Peeking Between the Pages

...escape into the pages of a good book

The Woods are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins (Audiobook)

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The Woods are Always Watching is a YA thriller and I quite enjoyed it. It says this book is a companion to There’s Someone Inside Your House which I just got from the library so I’ll listen to it next. Far as I can tell though the stories are stand alone thrillers.

Neena and Josie have been best friends for ages but now Neena is moving away for college. Josie wants the girls to have one last hurrah and something to remember when they’re apart. They decide on a three day hike into a National Forest where people regularly hike. However it isn’t long into the journey before the girls are bickering and long held emotions are coming to the surface. They end up veering off the trail and into unmarked territory. What ensues is everyone’s worst nightmare!

The first half of this book is on the slower side but I found the second half picked up considerably and I didn’t want to stop listening. It was really good on audio. I find tension filled scenes always seem more real to me on audio. The audio is narrated by Reena Dutt and I enjoyed listening to her. All in all a good listen for me and stay tuned for a review on There’s Someone Inside Your House soon.


Review copy provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Past Reads Saturday – The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Audiobook)

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Goodreads Description

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk 

and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

My Thoughts

I am likely in the minority for this one. It was ok for me but not great as it was for others. I think the subject matter extremely important but I found I never really connected with the characters in a way that would have had me more invested in the book. I felt for the people and was horrified at what they went through and I was definitely interested enough to finish the novel. I had listened to the audio which is narrated by Bahni Turpin. I’ve listened to her before and I like her voice and she did a great job of telling this story.

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Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (Audiobook)

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Years ago I read Pillars of the Earth and to this day it remains a favorite read of mine. I absolutely loved it. So when we decided on Fall of Giants for a buddy read in my book club I was really excited. Sometimes I love to settle in with a chunkster of a novel and get fully immersed in it. Well… I’m not with the majority on this one. Maybe I was expecting something more in line with Pillars of the Earth but ultimately this one was only ok for me.

For me I found many of the parts dragged on and I did something I don’t normally do and that’s fast forward my audio. Also I could not connect with the characters. It went back and forth between a few story lines and main characters but none really grabbed me and made me care about what happened to them. There were a few I did like and they were what had me completing the book.

I listened to the audio which comes in at almost thirty-one hours. The narrator is John Lee and truthfully he was only ok for me as well. As I said many have loved this novel so check out other reviews on Goodreads or Amazon. I am glad I finished this one but Pillars of the Earth remains my favorite!


Personal copy

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Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay

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This book starts with a bang. Matt Pine, an NYU student, finds out his whole family has been found dead in Mexico. His parents, his brother and sister – just gone. The police there say it was an accident but the FBI and State Department don’t think so.

Matt doesn’t know what to think. Once again his family is being thrown into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother Danny is currently serving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend and there had been a true crime documentary filmed that involved the family and others that had been involved in the case.

Upon returning to his parents hometown to bury them Matt finds the community less than welcoming. Many are angry over the documentary and the backlash. As well as dealing with the media Matt is trying to find out what really happened to his family and as he uncovers more he finds that his own life is in danger.

Every Last Fear was a good read for me – yes I actually read a book instead of listening to one! There’s a lot going on and it leaves you flipping those pages ever faster to get to the end and the answers. I’m looking forward to Alex Finlay’s newest novel, The Night Shift, which releases on March 1, 2022.


Personal copy

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Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger (Audiobook)

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I’ve read several of Lisa Unger’s books. She’s one of those authors that I always keep an eye out for her next new book. I really enjoyed her last one, Confessions on the 7:45 so I was anxious to listen to this one as well.

The premise is good. A dating app and meeting what you think is the love of your life. This is how Wren meets Adam and she falls hard. She thinks he does too but then he ghosts her. He just disappears like he never existed. Wren isn’t one to let things alone and she discovers that Adam has left some missing girls in his wake. As she delves deeper into finding Adam she also has to address her own troubled past.

I enjoyed the audio. It’s narrated by Vivienne Leheny who I have listened to before. I saw a few reviews of some who didn’t like her as a narrator but I find her very easy to listen to. All in all this was a good book but not great like her last one for me. Still an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.


Personal copy

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Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian (Audiobook)

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Hour of the Witch is a beautifully written historical thriller. Chris Bohjalian has long been an author whose work I love. His books never fail to give me an escape into another world for a while. This one hooked me in right away and I enjoyed every minute!

The year is 1662. Mary Deerfield is a twenty-four year old Puritan woman and second wife to Thomas Deerfield. Thomas is a cruel man especially when he drinks and most often his rage is directed at Mary. Now Mary isn’t your typical obedient wife of the times. She knows it’s wrong to be treated as she is and she isn’t happy. Then Thomas takes it much too far and stabs her with a three-tined fork in her hand. Mary has had enough and proceeds to getting herself a divorce. Well we know what happened in those times. It didn’t take long for women to be accused of witchcraft if they stepped out of line in the slightest. Mary must not only fight the cruelty of the man she married but also of the society in which she lives.

The audio is absolutely amazing and the cast of characters even more so! It is narrated by Grace Experience, Saskia Maarleveld, Danny Campbell, Cassandra Campbell, Arthur Morey, Mark Deakins, Julia Whelan, Kaleo Griffith, Kirby Heyborne, Rebecca Lowman, and Mark Bramhell. Several of these narrators are my favorites and I’ve listened to them numerous times but really they were all great. What an awesome listening experience! You are literally taken back in time because they talk just as they would have then. Hour of the Witch will be in my top ten list for this year. I really enjoyed it!



Review copy provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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