My Signed Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Posted on 12/09/2022 by Lenn

I just wanted to share on here how ecstatic I feel that I now have a physical signed copy of Jason Rekulak’s Hidden Pictures! One of my book club friends reached out to Jason and asked if we can directly order a book from him with personal dedications. And lo and behold, Jason never charged us for the books. He just asked us to cover the shipping from Philadelphia to Philippines because it’s quite expensive. He’s absolutely one of the most generous and thoughtful authors we came across with and we are so thankful for this.

Special thanks to the Thrillseekers Book Club PH for making this possible! Truly, it’s the best book club I’ve ever been a part of. ❤

Book Review: No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

Posted on 12/08/2022 by Lenn

Title: No Place Like Home

Author: Mary Higgins Clark

Format: Paperback

Publication Date: April 5, 2005

Number of Pages: 368

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Crime

Synopsis:

Ten-year-old Liza Barton shoots her mother while trying to protect her from her violent husband–Liza’s stepfather. While the death is ruled accidental, the tabloids still compare Liza to the child murderess Lizzie Borden.

Liza’s adoptive parents change her name to Celia and try to erase all traces of her past. Widowed after a brief marriage in which she had a son, Jack, she remarries a young lawyer. Celia is happy until, on her birthday, he presents her with a gift–the house where she killed her mother. On moving in, they find the words LITTLE LIZZIE’S PLACE–BEWARE painted in red letters on the lawn. When the real estate agent who sold the house to her husband is murdered, she becomes a suspect. As she struggles to prove her innocence, Celia and her little son are being stalked by the killer.

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately #28

Posted on 12/07/2022 by Lenn

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BOOKS READ:

The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo, #3) by Rick Riordan
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena

ONGOING:

No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

BOOKS BOUGHT:

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
Sweet Heart by Peter James
The Weekend Escape by Rakie Bennett
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
Loot by Jude Watson
A Child Called It y Dave Pelzer
Baby Doll by Hollie Overton
Triptych (Will Trent, #1) by Karin Slaughter
Criminal (Will Trent, #6) by Karin Slaughter
Broken (Will Trent, #4) by Karin Slaughter
Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage by Lucy Daniels
Creed by James Herbert
Witch Hunt by Syd Moore
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
The People Next Door by Christopher Ransom
The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
The Survivor Club by Lisa Gardner

BOOKS RECEIVED:

The Runaway by Martina Cole
Moss Hysteria by Kate Collins
Fractured (Will Trent, #2) by Karin Slaughter
No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark
Stay Close by Harlan Coben
The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner

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Book Review: Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

Posted on 11/22/2022 by Lenn

Title: Sweet Bean Paste

Author: Durian Sukegawa

Format: Paperback

Publication Date: February 6, 2013

Number of Pages: 213

Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Genre: Contemporary, Japanese Literature

Synopsis:

Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.

But everything is about to change.

Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed, with devastating consequences.

Sweet Bean Paste is a moving novel about the burden of the past and the redemptive power of friendship. Translated into English for the first time, Durian Sukegawa’s beautiful prose is capturing hearts all over the world.

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Book Review: The Troop by Nick Cutter

Posted on 11/03/2022 by Lenn

Title: The Troop

Author: Nick Cutter

Format: Paperback

Publication Date: February 25. 2014

Number of Pages: 355

Publisher: Gallery Books

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Synopsis:

Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip—a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder stumbles upon their campsite—shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry—Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. A horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival with no escape from the elements, the infected…or one another.

Part Lord of the Flies, part 28 Days Later—and all-consuming—this tightly written, edge-of-your-seat thriller takes you deep into the heart of darkness, where fear feeds on sanity…and terror hungers for more.

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately #27

Posted on 11/01/2022 by Lenn

BOOKS READ:

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
The Troop by Nick Cutter

ONGOING:

The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo, #3) by Rick Riordan

BOOKS BOUGHT:

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives by Adam Cesare
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Look Closer by David Ellis
The Holiday by T.M. Logan
Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner
You Were Gone by Tim Weaver
My Darling by Amanda Robson
Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan
Caught by Harlan Coben

BOOKS RECEIVED:

Midwinter Sacrifice by Mons Kallentoft
The New Girl by Ingrid Alexandra
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
The Marriage Pact by Michelle Rachmond
Our House by Louise Candlish
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
His & Hers by Alice Feeney

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October Reading Plans

Posted on 10/03/2022 by Lenn

I know I’m not good at following TBRs, but in the past two months, I lowkey tried creating one for myself and I was able to follow it—though not entirely as I usually run out of time to finish all of it, but I was able to stick to it by reading book from that specific list. So I figured that since I was able to that in the past two months, I can now re-introduce this section on my blog.

For this month, I plan to read books that lean towards the spooky and the creepy because, duh, it’s Halloween season! I live for this season and I look forward to it by devouring all things spooky. I am a bit of a scaredy-cat so the most “horror” that I can read are actually more from the thriller side of things like slashers and whodunnits. But this year, I plan on reevaluating my tolerance by reading some horror from authors like Stephen King and Adam Cesare. So without further ado, here are the books I plan to read this month:

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Mars, May Zombie by Chuckberry J. Pascual
The Troop by Nick Cutter
Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

Hopefully I get to read these books and if time permits, I would also like to add other titles like Coraline by Neil Gaiman and Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. How about you? What are you planning to read this month?

Book Review: Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

Posted on 08/03/2022 by Lenn

Title: Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas

Author: James Patterson

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

Number of Pages: 289

Publisher: Vision

Genre: Chick Lit, Romance, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Beautifully captures the joys of a new family as it builds to an overwhelmingly moving climax. This is an unforgettable love story, at once heartbreaking and full of hope.

James Patterson has written a love story!–a powerfully moving and suspenseful novel about families, loss, new love, and hope.

Katie Wilkinson has found her perfect man at last. He’s a writer, a house painter, an original thinker–everything she’s imagined she wanted in a partner. But one day, without explanation, he disappears from her life, leaving behind only a diary for her to read.

This diary is a love letter written by a new mother named Suzanne for her baby son, Nicholas. In it she pours out her heart about how she and the boy’s father met, about her hopes for marriage and family, and about the unparalleled joy that having a baby has brought into her life. As Katie reads this touching document, it becomes clear that the lover who has just left her is the husband and father in this young family. She reads on, filled with terror and hope, as she struggles to understand what has happened–and whether her new love has a prayer of surviving.

Written with James Patterson’s perfect pitch for emotion and suspense, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas captures beautifully the joys of a new family as it builds to an overwhelmingly moving climax. This is an unforgettable love story, at once heartbreaking and full of hope.

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Book Review: We’ll Always Have Summer (Summer, #3) by Jenny Han

Posted on 07/22/2022 by Lenn

Title: We’ll Always Have Summer (Summer, #3)

Author: Jenny Han

Format: Paperback

Publication Date: April 26, 2011

Number of Pages: 277

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Can Belly make a final choice between Jeremiah and Conrad? Find out in the conclusion of the New York Times bestselling The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, now in paperback.

Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she’s almost positive he is her soul mate. Almost.

While Conrad has not gotten over the mistake of letting Belly go, Jeremiah has always known that Belly is the girl for him. So when Belly and Jeremiah decide to make things forever, Conrad realizes that it’s now or never—tell Belly he loves her, or lose her for good.

Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face the inevitable: She will have to break one of their hearts.

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8 Most Anticipated Releases in July

Posted on 07/07/2022 by Lenn

New month, new book releases! So I am back with another list of anticipated reads for the month of July. This time, I collated 8 titles that have piqued my interest and, yes, it’s a mix and class of genres again — but mostly thrillers, horror, and romance! So without further ado, below are my most anticipated releases this month:

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