Author: pleasantnites

Title: Murder Road

Author: Simone St. James

Genre: horror/thriller

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I love Simone St. James’s books. I’ve read The Haunting of Maddy Clare, The Broken Girls, and The Sundown Motel, all of which were excellent. This story was just as excellent as the others. I love that her books are horror-adjacent but still fit into the thriller category. Best of both worlds!

In 1995, Eddie and April are on their honeymoon when they see a bloody woman at the side of the road. They pick her up, take her to the hospital, and then are accused of being her murderers. They know they aren’t but don’t know how to clear their names. As they begin to dig in her death, they uncover more secrets about the stretch of road where they found her.

This story has a lot of great secrets and reveals that I didn’t see coming. Eddie and April are great characters who you really root for, even though they have pasts that they are running or hiding from. Add in a good cop, a stubborn widow, and two nosy teen girls, this book has a great cast of secondary characters. I thought this book was great and will definitely recommend it.

Title: Come & Get It

Author: Kiley Reid

Genre: literary fiction

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.
I thought Such a Fun Age was great, so I was excited to read another from Kiley Reid. And, this one was also fun to read, but I didn’t love it quite as much, however, it’s definitely still worth reading.

The story follows a group of people at the University of Arkansas for one semester. The main focus is on Millie, an RA, and Agatha, who is a visiting professor who is also doing research for a book. Three students in a suite cause havoc on Millie’s life and to each other. Millie’s just trying to do her best.

The story isn’t really anything captivating, just people living their lives, but I still was intrigued by how they all interacted. The characters are written with depth, and I felt myself drawn to several of them. Overall, this book was a fun read.

Title: Vampires of El Norte

Author: Isabel Cañas

Genre: horror

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I had no idea this was also a romance book, which I’m not a fan of, but it worked amidst various vampire attacks, so don’t let that subgenre turn you off. I liked The Hacienda a lot and was excited to read another by this author.

Between Isabel Cañas and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, these two women are doing an outstanding job bringing Mexican stories to the world. In this book, Nena and Nestor are childhood loves, but Nena dies. Nine years go by, and Nestor realizes that Nena survived and now they are traveling together. There’s a bit of the trope where two characters make assumptions instead of communicating, which I despise, but it doesn’t last too long. The book isn’t all that scary, but is a good balance between horror and romance, without being too cheesy.

I definitely liked this book and am adding Cañas to my list of writers that I’ll be seeking out in the future. She’s two for two!