The Girl Before by JP Delaney

     I received this free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

     The Girl Before is about 2 women that have lived through tragedy and move into a highly advanced technological house. Emma is the first to move in to this strange house after answering very interesting questions on the application. The first question is, "Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life." And the questions seem to become stranger still.

     Jane moves into the house after Emma is no longer there. She is fleeing her own personal tragedy, but soon after moving in she finds out that the previous tenant who had an uncanny likeness to Jane died in the house. Jane finds herself racing to find out how the other girl died. Then, she begins to experience the same things as the other girl.

     I can truly say this book was devoured. I loved the pacing as well as the mystery. Yes, I did suspect who the bad guy was, but I still enjoyed the whole journey to the end. A realistic mystery thriller is usually such a good choice for me, and I am so glad to have the opportunity to read this delectable morsel of a thriller.

     I rated this 5/5 stars and highly recommend it.

Bizenghast: Volume 1 by M. Alice LeGrow

I received this free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young girl moves to a town called Bizenghast, and she is haunted by visions and fits while she is there. She and her friend stumble upon a cemetery where they find lost souls that they must help set free.

This is a manga that I truly enjoyed reading. I was so upset when it ended since I only received Volume 1. I need more!

There is a gothic feel to the whole setting and the artwork is done in perfection with that theme. Now, in honesty, there are some places where I was not sure what I was seeing in the image because it is a little dark, but I still enjoyed the story and plan to read the rest to find out how they help the lost souls become free.

I rated this 4/5 stars and recommend it.

The Swap by Nancy Boyarsky

     I received this free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

     Nicole and her husband have arranged a house swap with a couple in London. Nicole hopes that time away from LA and time together in London will help their rocky marriage.  Once they get to the house in London things go awry. The couple that they swapped with never arrive at Nicole and her husband's condo in LA, and she cannot even reach them by phone. She begins to notice people following her which progresses to threats made against her. Nicole thinks that her husband will believe her when she tells him of these threats but he does not and neither do the police. Nicole is in a lot of trouble, and she will have to face it alone.

     I truly struggled through this story. I kept pushing myself not to discontinue reading.

     First, I really dislike Nicole. She is the main character, and it is hard for me to read a story about someone I don't like and hope that they will be ok. I would catch myself saying quite often, "She is so stupid!" I was so frustrated with the foolish decisions that Nicole made through the whole story.

     And as if Nicole's decisions weren't enough, I had to come face to face with every cliche that could be written in a thriller/mystery. It's no fun to know what's going on the whole time you are reading a story that you are supposed to be guessing at. I need some mystery, please!

     And to top off the whole thing, the romance in the story was distasteful and unrealistic. I won't go in to too much detail because I don't want to spoil anything.

     Overall, this was just a very disappointing read that I had been excited about. It all fell flat.

     I rated this 2/5 stars.