#Murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil - 4 Stars

 In the sequel to #Murdertrending, there's a new reality game show being launched call Who Wants to be a Paniac? But this time, no one is going to die. Or are they?

Becca is recovering from the death of her mother when a strange girl shows up and tells her that her mother was the notorious Paniac, Molly Mauler. Soon Becca finds herself caught up in the drama of Who Wants to be a Paniac trying to discover who her mom really was. 

I enjoyed this sequel. It was fast paced and kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next. There's one more book in the series, but not sure if I want to read that one or not. 

If I Had Your Face by Francis Cha - 3 Stars

 "Kyuri is an achingly beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a Seoul “room salon,” an exclusive underground bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake threatens her livelihood.

Kyuri’s roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the heir to one of the country’s biggest conglomerates.

Down the hall in their building lives Ara, a hairstylist whose two preoccupations sustain her: an obsession with a boy-band pop star, and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that she hopes will change her life.

And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to have a baby that she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise in Korea’s brutal economy.

Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them."

I had high hopes for this one, but was let down. The story is told from 4 different perspectives and took a while to figure out who was who and how they played into the story. But I really didn't see an outright plot. To me it was just following a few months out of the character's lives. I didn't see a point to the story. 

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner-3 Stars

 "One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive."

I was really wanting some type of major plot twist that didn't happen. It was a good book, but just didn't meet my expectations.

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - 4 Stars

 Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse series

The vamps have been outed for some time and now the weres and shapeshifters have decided to reveal themselves as well. But when someone close to Sookie is murdered in a violent way, she fears it's backlash. She also finds herself in danger when she becomes a pawn in the battle between yet another non-human race.

I enjoyed this book in the series, but then I've enjoyed all of them. LOL! It was fun and quick to read (if I hadn't been trying to move in the middle of reading I could have finished it faster. LOL)

The Secrets of Us by Lucinda Berry-4 Stars (rounded up)

 "Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her.

Scarred by a hard upbringing, Nichole and Krystal managed to construct comfortable lives for themselves. Krystal became a respected lawyer, and Nichole was happily married to an architect—until Nichole starts raving that her husband isn’t her husband, believing that he’s an imposter.

Driven by fierce loyalty, Krystal starts asking questions, but she’s not sure she can bear the answers. Her investigation leads to the sisters’ dark shared past…to a horrible tragedy and a well-guarded lie that cemented their sisterly bond.

But that lie can’t kill the truth—the battered, gasping, clawing truth that’s coming for them both. Now Krystal and Nichole must both fight for the lives they’ve built before they’re consumed by the one they left behind."

The first 3/4 of this book was really good and then it started going down hill really fast. There was one twist at the end that rounded it up for me, but the last part of the book was kind of disappointing to me.

Deconstructed by Liz Talley - 4 Stars

 Cricket's life drastically changes when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. Cricket's plans are to hire a private investigator and an attorney and dish out what her husband deserves. But Cricket's plans go awry and she finds herself, along with her new assistant at work, as the PI, trying to catch her husband in the act. 

This was a cute, funny beach read (even if I didn't read it on the beach...lol). The story was fast paced and was told between the POVs of Cricket and her assistant, Ruby. I felt that Ruby's story intertwined with Cricket's well, too. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 5 Stars

 "For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens."

I surprisingly loved this book. I wasn't sure when I first started if it would be one I'd enjoy, but I did. The author keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next. The story alternates from past to "present" until both timeframes intersect. I flew through the ending of the book, anxious to see what happened.