nomadreader

The backstory:   Marlena  is Julie Buntin's first novel. The basics:   "The story of two girls and the wild year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades." My thoughts: Marlena  consumed me as I read it. It opens in the present day, where we meet Cat. This glimpse into the present felt brief, but I soon realized the real action of this novel is in the past. Initially, I found myself hungering to return to the present, which is at least partly do to my fascination with knowing how things end because figuring out how characters move from the past to the present (or future) fascinates me. But as this novel went on, I found myself much less invested in present Cat, which surprised me. Buntin is a gifted writer, and she made me love reading about teenage angst in a way I haven't enjoyed in years. She made me prefer a teen storyline to an adult storyline. At times, she even made me remember my teen years with fondness, "Everyone has a se...

The backstory: The Last Good Girl  is the fifth title in Allison Leotta's mystery series featuring D.C. D.A. Anna Curtis. This series is one of my favorites: starting with her debut mystery  Law of Attraction , continuing with the e-short story  Ten Rules for a Call Girl ,  and the novels  Discretion ,   Speak of the Devil , and A Good Killing . The basics:  "Emily, a [first-year student] at a Michigan university, has gone missing. She was last seen leaving a bar near Sigma Pi, the prestigious and secretive fraternity known on campus as “the rape factory.” The main suspect is Dylan Brooks, the son of one of the most powerful politicians in the state. But so far the only clues are pieced-together surveillance footage of Emily leaving the bar that night…and Dylan running down the street after her." My thoughts: Leotta jumps into the campus sexual assault crisis in a major way with The Last Good Girl. If you've read Missoula  ( my review ) or ...

The backstory: This spring I've flown through all of Allison Leotta's Anna Curtis series, starting with her debut mystery  Law of Attraction , and continuing with the e-short story  Ten Rules for a Call Girl , and the novels  Discretion , and Speak of the Devil . With this week's publication of A Good Killing , I'm left waiting for Leotta to write more and pondering which mystery series I'll dig into next. The basics: A Good Killing  opens shortly after the events of Speak of the Devil . A frantic phone call from a friend in Anna's Michigan hometown alerting Anna to the death of their town's beloved football couch. Her sister, Jody, is the lead suspect. Anna flees for Holly Grove to help Jody and escape the chaos of her life. My thoughts: A Good Killing  is a departure from the earlier Anna Curtis novels in many ways. I'm so glad Leotta changed things up with this novel, given the state of Anna's life in D.C. Perhaps the timing was convenient, ...