PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and Ana Reyes provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for January 03, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine. Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they'd been spending time with all summer. Again, I felt that the awkwardly incorporated religious themes (Jairo’s book) and nature themes (Silver Lake as a metaphor for Maya’s healing) would have worked better if this book had been edited and marketed as a different type of book. In the past, Maya goes to look for Frank at his parent’s house. His father is vague about where Frank is and Maya asks if he is at the cabin. Frank brought her there and said she was the only one he ever brought there. He asked her to defer college and live with him in the cabin forever. Prior to becoming a mom myself, I would stay up late reading books here and there with no issue. Now I try not to read too late as I need that sleep to chase a toddler around, haha. However, I had to know how this story would end so I found myself breaking my rule and staying up to read to the end. So that’s a big endorsement there!

The House in the Pines Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary

Maya recalls (not sure if in the past or present) that her mom (Brenda) met her dad and his family on a church trip to Guatemala. Maya’s grandparents were Brenda’s host parents. Brenda and Jairo fell in love and she got pregnant, but then he died, shot by the Guatemalan army. If you could please stop being so cute and coming off as such a nice, friendly person to make it easier for me to avoid your terrible book club selections I would really appreciate it. If you can’t do that, then when it comes to the options you select for us to read, I’m telling you . . . . . In the 1980s, Oren Bellamy was conducting a sketchy psychological research study. He was using hypnotherapy to take over patients’ entire involuntary nervous system. I love literary symbolism, but in this book it feels thrown in there haphazardly: ghosts, holy spirits/religion, nature, drugs, art, gaslighting, abuse, hypnosis. All we need is a TikTok video that makes you drop dead after watching it. Thanks for stopping by my Spoiler Discussion for the House in the Pines! How did Maya’s addiction impact her credibility, if at all? As the novel went on, did Maya’s credibility change for you? If so, what was the turning point?

At her mom’s house, Maya finds the book her father was writing and recalls that she put it away after Aubrey’s death as she found it too upsetting to read. I believe in the unique abilities of human brain and how it could be manipulated but some parts of the explanations about events seem a little illogical for me!

The Place Beyond the Pines - Rotten Tomatoes The Place Beyond the Pines - Rotten Tomatoes

Weekend Box Office Results: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scores Monster Opening Link to Weekend Box Office Results: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scores Monster Opening This was a book I had high hopes for, but it failed to wow me. I put this in the liked but didn't love category. The author does a good job looking at addiction and memory. This book was atmospheric which I love in books, but again, I thought this was just ok at best. It was a little slow and when the reveal happened, I wasn't overly excited about it. The best part of this book for me was the atmosphere the author created. Somehow I find it funny (in a good way) that Maya’s “for you” Youtube recommendations are the inciting incident of this book.Maya shows the Youtube video to her boyfriend, Dan. He points out that the girl who died looks like Maya. Maya’s aunt Lisa had a severe mental illness and self-medicated with vodka and drugs. She died in her 20s. And I liked it! While not a perfect story, there’s actually quite a bit of depth and I was so interested in where the story would go. I truly had no idea and just went along for the ride. Sometimes I think it’s more fun to be completely surprised by thrillers rather than guessing all the key reveals. What’s the Story About