THE DEBUTANTES.....PRETTY LITTLE LYING DEBS COURT DANGER IN NEW ORLEANS. (****)

 The Debutantes by Olivia Worley (2024) 

     Welcome to 'Pretty Little Liars' - New Orleans division. And there's troubles and danger ahead for four of the 'Maids' who make their high society debut at one the city's most prestigious Debutante Balls.

     It's no easy event for the participating Debs, especially the one crowned Queen. Margo, the last one, ended up dead of a drug overdose. (Or did she?)) And newly crowned Lily has her reign interrupted by a costumed Jester who 'Carrie's' the party by spilling fake blood on her. More mystery, anxiety and surprise reveals ensue when Lilly disappears. and the mysterious Jester torments three Maids in her orbit - Vivian, April and Piper.

     Our dynamic trio, each of them with separate ties to Lily, take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of her vanishing, even though it puts each of them at risk at having their own deeply hidden secrets laid out in public.

     For everyone who could never get enough 'Pretty L.L." seasons to satisfy them, this one's a far-fetched but enthralling adrenalin rush from start to finish. And what's even better is author Olivia Worley drenching her thriller in New Orleans lore and atmosphere. Her four vividly portrayed Debutantes aren't just up against common criminality. fueled by raging teen hormones - they find themselves facing no less than Patriarchal evil handed down through centuries of New Orleans history.......a philosophy and mindset that treats women and girls as subservient objects.....and completely disposable should they threaten long honored traditions.

       This all leads to a spectacular, melodramatic and literally overheated finale that cries out for a film or series adaptation. Over-the-top and borderline silly, but for these girls and their adversaries, I wouldn't want it any other way. A pure fun read that keeps you captivated until you're sure you've uncovered every last pretty little secret......

         4 stars (****)  Y'all stop in to check out of these Southern Belles having one dangerous Ball.

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A NEW LEASE ON DEATH.....TWO ROOMIES TURN DETECTIVE....ONE LIVING, ONE DEAD (****)

 A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke (2024)

     I can't say I fully embraced this whole heartedly, since it fell a little short in a few key areas. But mostly, I found it an entertaining read that kept me staying with it all the way through.

     I guess you'd call it a Big City Cozy......unfolding not in a quaint little town but on the cold, snowy, sometimes violent streets of Boston. New 20 year old apartment dweller Ruby moved in to wipe out the memories of her 'jerkface' cheating ex. Quirky, cute and the world's worst job interviewee, she's got another problem - Cordelia, the 40-something previous tenant, hasn't vacated, unless you count committing suicide in the bathtub as vacating. Cordy's still inhabiting the apartment as a ghost.......and initially not thrilled with her new roommate.

     And now the fun begins. Ruby and Cordelia, not only slowly establish a workable living (and dead) apartment sharing arrangement, but team up as oddball amateur detectives. Yet another neighbor of theirs, Jake, was shot dead on the street (and for some strange reason,barely dressed), right in front of the apartment building. Ruby then has her hands full questioning potential suspects who can't quite figure out the paranormal oddities that often occur all around her.

     I was expecting a more generous helping of humor in a setup like this, but the author Olivia Blacke seems to ration it out in careful spoonfuls. The book devotes a huge amount of time to its own ghostly mythology that dictates the extent of Cordelia's abilities and powers.....a little too much of it and it slows down the pace. What I did enjoy, was the step-by-step building of friendship and the beginnings of affection between the two sleuths stuck in separate modes of existence. And their exasperating attempts to communicate with each other keeps a reader smiling - especially when they stumble upon the one way that actually works for both of them.

     The expected showdown-finale with the killer comes in kind of a rush but still makes for an exciting, witty, and satisfying way for these unlikely detectives to close their first case.....and move on to the next.. I'll be there with them for sure, but hoping the next one streamlines the paranormal exposition and amps up the amusing byplay. 

        4 stars (****). Nice way to kill a chilly night...(you should pardon the expression.....)

THIS GIRL'S A KILLER.....SHE'S BEAUTIFUL, SHE'S LOYAL AND SHE KILLS REALLY BAD GUYS (*****)

 This Girl's A Killer by Emma C. Wells (2024)

     Bravo to this darkly amusing romp of a thriller. It belongs to that peculiar sub-genre whose lead character leads an active life as a serial killer-avenger who wreaks overdue Karma and gruesome carnage upon really bad guys. To borrow a line I heard in a movie, Cordelia Black, a gorgeous Pharma sales rep, enthusiastically functions as the 11th Commandment - Thou Shalt Not Get Away With It.

     Cordelia, her identity and persona reinvented after surviving her own horrific childhood, now delivers unmerciful torture and death to monstrous rapist-killers of women and girls. They may have escaped the law, but there's no escaping Cordelia once they catch her attention. In what you might call her "normal" life, she's staunchly devoted and protective of the two people she considers her own little family - her best friend since college Diane and Diane's 12 year old daughter (and Cordelia's beloved goddaughter) Samantha.
   
     The fun here comes from author Emma C. Wells throwing a non-stop blizzard of troubles in Cordelia's path, most of which will expose her bloody pastime and land her in prison. At work, her job and reputation fall into jeopardy in the aftermath of a defective drug she represented. And her personal life turns upside down and backwards when Diane falls head over heels for a fake 'nice guy' who sets off Cordelia's sixth sense for smelling a rat.

     I wouldn't dream of spoiling anybody's fun describing the sometimes, grisly, sometimes witty parade of catastrophes that befall Cordelia as she desperately dodges in and around every new tribulation thrown at her. And since this is all from her point of view, you find yourself somehow rooting for her every step of the way.

      Not only does this book take a reader along for a hairpin-turn ride, when it's over, you just find yourself craving a sequel. How about it, Ms. Wells?

        5 stars (*****)  Have yourself a nasty good time with this one...

THE JUDGEMENT OF YOYO GOLD.....AN ORTHODOX JEWISH TEEN COPES WITH LOVE AND REBELLON (*****)

 The Judgement of Yoyo Gold (2024) by Isaac Blum   

     Yoyo is most definitely not your typical teen overachiever who longs to break through the constraints put upon her by her family, friends and community. She's the dutiful oldest child of an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and tirelessly does everything expected of her......excels in classes, helps to co-parent her younger siblings, follows the teachings and procedures of her faith and functions as a perfect role model for everyone around her.

     Her only outlet for communicating her true feelings was her lifelong friendship with Esti, whose extroverted, daring behavior proved too much to their tight-knit community........when Esti s sent off to a far away school, an angry, frustrated Yoyo believes her dearest friend was indeed banished, with her father having a hand in it.

      Yoyo's more than ready to unleash rebellion against the structure of her Orthodox life, and her increasingly uncomfortable role in it. in. She finds a kindred spirit (and sweet first love) in gentle, studious Shua, yet another outcast who helps removes her father's filters from her phone.. This allows Yoyo to secretly outrage and confound her peers. with anonymous gossip-y Tik Tok videos.......revealing moments of un-Orthodox, rule breaking behavior from her friends and herself. as well.

     All of Yoyo's inner turbulence is presented with a knowing sense of wisdom and at times, the sharpest, ironic wit you'll ever enjoy in a YA drama. And author Isaac Blum deftly immerses you in a world of religious faith that may seem strange and foreign until you see all the universal things unfold.....the changing dynamics between parents and children and the eternal adolescent challenge to figure out who you are and what's your place in the world.
   
     A great, thoughtful read, with a character who captures you from the first page and will hold you till she reaches a reckoning with faith, love, friendship and the world outside her own. My highest recommendation....go get Yoyo.

       5 stars (*****)

SOCIETY OF LIES.....IN THE IVY LEAGE, STAYIING ALIVE IS THE KEY TO GRADUATING.....(*****)

 Society Of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown (2024)

     Every time I find myself hooked by a college set thriller like this one, I wonder how I managed to get out of college alive.

      But then I didn't go to Princeton, which 'Society Of Lies' depicts of as a viper's nest of corruption, murder and high level corporate wheeling and dealing that stretches from the campus quads to Wall Street's most wealthy and powerful one-percenters.

     Two sisters, generations apart, face way more than keeping their GPA up, as three separate timelines unfold.. In present day, alumni Maya, returns to campus for her 10 year reunion and to celebrate the graduation of her beloved kid sister Naomi. But Naomi's found dead as a result of a suspicious drowning accident. And in her sister's death, Maya's forced to re-live the same kind of traumatic events and danger she experienced as an undergrad. . Because just like her big sister, Naomi also joined an exclusive club whose membership allowed her a place in the Greystone Society, an all-powerful cabal dedicated to the financial achievement of its members. And those who dare to expose or thwart Greystone in any way, put themselves at high risk of their lives.

     As Maya probes into Naomi's death, parallel past timelines show the sisters' separate but similar entanglements with the evil and influential Greystone Society, whose tentacles stretch in all directions and whose members aren't above murdering anyone posting a threat to their power.

     For me that's a surefire recipe for a fast, zip-through-the-pages suspense thriller loaded up with twists and surprises right to the very end. Not to mention making me breathe a sigh of relief that the Greystone Society is fictitious........we hope. 

             5 stars (*****)......good, twisty back-to-school fun.

KILLER HOUSE PARTY.....A SCOOBY GANG OF TEENS TRAPPED IN ONE REALLY, REALLY HAUNTED HOUSE....(****)

 Killer House Party by Lily Anderson (2024)

     Now here's a blood dripping heap of haunted house YA fun for the spooky season......(or any other random cold, dark night.).

     A worthy, clever set-up premise for a night of non-stop screaming scares.......High school senior Arden's seen her college dreams dissolved by her own parents. Not only are the two real estate agents divorcing, they've used their daughter's college fund to buy Deinhart Manor, the town's infamous, forbidding haunted house
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     While her parents dream of turning the place into condos, Arden plots a way to recover her college money - swipe the keys to Deinhart Manor and charge her senior class members admission into a giant all-night haunted house party. There's only one problem facing Arden and her friends Maddie May, Remi, Hannah, and Arden's on-and-off boy-frenemy, Nathanial. The house is seriously haunted.......showers of blood, walls that come alive with grasping hands and the power to turn the hearty partygoers into zombie-fied, murdering fiends.. Oh my, what a fun night lies ahead......well at least for those who survive it, if any.

     The festering, hungry evil that permeates the house then renders the doors and windows impervious to breakage, locking everyone in with the intention of adding to its growing list of dead residents. So it's up to Arden and her ragtag Scooby gang to rescue themselves and their classmates as they try to get to the heart of the house's attitude problem. This place makes 'The Shining' hotel look like the Brady Bunch house and these kids surely don't want to die hard in the Deinhart.

     To what I'm sure will be the readers' delight, Arden and company manage to navigate Deinhart Manor's endless array of pop-up horrors with a non-stop barrage of snarky repartee right out of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'. Even when they're waist deep in ghosts, gore and other assorted grisly stuff, they're never at a loss for an lol commentary. (Probably a little too much of it and some of the gags don't land,, but with this amount of overkill on display, let's not quibble....)

     Anyone tired of watching 'Halloween' for the umpeenth time might want a grab a plastic pumpkin filled with candy corn and cuddle up with this one. After all, 'tis the season to say, "Boo!",

        4 stars (****)  Chill out with some chills 'n laughs...... 

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SOME LIKE IT COLD.....A LONG SIMMERING ROMANCE IN A SNOW GLOBE LITTLE TOWN....(*****)

 Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll (2024)

     Falling into (and for) this book was kind of like being enveloped in a long, loving warm hug...... or maybe binge watching multiple seasons of 'Gilmore Girls'.

     Like the TV show, we're in a snow-globe, never-neverland sweet little picture postcard town, filled with quirky characters who practically all know each other on a first name basis. And so obviously well-named......Lake Pristine.

     There's royalty of sorts......the well to do Montgomery clan, which include two completely opposite sisters.......the imperious, bossy (and now raging Bridezilla) Christine and the town's much beloved unofficial Princess, younger sister Jasper, just returned from college to attend Christine's grand New Year's Eve wedding.

     But neurodivergent Jasper's both exhausted and worried about all the secrets she's been keeping. The sweet-natured girl, forever fearful of people finding her autism odd and repellent, has always overplayed her role as a selfless people pleaser., hence her reputation. And she's no longer able to tolerate her parents' bullying her into pursuing law school, so she's secretly quit college and plans with apply to design school.

     If that isn't enough for Jasper, there's renewing her contentious encounters with grumpy Arthur Lancaster, that one boy in town who doesn't seem to like her.......or does he? Just a little? Maybe more than just a little? Could it be he's bonkers for her?

     Arthur and his brother run the town's main venue, the Arthouse multi-plex cinema and he and his cousin Marcus are filming a documentary on Lake Pristine at the very height of the town's winter activities - the 'Nutcracker' ballet, directed by Jasper and the wedding-frenzied Christine storming through town like a tornado. Amidst all this chaos, Arthur and Jaster frequently find themselves thrown together in one situation after another..........and this is where 'Some Like It Cold' will have you in perpetual heartache, sighing out loud and cheering on these two hurting souls to reach their inevitable conclusion.

      There's no other way to read this other than to surrender to it as it plays on your heartstrings with no mercy whatsoever until the end. It has the snap and crackle of 'Gilmore Girls' combined with the dreamy look of a small town in a Hallmark Christmas movie. If all that sounds enticing at all, then by all means treat yourself.. (True confession : this may be something I'd return to re-read just to re-visit and town and characters again.)

     5 stars (*****)  Best comfort read of the year, so far.

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