The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Book 29 of 2022

My Rating: 5 Stars

Here’s why

Oh, Riley. I have been obsessed with you since Final Girls. Every year I get your book, and this year, my copy is personalized and signed! So thank you.

Casey Fletcher is an actress that has fallen on some bad luck, let’s say. She is forcibly resigned to her family lake house on Lake Greene in Vermont to lay low, stay away from the paparazzi, and hopefully get her act together; however, the drinks keep flowing and she has no intention of stopping them. This lake has so many memories – some good and bad – but when another famous couple buys the house across the lake from hers, and Casey meets the wife, Katherine, her life takes a turn she did not see coming, resurrecting those bad memories she has tried to drown.

***

I did not know much about this book except that it was a kind of riff on Rear Window, which Sager actually references/acknowledges, but he definitely adds his own twist!

I love Riley Sager and how he walks the thriller and horror line so well. This book really feels like an early Sager to me, where he was a bit more horror than thriller, more high stakes, and I loved it. As my sister brought to my attention, it reminded her a lot of his novel, The Last Time I Lied, which is my favorite of his precious novels.

I am giving this book 5 stars because I devoured it. I could not get enough. I don’t want to say too much about this storyline, but the characters were amazing and I really feel like he did an incredible job taking this Rear Window trope – which we have been a lot lately – and making it his own. So so good. Hats off to you, Riley.

If you are intrigued by this author or haven’t heard of his other novels, my reviews are down below!

HAPPY READING 🙂

(I have every book reviewed besides his first, Final Girls, but trust me when I say I loved it.)

The Last Time I Lied review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2018/07/15/the-last-time-i-lied-by-riley-sager/

Lock Every Door review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2019/08/06/lock-every-door-by-riley-sager/

Home Before Dark review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/home-before-dark-by-riley-sager/

Survive The Night review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2022/07/09/survive-the-night-by-riley-sager/

Genre: Thriller/Horror/Suspense/Mystery

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Book 34 of 2021

My Rating: 5 Stars

Here’s why

I have loved Riley Sager’s writing ever since his first book, Final Girls, was a Book of the Month selection in 2017. Now, back with his fifth novel, Riley had me on my toes the whole time!

Charlie needs to leave Olyphant University ASAP. Nothing her boyfriend, Robbie, can say to make her stay until Thanksgiving break in a few days so she finds herself in front of the Ride Board posting her request. There she meets Josh. He seems friendly enough and wants to leave ASAP, too. But once their drive from New Jersey to Ohio begins, Charlie realizes she hardly knows this person she will be stuck with for hours on end, and the more questions she asks, the more she thinks he might be the root of why she wants to leave school – he might be The Campus Killer.

***

This was such a fun book to read! It took me a second to get into it, but once the setting and characters were established, I was “along for the ride” 😉

Charlie has a really unique character quality that makes her somewhat of an unreliable narrator. She sees movies in her head, or what the psychiatrist told her are “hallucinations,” that alter her reality. When they strike she could be seeing a heightened version of the truth or something completely made up. You can see how this would make her trip with Josh unnerving, unsure if the nuances she is picking up on are real or figments of her active imagination. The other characters – Robbie, Josh, Maddy, and Marge – have positive and negative attributes like all good characters should, and I enjoyed jumping to their perspectives once in a while which rounded out the story well.

I am giving this book 5/5 Stars because I really loved the concept, the twists along the way that made this semi-straightforward plot go places I was not expecting, and of course, the writing style. I also LOVED the ending. The last chapter/epilogue was the perfect cherry on top, which is very “Sager-like.” I can always rely on him to give me something good up until the very last page.

If you have not read a Riley Sager book, I would highly recommend you check them out! They are considered Horror so if that is not your style, make sure you read each synopsis – and my reviews linked down below! – for the one best suited to you!

HAPPY READING 🙂

Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense/Horror

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

Book 28 of 2022

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Here’s why

I grabbed this new release as an Add-on with Book of the Month for my June 2022 box! I was so excited to see her newest release as an option, I’ve been a fan of hers for a few years now thanks to BOTM!

Lizbet Keaton has been a Nantucket resident for the past 15 years, running a popular restaurant called The Deck with her longtime boyfriend. But when their relationship crumbles, Lizbet is ready to focus on the new and applies for the new General Manager position of The Hotel Nantucket. Recently purchased and renovated by billionaire, Xavier Darling, the hotel hasn’t been operational for years and is in dire need of some positive marketing because rumor has it, the hotel is haunted. 100 years ago, a fire killed chambermaid, Grace Hadley, which has shaped the hotel’s reputation ever since. Can Lizbet and her motley crew of good-hearted, charismatic, yet semi-inexperienced staff be able to impress Xavier, it’s occupants, and even more so, Shelly Carpenter, a famous influencer known to make or break a hotel’s future? Plus, will the ghost of Grace Hadley finally Rest In Peace?

***

This book is full of summer love, warmth, sunshine, and good vibes! But it’s also full of heartbreak, hardships, reconciliation, reparations, and more.

I really enjoyed this book and the plot was cute, but I enjoyed the characters the most. They each have their own arc they go through; from beginning to end, every one of them has something they are either working through, or reveal about themselves to each other – and the reader – that fills in their gaps, creating a fully fledged character. Hilderbrand does a great job of balancing the fun that is Nantucket with their personal issues/places of growth.

I am giving this book 4.5 stars because although I really don’t see a fault in it, it didn’t blow me away completely. I devoured it in 2 sittings because I hadn’t had the time the previous days to read at all, but once I was able to sit down, I was hooked. The storyline drew me in and there was even a little bit of mystery as to who this Shelly Carpenter person was, which was a fun treat, too!

Overall, I think Elin Hilderbrand – as well as Beth O’Leary – do a great job of talking about hard situations without losing the positivity and lightness of the storyline. The characters are brought to life in a beautiful, relatable way and I would highly recommend this novel for anyone needing a fun summer read 🙂

I will link my other Elin Hilderbrand reviews down below!

HAPPY READING 🙂

Winter in Paradise (Paradise #1) review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/winter-in-paradise-paradise-1-by-elin-hilderbrand/

What Happens in Paradise (Paradise #2) review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/what-happens-in-paradise-paradise-2-by-elin-hilderbrand/

Troubles in Paradise (Paradise #3) review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2020/11/02/troubles-in-paradise-paradise-3-by-elin-hilderbrand/

The Perfect Couple review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2020/01/02/the-perfect-couple-by-elin-hilderbrand/

Genre: Chick Lit/Contemporary Fiction/Mystery