truth could not be redefined. 
truth was what it was. 
the simple task of finding the truth was complicated only by the haystacks of lies you had to sort through to find the shiny needle

published: 2020
pages: 369
heard: 5/16-25/2020
book: 39 in 2020

A mother, a boy and a desperate battle against the night. 

Woody Bookman hasn't spoken a word in his 11 years of life. not when his father died in a freak accident, not when his mother Megan tells him she loves him. 

For Megan, keeping her boy safe and happy is what matters. But Woody believes a monstrous evil is behind his father's death and now threatens him and his mother. And he's not along in his thoughts. An ally unknown to him is listening. 

Woody's fearful suspicions are taking shape. A malicious man driven by evil has set a depraved plan into motion. And he's coming after Woody and his mother. The reasons are primal. His powers are growing. And he's not alone.  


THOUGHTS
oh, Dean Koontz. how i love you so. 
there is nothing that i can say about this man that i haven't already said. (i haven't said a lot about him on here because i discovered blogging years after i'd read like 80 something of his books!) anyway....

after ordering the book before its release date and then waiting for maybe more than a month, my book finally made it over to me! (i ordered it through book depository because i loved that cover more than the og one..but i did not pay that much!) and i could not wait to dive in. 

I wish that i could say that i remember a lot of his older books that I've read but alas, i do not because i have the memory of a goldfish BUT this dude has done a good job of shaking things up and making me remember more than i would on my own. and it was his own post about this book that made me remember a lot more than i would have on my own in regards to his past books. and i can say that what he says about this book is just about right; this is Dean Koontz doing what he does best. telling you a goddamn good story, taking you back to his roots while also giving you something new. 

i do not read Stephen King because I am chicken shit so when i found Dean Koontz all those years ago, i was able to read everything because his stories to me seem a bit more far fetched. sure, a car named Christine can't really run me over but a car in general can. lol...and carrie!? oof. 

anyway, i'm getting away from the point. 
THIS BOOK! 

honestly, i have no idea why it took me so long to read it (like days wise) but i'm not mad about it. i feel like i was able to take it all in more than if i would have rush read through it in a day or two (or three realistically). 
all in all, this is a typical Dean Koontz book. an air of mystery, some supernatural science-y stuff and dogs! whats not to love! 

i don't know really what i was expecting and if im being honest i really only skimmed the synopsis like i always do but i liked what i got. 
at the end of it all this story is about hope and given everything that's going on right now, who doesn't want some of that? 
especially because it involves dogs!? (i wont delve further into that here because it is a bit of a spoiler). 

whats not to love about this story? 
Megan and her love for her child. the strength that she possesses to continue to move forward. The fact that Rosa finds happiness. BAE AF Ben *swoon!*. KIPP! and Woody. 
....and then the bad guys! woo this one was a doozy. 

this book is old school Dean giving you those vibes where things that cant really happen in real life do happen in his story. (i mean, im assuming....im not a scientist) and in the end it all ties up nicely. yea sure, some things might be a bit unbelievable but its still so good! 

basically no matter what i write on here, it will not serve this book the justice it deserves so just go read it. 
....and i wanna move on, so ill leave it here. 

but yes! good read, good purchase. glad i own this one. 

thanks for reading. 
jump over for spoilers. 
ooooh! also!!!! new Dean Koontz book in October!!!!! im soooo eggcited!!!!


SPOILERS


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Lee Shackett is on the run because the building he used to run in Utah has blown up killing 92 (or 96) people. while people thought it was a cancer research building, he knows the truth. 
he's ready to run away and make a life of his own in Costa Rica. but out of nowhere, he starts thinking about Megan (they dated very briefly before she married Jason). he calls her and lets her know that he is going to Costa Rica and wants him to go but of course she tells him no. 
he gets pissed and vows to make her pay. 
on the way, he runs into a couple while the dude is changing a tire and he ends up shooting him dead and after a chase, he ends up cannibalizing the woman. he eats her face and breast. 

he finally makes it to Megans house. given what he wants to do to her (and given how he is evolving) he's surprisingly patient and waits until she goes to bed to attack her. 
its finally around almost midnight when he gets frustrated and says fuck it, ill go get the kid. so he goes to Woody's room and starts talking shit to him and touching his face. Woody of course being autistic and never having spoken says nothing. 
Megan is getting ready to go to sleep when she remembers that she didnt unlock her weapon from the side of the bed and when she does, she notices that its in the wrong way. she notices its empty, she panics and reloads. she walks to Woodys room and sees Shackett in there with him. 
they end up in a shoot off and long story short, Shackett escapes through the window. 
he ends up coming back to get his gun that he left in the kitchen and goes back up to Woody's room to try to get back in. buuuuuuuut because Megan has alarms on the windows, the alarm company calls her and she lets them know that there is a man in the house. Shackett would have succeeded in breaking in had he not heard the sirens. 

in another part of the story, Kipp's owner Dorothy has passed away. 
he doesnt need to be in the house anymore. 
he is a special dog. he can communicate with other dogs like him through the wire. 
Woody has somehow made it into the wire. 
so now that Dorothy has passed Kipp takes it upon himself to go look for the boy. 
he makes it to a park, ends up being taken by the forest ranger dude who is an abusive dog breeder but Ben breaks into the office just as Frank (the dick head) is trying to beat Kipp with a belt. 
Ben saves him...shit happens....they end up in a motel cause Ben was tired AF and Kipp passes out. but he awakens to Woody's distress. 
they take off and head to Woody's home. 

Rosa was Dorothy's caretaker. 
she had a rough upbringing. 
upon Dorothy's passing, Rosa learns that a) Kipp is a special AF dog that she is responsible for and b) that she's now helllllaaaaa rich. 
she has noticed that Kipp was missing so she's out searching for him. 

when Shackett escaped, he hid in the forest. 
2 officers were sent to look for him and they found him. 
he basically almost ate one of them. 
they manage to detain him and they keep him in the psychic ward restrained. they think they can keep him in there but he is strong as fuck. he breaks out, kills 2 more people and takes off in a car. 

Ben makes it to Megan's house, they get acquainted, Rosa makes it there as well (there was a tracking device on Kipps collar thing) and then someone else comes along the driveway....the coroner, Carson. (im skipping a lot here. by this point he knows what Shackett is). 
he lets them know about Shackett. they're worried but there are guards all around the house since the cops know that that's most likely where he will end up. 

we learn that since Kipp arrived at the house he was able to communicate with Woody and now Woody who hasn't spoken in 11 years is talking. 
you learn that Woody hacked into Dorian Purcells computer and has written a paper on how Dorian killed his father a long with others but also what he's doing. ...and all this other incriminating shit. the third time that Woody hacked in, the bad guys knew he wasnt who he was claiming to be. they warned him that they knew and that they would find him. 
so everyone isn't worried about Shackett per se but the bad guys. 

the main cop of this story is bought so at the request of Tio Barbazon (which i think is Dorian...i might have missed that one but i dont think so because i think it states that he declared to be innocent at the end...anyway..) at his request he removes security from Megs. 

in Pineheaven where Megan lives, they wait a few hours until the bad guys arrive. 
and when they do, the good guys (Megan and Ben and all them)  attack....WITH DOGS!  (lol im doing a bad job here) 
the bad guys panic, they get attacked and in the long run, Ben (and everyone else) lets them go. theyre all wtf? but Ben is like byye and in the end, they all kill each other. well they all die in a house fire that they planted themselves but not after two of them went after each other and then the one went and locked the other two in the basement. 

anyway, Shackett. 
he ran away from the hospital. 
everyone thought he was going to go after Megan but in reality, he went after Dorian. 
Dorian is the reason that Shackett is the way he is. 
see Dorian was experimenting with (i dont remember what its called and i of course cant find it in the book) making humans more powerful by using some Virus type of thing. he just wanted to be powerful AF. seeing Shackett, he realizes that maybe its not his turn in this lifetime to be almighty. 
Shackett kills him and then i guess because biologically Shackett cant handle it, he also dies. 

in the end, Ben and Meg end up married. 
Rosa and Carson end up dating. 
Kipp finds his other half. and everyone ends up happily ever after!


i did a bad job of explaining it all correctly (and maybe even in order) but trust me! its good!   
53003715. sy475 
My first instinct is to refute her, but shutting someone else's feelings down doesn't make them go away.
published: 2020 
pages
: 330
read: 5/9-10/2020
book: 38 in 2020


His opinion of me is tainted by prejudice even before my arrival at his grandmother’s estate, and my first impression of him is just as abysmal.

His arrogance and icy demeanor make it clear that he’s the type of man who’s best handled at a distance.

Fortunately, space shouldn’t be an issue inside this Gilded Age mansion and its lush gardens. If I stick with the servants and he keeps to his sailboat and vintage Porsche, we should hardly cross paths at all. Unfortunately, at Rosethorn, I find that all roads eventually lead to Nicholas Hunt.

Sparks fly as we spar at the dinner table. Fighting words are flung in the shadows of the palatial halls.

We hang suspended in our hatred of one another, painfully oblivious to the heat and tension that build with every moment we’re left alone. We’re liable to kill one another, I think…right up until my eyes land on his lips and a new feeling grips hold of me: lust.

What’s worse?
He knows it.

They say you should keep your enemies close, but when Nicholas tightens his grip on my waist and draws me near, I’m not sure if it’s out of loathing or love.

One thing’s for sure—I intend to find out.

THOUGHTS 
another RS grey for the books. 
(the "i read another one of her books" books so to speak) 

this one was okay. it wasnt bad but its not a fave of mine. 
i feel like its missing a little bit of spice or something. idk. 
im glad i read it before my unlimited kindle expires and i might try to get another one in but as far as this one goes: a) the woman on the cover is gorgeous!!!! b) the story was good but it definitely lacks i think the usual RS Grey vibe that i've come to know.
it all happens fast, too. if that makes any sense. 
like one minute: grrrrr and then the next *kissing noises* 
i don't know....there's just too many questions as far as why her? just because of the other lady in the home? maybe i'm just over the poor girl meeting a rich handsome dude trope? idk 
....either way, i still prefer this one over make me bad. gah. 

anyway, so yea.

i don't really have much else to say, i gotta get to work 

thx for reading!
jump over for spoilers
"I don't think we have the kind of control that we think we do." 

published: 2017
pages: 190
read: 5/4-5/2020
book: 37 in 2020

Natalie and Dan were electric from the moment they met. Witty banter and sizzling chemistry made falling in love easy—even inevitable. He was in awe of her subversive art and contagious zest for life; she was drawn to his good-guy charm and drive to succeed as a documentary filmmaker.

But that was before. Before hot tempers turned to blowout fights. Before a few little lies turned to broken trust. Before a hundred tiny slights broke them open and exposed the ugly truth of their relationship.

And now Natalie wants Dan to know just how much he broke her.

Over the course of one fateful day, Dan reads sixteen letters that Natalie has secretly, brilliantly hidden in places only he will find. And as he pieces together her version of their love story, he realizes that she has one final message for him. One that might just send his carefully constructed life tumbling down.



THOUGHTS 
uhh...
hmmm.....
what to say.
well, I didn't hate the book, I didn't dislike it and i'm not mad I read it.
I was actually super into it but then I had to go to sleep cus work and I think if you're going to give this one a go, it's better as a 1 sitting read. (super short, 190 page read.) Just easier to get it all out of the way.

the synopsis is a biiiiit of a lie.
maybe the point of the story was never to see them in love but only to see the how and why of the relationship going bad and if that's the case, then success. ......I'll word it that way.
there really is no love in this story. So let's just get that out of the way.
I know it's a ya book or whatever but before the truth comes out, i was getting gone girl vibes from Nat. My thoughts were "this bitch is crazy." .....in the end,  I was wrong for assuming that but Natalie was still nuts , I think.  It takes an inordinate amount of patience to get revenge like she does (or maybe I just truly am 100% lazy as fuck). And I understand why she would want revenge given what happened but to me, the payback/revenge feels more like "you fucked me over but I'll fuck you over worse." Like she just wanted to end the relationship being the one on top.
tbh, from here on out it might get a bit  SPOILERY so stop if ya don't want to know.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dan gets 16 letters from Natalie through out 1 day.
any ol regular ass day?
Nope.
its probably one of the most important up to date days of his life.
See he's making a film about Ryan and his next move in life given that he's a child with down syndrome (I think, i could be wrong so don't quote me). He's recorded everything and this day is Ryan's graduation;  the last piece Dan needs for his film.
...but of course Nat shits all over it.
(Dan is a teacher's aide and Ryan was his fave student.)
Through out the 16 letters you learn about their downfall and his betrayal but then the final straw; the ultimate betrayal.  (He asked her to let him film them having sex and she did...he saved it on his computer labeled it some dumb shit and then accidentally sent it to two other dudes. One of the dudes showed it to his gf or whatever. Natalie does say she was hurt because of it but it's not clear if it spread out to other people....although maybe that's for you to interpret? There is a part where Nats mom emails her dad and asks for advice in regards to finding a therapist because Nats all depressed.....your call.)
I can't say that anything Dan did is justifiable but Natalie also isn't a saint.
She starts the story off as a "goody good" girl and ends up sharing just the same amount of lies and deceit in the relationship. (Although,  Dan def was a dick.)
They might not have done the same things but they're both at fault.
Dan ends up "accidentally" fucking Natalie over but then Natalie gets payback.
and in the end, yes Dan hurt Natalie but her revenge just comes off as "if you're going to fuck me over, I'm going to fuck you over worse. I will end up on top."
(Though if you think about it, both their fuck ups compliment each other: he accidentally releases a video of her and she purposefully destroys a video of his).
And that's really it.
I mean there's another part with Dan's best friend Ruby buuut eh.
If I stop to think about the overallness of the book then yea, it works.
Here Natalie was doubting Dan over 1 girl when she was actually focusing on the wrong girl and then you learn that it was all over an accidental sex tape release.
.....

A N Y W A Y 

It's not the greatest plot but it can stand to have sustenance if ya don't over think it.
Overall, the book only cost me $1.94 so I don't feel bad about buying it and I don't feel bad about possibly leaving in a little free library.
this book does remind me of that other book "why we broke up" which I did end up dnf'ing......so I'm wondering why this one worked out for me like that one did not. 

soooo, yea.
no spoilers cause i basically spoiled it all up above. 

thanks for reading!

* i wrote all these posts before i updated my blog and before blogger itself updated so that's why there's like 100 different fonts. 
i know. i hate it. 
but im almost caught up and hopefully when i start new posts, it'll look cohesive. 
 
In the meantime, read more carefully. you never know what good things you might have missed. 

published: 2020
pages: 404
heard: 4/28 - 5/3/2020
book: 36 in 2020

Point B is the story of one clever and occasionally determined young woman seeking both love and vengeance, but hardly ready for those two missions to intersect. It takes you to Vietnam, Hollywood, Singapore, Tokyo, inland Mexico, Oxford, the Maldives, Cuba, the coast of Northeast Australia, and ALL points beyond. You will find yourself plunged into a borderless, chaotic, oddly miraculous world that is ruled by a single bloodless corporation, and by a family determined to keep it that way. But PortSys never expected Anna Huff, and Anna Huff never expected love to make her this daring.

THOUGHTS 
i have this thing where I'm ride or die for Drew even though prior to this book, I've only read The Hike (and since then, The Rover)....and i can see why. 

i read this story because i got a notification from Amazon that this was released through them (what's up with that? did amazon buy out all the authors!?) and i saw that people were saying that this was a funny read. so i thought i'd give it a go. 
it was funny. and it had some really good points but i also somehow wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it was in some parts. 
maybe that's why it took me a while to read this. i thought i was going to finish it before May started..
...and i was wrong about that. 
(side note: don't take my word for it when i say this is a heavy read. because its not HEAVY, i just am not one to read heavy subject books so when something unpleasant is happening i'm already on high alert. others might read this and be able to breeze by it all without any issues.)

this is different from The Hike in that i actually know what's going on with this one (lol). there were parts that i wasnt into like the side articles and now im wondering if they really needed to be in there at all (like the whole Mt. Everest debacle) but in the end it adds up and i guess its there to show you the way things could go wrong.

i do wish we could have gotten a more broader ending including everyone that was involved but i do understand that this book was about Anna so it was a proper ending and i understand it ending the way it did. and even if it didn't end including everyone, i did really love all of the supporting cast who made this story even more wonderful. 

i should note that this book is about teleportation and it takes place in 2032. 
2 0 3 2 ! ! ! ! !
that's 12 years from now!
i know it's not possible. at least not yet anyway, but i think that's kinda what freaked me out. because we're currently going through shit with Covid (and yes, i know they are nothing alike!) but Magary doesn't shy away in showing just how corrupt those with power can be and how the planet can and (most likely) will suffer from such invention. 
it's a lot to take in. 
in general, i am a worrier so this book had me all over the place. 
but it's still a good (and funny) read. 

i highlighted a bunch of things off of this book so if there was a physical book out there, i would definitely buy it. 
DM is definitely an auto buy author for me.  

ill do basic spoilers if you're interested. 
thanks for reading!
22024614
most of us are good. most of us mean well. but we somehow manage to hurt each other anyway. don't ask me why.
.
.

published: 2014
pages: 23
heard: 4/28/2020
book: 35 in 2020


SYNOPSIS
Something has landed in Armie Puglian's yard. Something not from here. What is it? What's it looking for? And what happens when Armie decides to keep it?

THOUGHTS
wtf did i just listen to? 
i mean, i know what i heard i just don't know what i'm supposed to make out of it.
this rover robot thing lands in Armies yard, he rescues it, he takes it over to his bff Harry's house to help him replace its messed up wheel and the thing ends up blasting a whole ass hole right through Harry. 
Armie escapes with it and is on the run until he hits a bridge and he gets out with it. 
he ends up dropping it in the ocean and the cop dude hits him right in the chest. 
and he ends up dying watching his little homie swim away while he imagines the cop dude wiping the smile off his face as he shoots him in the head. 

.....and that was it? 

maybe the point of the story was something along the lines of like "having something to live / die for"?

idk. 
but it was a quick listen to so, hey!

still love The Hike tho! 
and i just started another book of his!  

....and so yea, that's it. 
no spoilers cause, well i just spoiled it all up above! 

I could never go back, could I? My Memories had to be my home now. That was all I could take with me. 
 
thanks for reading!

*armie drives a red honda and he named her Rhonda and that just about killed me because of cuteness. random but i thought i should note it. lol 
"Now I know how much worse things can be."

published: 2020
pages: 340
read: 4/25-26/2020
book: 34 in 2020

SYNOPSIS
You probably know someone like Shay Miller.
She wants to find love, but it eludes her.
She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end.
She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated.

You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters.
They have an unbreakable circle of friends.
They live the most glamorous life.
They always get what they desire.

Shay thinks she wants their life.
But what they really want is hers.

THOUGHTS
eh.
this was an okay read.

the one good thing i can say is that I'm not mad i read it, which I've said before...."I wouldve been okay never having read this."
that's not the case here.

I can see why a lot of people like it.
I can also see why some people, myself included are in the "eh" boat about it.
Y'all know I love a good spoiler and in this books case, I found 3 before I was done. I'm 100% sure that had I not read them, I would have maaaaaaybe liked the book better but I'm going to argue that that's not the case here.
See, the one major spoiler, aside from the obvious one, was pretty freaking good. But I think my beef with this book lies in the simple fact that it is 340 pages long and you get the main spoiler on I think something like page 330.
Bro, you're left with 10 pages after that.
And like 2 or 3 of them are epilogue.....so there's not a lot left once you know which means the ending was just basic af.
And actually, yes, it was.
I love an open ended ending...when it's done good.
and so you can see where I'm going with this.

this book is told in 3 parts. The first 2 & a half read like the entire show that is Arrested Development. Shay is at a place at the wrong time. I cant really say wrong place because she "was sposed" to be there but basically from that point on, the same story line is going on and everyone is doing the same exact thing or trying to get to the same thing but since no one is communicating honestly about their actions, they're all getting to the end point in very different/deceiving ways.
....and then the rest.....well its sloppy...its about...well I dont want to spoil it here but you can see it start to fall apart. and actually, it was never really that clean anyway.
These were some amateur women doing some very sloppy work.

I guess in the end I wasnt a huge fan because it just....ends. it takes A LOT of work (330 pages) to get the result. And it was great but it wasnt 340 pages great.
it only took me two days to read if only because I did not want to wake up to continue reading it a third.

I'm just glad i finally got it off my bookshelf.
..oooh! And I found a typo, so that was fun.

jump over for spoilers!
thanks for reading!