Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Romance, Halloween Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I love Carlisle’s romances because they feel like they’re focused on a theme or aim alongside the romances, and this one is a fun one with a Halloween decorating competition. I’ve always loved Halloween and decorating for the holiday so it was fun to watch Lila and Grady construct the elaborate scenes. The small town element also feels relatable as someone who’s family is from small towns with everyone knowing everyone else’s business and I liked the banter between all the townspeople as well as Lila and Grady. I also loved Beetlejuice with the judgy looks and the perfectly terrible timing, he added an extra element to the romance. Favourite Quote: “A good scare is a gift. It's the safest fear you'll ever feel. You scream, and then you laugh, because your body just found out the monster was foam, and for one second, everything that's a...
Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Thriller Thoughts: This book has quite an interesting story, the wintery small village makes an eerie setting for a murder as it feels more idyllic and romantic than violent and scary. Seeing the murder of Bakary through the murderers’ wife instead of the victim or the murderer themself gives the book a different feel and also leads to us as outsiders considering what we may have done in those circumstances. The crime itself is unsettling as there’s layers of race, and prejudice as well as crime and finances. It’s also interesting that the further into the facts of the case we go the more the murderer also becomes a victim of another crime. Reading the authors note, I didn’t know anything about the case before and I’m not sure how much of the book is supposed to be true to the real crime and how many are fictionalised to make the story up. Favourite Quote: “I don't know if we're all capable of killing with as much as savagery as you had. I still don'...