What Lies Within - James Morris

Goodreads summary:

“You’re going to die”

Shelley Marano is an ordinary, unexceptional high school senior…until the day she receives a cryptic text message, and her world tilts sideways. Now she’s in real danger, although she doesn’t know who would want her dead, or why. As she starts to unravel the mystery, the truth about who she really is proves to be more frightening than she ever imagined. With the lives of her and her friends hanging in the balance, one thing is certain:

Nothing will ever be the same.

Packed with suspense, What Lies Within is a page-turning, plot-driven rollercoaster ride that fans of Stephen King, James Patterson and Rick Yancey will be sure to enjoy.


My review:

3.5/5

First of all, I need to say that I have excuses to make to the author, James Morris, because I received this book ages ago and I promised that I would read and review really quickly, which I didn't do (I had to say it, I feel really bad about it).

I truly should have picked this book up earlier, because it made me realize that I could truly enjoy thrillers. I'm kind of scared of everything, so I usually pick up the least scary novels I can find, which excludes thrillers, obviously. When I started reading this, I got so lost in the story that I even forgot to feel scared. It's also not the scariest thriller, which I think helped me.

I really liked Shelley, the main character. She was easy to relate to and she became more and more interesting as the story progressed. I also liked her best friend, Winston, even though I wasn't sure if I liked their friendship as much as I liked them separately.

As for the plot, I won't even mention it, because it's something that I wasn't expecting at all and that no one would expect, in my opinion, so I'd rather not spoil anyone. I was pleasantly surprised, even though I believe the book could have had more elements and been longer.

I recommend this novel to anyone, because it made me question myself a lot and I opened up to this genre.

Hearts, Fingers and Other Things to Cross (Broken Hearts and Revenge #3) - Katie Finn

Goodreads summary:

WEATHER ALERT: SEVERE STORMS AHEAD

Gemma and Hallie's world has come to a screeching halt. Their parents are engaged, which makes them step-sisters. Nothing in the world could possibly be worse for Gemma and Hallie--they won't let it happen. Even if it means putting their own feud aside to separate their parents.

Events quickly escalate as a hurricane rips through the Hamptons leaving everyone (including Gemma's two exes, her current crush, best friend, and her nemesis) bottled up in one house. One big, miserable group of exes and enemies together allow secrets to unfold and plans to be plotted. The calm before this storm definitely doesn't exist.

Katie Finn pulls out all the stops for this fast-paced, dramatic conclusion in the Broken Hearts and Revenge series, Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross.


My review:

3/5

As the last book in a YA series, I think that this book was good, but not exceptional.

As childish as they can be, I liked reuniting with the characters, which are all funny and interesting. I think that some of them finally grew up, which was a bit of a relief, because the previous book, as well as the first half of this one, made me roll my eyes in exasperation at some things that the characters were doing or saying. It was nice to see them grow up as the series progressed.

I'm really happy that this book has a resolution for most of the issues encountered during the previous books. Overall, I don't feel like anything new happened; instead, I feel like everything I was more or less expecting happened, which was not a bad feeling. Some people made peace, some confessions were said and some relationships started or ended, but there wasn't any big finale, which was a bit disappointing, but not surprising, considering everything that needed to happen in such a short amount of pages. It wasn't too predictable, but I feel like it would be even better for younger readers.

I'm satisfied with the end of this series, so I'd definitely recommend it to younger (or even older) readers.