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aiyam's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Genuinely if I hadn’t been bored with nothing else to do I would’ve put this down within the first chapter.
The story vaguely makes no sense and the plot twist is weird and poorly thought out. There is no “gotcha” moment it’s more like “why would anyone write that”. I cannot think of one redeeming factor here but you know what it was a book so. One star I guess.
The story vaguely makes no sense and the plot twist is weird and poorly thought out. There is no “gotcha” moment it’s more like “why would anyone write that”. I cannot think of one redeeming factor here but you know what it was a book so. One star I guess.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
bekah1210's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
megwilli's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol
diannasbooks's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book exceeded my expectations and ended up being a blast to read. The story is told in two distinctive points of view by alternating narrators. This is a psychological thriller where the reader is following a woman, Grace Evans, who in an effort to take some time away from her busy life, books an Airbnb stay at a farm in remote Montana. Grace's host is the rugged and alluring Calvin Wells. Grace's priority is putting herself first and she isn't looking for a hook-up, but you never know what might happen.
Both Grace and Calvin are interesting and the way they narrate their side of the story is so well done. The reader has a general idea that something's not quite right on Calvin's property, but the story doesn't make it easy for the reader to be sure of who's at risk and who's the danger. There are also a number of secondary and peripheral characters that bring more dimension to the story and complicate what's happening.
In reading this one, I had suspicions, and changed my mind, and suspected different people of being bad actors and having bad intentions. I got frustrated with my girl Grace a few times in thinking she was an idiot, but I got over that as the story progressed. It was a fast read because of the quick chapters and hard to put down because at the end of each chapter I was anxious to find out what happened next. It's best to go into reading this story with as little information as possible and enjoy the ride, right up to the end!
Keep in mind, as one of the lines in the book says, "That was the thing about point of view. You saw things the way they presented themselves, but that didn't make them true."
I listened to the audiobook, and it was a treat having two different narrators: a female, Andi Arndt, reading Grace's chapters and a male, Andrew Eiden, reading Calvin's chapters. I thought they both captured the characters personalities so well and even brought a touch of playfulness at the right times in the story. Highly recommend listening to this one if you like audio.
Both Grace and Calvin are interesting and the way they narrate their side of the story is so well done. The reader has a general idea that something's not quite right on Calvin's property, but the story doesn't make it easy for the reader to be sure of who's at risk and who's the danger. There are also a number of secondary and peripheral characters that bring more dimension to the story and complicate what's happening.
In reading this one, I had suspicions, and changed my mind, and suspected different people of being bad actors and having bad intentions. I got frustrated with my girl Grace a few times in thinking she was an idiot, but I got over that as the story progressed. It was a fast read because of the quick chapters and hard to put down because at the end of each chapter I was anxious to find out what happened next. It's best to go into reading this story with as little information as possible and enjoy the ride, right up to the end!
Keep in mind, as one of the lines in the book says, "That was the thing about point of view. You saw things the way they presented themselves, but that didn't make them true."
I listened to the audiobook, and it was a treat having two different narrators: a female, Andi Arndt, reading Grace's chapters and a male, Andrew Eiden, reading Calvin's chapters. I thought they both captured the characters personalities so well and even brought a touch of playfulness at the right times in the story. Highly recommend listening to this one if you like audio.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
bookworm_43's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
minimicropup's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Narration 👍: No complaints. Sometimes a character voice was cheesy (especially with accents) but neither was unbearable.
Main POVs 👍:
- Vacation rental host. Are they hard-working, compassionate, needy, but emotionally resilient? Or are they lazy, scheming, obsessive, and emotionally toxic?
- Vacation rental guest. Are they overworked, independent, introverted, and emotionally intelligent? Or are they avoidant, vulnerable, taking advantage, and emotionally unavailable?
Atmosphere 🤷♀️: Claustrophobic, accusatory, confusing
- Set In the IRL town of Dubois, Wyoming and a ranch on the outskirts of the town
Cred Rating 🥸: Suspended disbelief
This is a “don’t think too hard” simple read. Don’t think too much about forensics or witnesses etc. The twist ending may seem OTT, but IRL killers have functioned in a similar secret double-life way.
Growls and Howls 🐺:
- Plot relies on coincidence and convenience
- So. Many. Red. Flags. For both MCs. Found myself screaming at them both and although it eventually makes sense, it is so drawn out.
- Mis-matched. There is essentially one main plot point that is only revealed at the end, and to get there the reader must wade through a lot of contemporary fiction and low-key romatic suspense (i.e., little relevant to the twist happens in the plot). If you like that, no probs, but if you don’t, the genre and synopsis verge close to being misleading.
Reading Journey 😳: Highs and lows, gentle twists and turns marred by potholes and eerie scenery. No way we’re stopping here - hold-it ‘til the next town. Good to be home but made some memories on the way.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
- Those early date “are these red flags or examples of honesty” feels
- Touch of “will-they-or-won’t-they” and “country boy vs city girl” romantic suspense
- OTT cat-and-mouse action/fighting
- Lie by omission plots
- Contemporary fiction with cozy mystery elements
Vibes: 🤥😯😶
Content Heads-Up: Animal attack (on humans), Violence, Jealousy/Obsession, Alcohol-fueled fighting
Format: Library Audio via Libby
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Animal deaths are animals around the ranch being hunted or hit by cars. Sexual content is between consenting adults and isn’t vulgar/smutty but is described with detail.nrogers_1030's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit
megandherbook's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It was so hard to put this book down.
Grace books her vacation in a small, middle of nowhere town in Wyoming. She has a high stress job in New York City and decides booking an Airbnb in Wyoming is the perfect getaway. She arrives and finds the town and the people strange but quickly takes to the host, Calvin. Even though there's no WiFi or cell service and she feels a little uneasy she decides to make the most of being off the grid. Calvin, who has some tragedy he's trying to get over, quickly becomes smitten with Grace. As Grace's stay continues and Grace and Calvin become closer Grace starts experiencing things that make her more and more suspicious while Calvin is trying his hardest to get closer to Grace but feels she's hiding something from him.
This book starts out almost like a Romance. While there are some suspenseful moments, the main vibe I was getting was a cozy Romance. Though, I'm not mad about it - it really set up for the suspense to build. I'd have read this if it was just a Romance. And when everything comes to a head I was tearing through the (electronic) pages.
The book is told from dual POV's, Grace and Calvin, which made it both easier and harder to put together what is actually happening with each of the characters. I had my suspicions about how this would end and while it did end the way I expected, the motivation behind it had me very caught off guard. So, there's also a great twist!
Also, shout out to the author adding some bookish pop culture throughout the book. From popular BookTok authors to calling out bookish cliches, it was fun to see those things throughout.
Highly recommend!
Grace books her vacation in a small, middle of nowhere town in Wyoming. She has a high stress job in New York City and decides booking an Airbnb in Wyoming is the perfect getaway. She arrives and finds the town and the people strange but quickly takes to the host, Calvin. Even though there's no WiFi or cell service and she feels a little uneasy she decides to make the most of being off the grid. Calvin, who has some tragedy he's trying to get over, quickly becomes smitten with Grace. As Grace's stay continues and Grace and Calvin become closer Grace starts experiencing things that make her more and more suspicious while Calvin is trying his hardest to get closer to Grace but feels she's hiding something from him.
This book starts out almost like a Romance. While there are some suspenseful moments, the main vibe I was getting was a cozy Romance. Though, I'm not mad about it - it really set up for the suspense to build. I'd have read this if it was just a Romance. And when everything comes to a head I was tearing through the (electronic) pages.
The book is told from dual POV's, Grace and Calvin, which made it both easier and harder to put together what is actually happening with each of the characters. I had my suspicions about how this would end and while it did end the way I expected, the motivation behind it had me very caught off guard. So, there's also a great twist!
Also, shout out to the author adding some bookish pop culture throughout the book. From popular BookTok authors to calling out bookish cliches, it was fun to see those things throughout.
Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Suicide
cc_shelflove's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I did not read the description of this book. The only thing I knew about it before reading was its genre. As you can imagine, my expectations were pretty basic; I assumed I would get some heart pumping, hair-raising, good ol’ murders and fun. Oh boy, this book was NOT IT. At 50%, still nothing had happened or been revealed. The author also seemed to be a bit genre confused, and I kept contemplating whether I was actually reading a thriller or a slow burn romance with an obnoxious love triangle. I guessed so much of the plot it’s not even funny. Finally, I cannot take anyone named Sheriff Almond seriously.
My thoughts summed up in three emojis: 😴🥴😑
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol