Hello, reader!

As a book blogger, my eternal struggle is not only trying to read ALL THE BOOKS, but keeping up with my reviews once I have read them. Before I started this blog, I thought the reviews would be the simple part. After all, I was already posting reviews on Goodreads. How different could it be?

Hahaha, oh past-me… I never realized how much more thought goes into a review I’m planning on putting on my little blog as opposed to Goodreads! How in-depth do I wanna go? Do I want to put all my reviews here or just the good ones? Does everything I read get a full review? And, if not, how do I decide what gets a full review and what doesn’t?

Clearly, I have enough thoughts there to fill up an entirely different post, lol. All this to say, I have fallen behind on reviews recently because I was stressing myself trying to write full, in-depth reviews for each and every book I read. And, to be honest, it was doing me in. Sometimes, even if I enjoy a book, I just don’t have that much to say. Thus, we’re bringing back the mini-review! Not only will it help me catch up on books to review (because, to be clear, I do want to review every book I’ve read on Goodreads, even if it’s a short one) but I think it will help with my blogging-related stress levels 😅😂

That being said, and with us heading deeper into October, I thought this mini-review edition was perfect! I’ll be talking about three mystery/thrillers I read recently which you might also enjoy during these spooky times. Let’s jump in!

---

Ahh, Gone Girl. I wasn’t sure how well I would enjoy reading a mystery/thriller where I already knew the major plot twist. Would I find it bland as I already knew what was going on? Would I find it predictable through no fault of its own? I’m happy to report that, even knowing (one of) the twist(s), this book still managed to shock me and keep me on the edge of my seat!

Mostly through hatred.

Because I hated EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK! Nick is terrible. Amy is a sociopath. The detectives made me want to punch several things. Just… not a single character in this book was likeable. And that made the story even more fascinating! I just had to know what terrible thing these terrible people were going to do to each other next.

I can see why this book is as popular as it is. With the breakneck twists and the compelling (if horrible) characters, this one was hard to put down! I’m glad I finally gave it a chance and read it.

---

I’ve owned this book for a hot minute and, yet, it’s the second Karen M. McManus book I’ve read. I read Two Can Keep a Secret awhile ago and found myself really enjoying it! It kept me guessing until the end and I do love when a thriller can surprise me. So, after getting on so well with her sophomore novel, I decided to finally give her debut a try.

Though I did manage to ferret out the twist in One of Us Is Lying, this was still a fast-paced and thrilling ride! The story was interesting and I enjoyed the Breakfast-Club-but-with-murder vibes to the whole thing. The characters were interesting to read about and had a lot of depth, which I appreciate in a mystery/thriller. And, even though I guessed whodunit, the reveal was still masterfully done!

This book was an intense, quick read that I’m glad I finally got around to picking up. I can’t wait to not only read the sequel, One of Us Is Next, but McManus’ newest book, The Cousins. I think Karen M. McManus is quickly becoming a favorite, ngl.

---

Imma be perfectly honest right now and say that I picked this book up mostly because of it’s gorgeous cover. I mean… look at it! I’ll also say that the only other book I’ve read by this author, Gods of Jade and Shadow, was solidly in the “okay” category for me. So I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect as I started this one.

(I’m also kiiiind of cheating with this one as it’s more so “horror” as opposed to a “mystery/thriller” but… 🤷🏾‍♀️)

Thankfully, Mexican Gothic was just the right mix of weird, creepy, gothic horror for me! When I tell you there were multiple times when I physically shuddered… This book will get under your skin in the best of ways! Well… if you like to be scared, that is 👻 Also, this book validated my absolute hatred of mushrooms. Seriously, though… check the trigger and content warnings for this one because there are some scenes that made me a little nauseous and I have a pretty strong stomach for horror.

I thought the pacing of this one was impeccable. I enjoyed our main character, Naomi, and the fact that she wasn’t some tough-as-nails badass but she still did what she needed to do to help her cousin. The other characters felt a little flat to me, but they still played their parts wonderfully. And the setting was just perfectly gothic! I loved the atmosphere of this book, even when it was making me shudder. All in all, this was a great book and it would definitely be a perfect read for this time of year!

---

And there we have it: three creepy books I’ve read recently finally reviewed! Are you planning on reading any of these during spooky season? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!