religions, and politics all feel like the organic result of a long and complex history.
One of my few reservations about the first book was that I admired the characters more than I truly connected with them. That changed here. Joron Twiner continued to grow into a protagonist I genuinely cared about, while Lucky Meas remained every bit as fierce, clever, and compelling as before. Beyond them, the crew increasingly came to feel like a true found family, making both the quieter moments and the inevitable tragedies hit much harder emotionally.
I also loved how the mysteries of the world continue to unfold. The magic remains subtle and elusive, woven into the fabric of the story rather than dominating it, and every answer seems to raise several new questions. The reveals are rarely shocking for the sake of shock, but are carefully built towards, creating a constant sense of intrigue and anticipation. Combined with stronger pacing and several genuinely emotional moments, this made for an incredibly immersive reading experience.
There were still a few elements that occasionally lost me, particularly some of the larger battle sequences and a few sections that felt slightly drawn out. Even so, those are minor complaints in what was otherwise an outstanding sequel. More than anything, this book leaves me excited to continue. The mysteries surrounding the world, its creatures, its magic, and its history feel larger than ever, and I have very high hopes for the final installment.
🎧 Turton, Stuart – The Last Murder at the End of the World ★★
Genre: Mysterie
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.
On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.
Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.
But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don’t even know it.
And the clock is ticking.
From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.
I listened to The Last Murder at the End of the World as an audiobook, and it initially really drew me in. The opening has a strong, ominous sense of mystery, and I was curious to figure out what kind of world I had stepped into. It also took me embarrassingly long to place the narrator’s voice, which I eventually realised was Lady Danbury from Bridgerton, which added a slightly amusing layer to the experience.
Unfortunately, that early intrigue didn’t really last for me. While the core idea of the setting is interesting, the world itself never fully came into focus. The boundaries of what is or isn’t possible remain vague, and the occasional introduction of conveniently functioning or rediscovered technology made the mystery feel less grounded and harder to engage with. It often felt like the rules of the world shifted depending on what the plot needed.
Neither the characters nor the setting ever truly came alive for me, and the writing style felt quite emotionally distant, which made it difficult to connect with what was happening. As the book went on, it also started to feel longer than it needed to be, with a sense of being both overlong and underexplained at the same time.
In the end, the premise is stronger than the execution. There is an interesting idea at the heart of it, but it never fully translated into an engaging or immersive reading experience for me.
Cole, Alyssa – Just a Girl ★★★★
Genre: Thriller (short story)
Tiana Carter has just started college and is determined to make the most of it. She’s thrilled to be posting videos about dorm-room cooking and campus fashion for a small but loyal band of followers. When she dips into the online dating pool, her first swipe right raises a huge red flag. Tiana’s polite rejection is met with scorn, and now a group of self-proclaimed “high-value men” are hell-bent on ruining her life.
Just a Girl is part of Obsession, a collection of compulsively readable short stories about people pushed to their extremes. So addictive you won’t be able to put them down—read or listen to each story in a single sitting.
Just a Girl was genuinely stressful in the best way, capturing how quickly things can escalate when someone can find you through the internet and how unsettling it is to realise how vulnerable that makes you. It felt tense, immediate, and uncomfortably plausible, which makes for a very effective short story.
Tremblay, Paul – In Bloom ★★
Genre: Horror (short story)
Journalist Heidi Cohen is in Cape Cod investigating the sources of recurring toxic algae blooms along the coast. A local named Jimmy has his own theory for her. Every year the fetid growth gets worse—but it’s been going on longer than anyone knows. Decades ago, something happened to Jimmy that he’s never forgotten. Is Heidi ready for the real story?
Paul Tremblay’s ‘In Bloom‘ is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
In Bloom didn’t really land for me. I struggled to care about the baseball elements, and the writing style often felt more like unfinished telling than a deliberate narrative choice. While the abrupt ending could have worked in theory, it felt underdeveloped given how little information or build-up we actually get. That said, it did manage to spark some curiosity about the eventual fate of Heidi, Jimmy, and the wider situation, even if the story itself didn’t fully come together for me.
