CW: Suicide, rape, physical violence, sexual violence, trauma, self-harm, misogyny, gender essentialism, and drug use.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead was the first book on my Thriller TBR for this month. I was first exposed to Ashley Winstead when I read her book, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife which was one of the best books I read in 2022. I had high expectations about The Last Housewife and this book was enthralling. I liked The Last Housewife, but I don’t know if I could stomach re-reading it again in the future, that’s how dark this book was. The Last Housewife was a gripping book from start to finish, but please note the content warnings because this book does not mess around.

Shay Evans has a relaxing life; she lives in a nice home with her husband, and she quit her job to focus on writing. As Shay relaxes, she puts on her favorite True Crime podcast hosted by her childhood friend, Jamie. Jamie covers the potential murder of Laurel, Shay’s best friend from college. Shay has flashbacks from her time at college as Shay, Laurel, and their other friend Clem, experienced something traumatic that bonded them together. Shay assumed Laurel had fled from that. With all of this being said, Shay is committed to helping Jamie investigate Laurel’s death and uncover what happened to her.

If there is one thing that I think Ashley Winstead does so well is she writes unlikeable characters that you end up rooting for. If I don’t like a character, I find it difficult to read about them. Ashley Winstead’s books are the exceptions. If you couldn’t tell, I was not a fan of Shay. She parades herself as being a feminist, yet she hasn’t stuck up for the mistreatment of her friends. If that wasn’t enough, Shay spends her husband, Cal’s, money and then doesn’t think he is going to cut her off? I mean c’mon. Cal isn’t a great person, but I don’t agree with Shay that she can recklessly spend money either. Out of all the characters, I liked Jamie the best. He is genuinely a good person and I would love to see a series that focuses on Jamie investigating various crimes.

The Last Housewife is centered on a sex cult and that’s where this book takes this dark turn. It’s interesting to see how someone can go from lecturing about women’s empowerment to how women need to accept their gender roles and that men are superior. The way that this cult recruits young and vulnerable women is incredibly unsettling.

I mentioned previously how dark this book gets and I’m not kidding. There is so much that happens to Shay when she investigates Laurel’s death. There are moments when this book doesn’t let up and it seems to get perpetually darker. I will say that I think this is my max. If Ashley Winstead’s books are this graphic in the future, I may have to bow out and recognize this might not be for me.

I was debating what to rate The Last Housewife. My first thought was to rate this five stars because this book had me hooked. I love Ashley Winstead as an author and this book solidified why I like her books. I think the challenging part for me is the ending which I wasn’t a fan of. I have the ending under spoiler tags on my Goodreads review if you’re curious about how the book ends. For now, I have left this book unrated. That might change the longer time goes on from the time I read this book, but for now, I’ll leave it open-ended. The Last Housewife was great, but please read the content warnings to determine if this book will be for you.

I have been reading more manga than ever before. I have been reading a lot of first volumes to try and figure out which series I want to continue reading. I spotted the first volume of Crazy Food Truck at a bookstore in Winnipeg. I thought the concept was interesting. It felt like a Mad Max adventure except it featured a food truck. I finished reading Crazy Food Truck and I felt let down as this volume plays into some of the notable tropes in anime and manga. Crazy Food Truck shows how often female characters are sexualized in manga.

Crazy Food Truck begins with Gordon, a man trying to survive in this dystopian society. He’s driving through the desert looking for his next customers to serve and to make ends meet. He finds Arisa, a young, naked woman in the middle of the road. He takes Arisa in and gives her clothing and shelter. Immediately upon rescuing Arisa, Gordon is chased by Arisa’s captors as they will do anything to get her back. Gordon and Arisa quickly bond and go off on several adventures throughout the volume.

As mentioned previously, I liked the concept of this. I think there is enough intrigue and unanswered questions that make this series interesting. Gordon has a secretive past, potentially involving the military? Some people are after Arisa, so why was Arisa captured in the first place? I can see why someone would continue on in the series as I’d be curious to see how the series unfolds.

This leads me to my biggest gripe with this series which is the sexualization of Arisa. Arisa is introduced as a naked woman in the middle of the desert. I don’t have a problem with nudity and I didn’t care that Arisa was introduced that way, it’s in the blurb on the back of the book. With that being said, Arisa ended up being nude often. After being rescued, she complains about being hot and takes off her shirt. There’s another moment where she’s shown showering naked. If that wasn’t enough, Arisa takes her top off in the middle of a fight sequence. It felt like it was too much in such a short book. Why do we have to portray female characters this way? If you take the things that Arisa does and replicate them with a male character, it would come off as being ridiculous, yet we do this with female characters all the time.

If that wasn’t enough, I was reading reviews and some mentioned how creepy it was that Arisa was underage while Gordon was way older. ICK. When I read this manga originally, I was picturing Arisa as being an adult, so I might have missed the fact that she’s underage. If that’s the case, this makes this manga even worse.

I think another thing to add to this is that Arisa has no personality. She meets Gordon, eats a bunch of food, and that’s about all I know about her. It would be interesting to hear more of Arisa’s back story. Does she have a family? What are her hobbies? How did she learn how to defend herself? I think if there was more revealed about her, I probably would have cared more about her as a character. The sexualization of her character would have still bothered me, but it would have made the difference between continuing in this series vs. abandoning it altogether.

Crazy Food Truck was a miss, but I’m still planning on reading other manga series in the future.

I purchased The Paris Apartment at a local bookstore in Dublin. It seems fitting considering that most of Lucy Foley’s thrillers have European settings. The Guest List took place off the coast of Ireland whereas The Paris Apartment unsurprisingly takes place in Paris. During the Christmas holiday, I was sick, so I wasn’t able to see family. One thing that got me through being sick was reading this book. Lucy Foley is one of my favorite authors as her thrillers are so enthralling. The Paris Apartment was no different. It was spicy, gritty, and full of unexpected twists.

Jess is invited by Ben, her brother, to stay in his luxurious Paris apartment. When Jess arrives, Ben is nowhere to be seen. She sticks around to investigate including getting to know the various individuals who live in the complex. Jess starts to question the guests staying in the apartment complex to help find clues that will lead her to Ben. The more questions Jess asks, the more sinister things start to appear. Jess realizes that she may not be safe staying at The Paris Apartment.

The Paris Apartment did not disappoint. Lucy Foley is so good at setting the stage for her books. This apartment complex has this aura of darkness to it. There’s the gate that surrounds the building that has barbed wire and glass to prevent people from climbing on top of it. There are various secret passages that Jess starts to explore. There is a general uneasiness throughout the book and I think that comes from Lucy Foley providing the imagery of this complex.

Jess was the main protagonist and I liked reading from her point of view. It’s clear that Jess has been through some shit and she isn’t naive to the world around her. There’s an example where Jess is flirting with one of the residents. It could have been easy for her to sleep with him, but it doesn’t end up working out as Jess knows that her primary reason for being here is to find her brother. Jess is a survivor and I think throughout the book, I wanted her to fight her way out of the situation she found herself in. There are times when Jess can be a bit reckless and she does put her personal safety at risk. I think it adds to Jess’s backstory because of her unstable upbringing and how Ben is the only family that she has left.

The way that this book came together was fascinating. I can’t say much without spoiling the book. There was a movie that this book reminded me of, but I can’t say it because it would give everything away. I think the final moments where Jess starts to put the pieces together were so good. My heart started to beat out of my chest and my jaw dropped at the final conclusion. It isn’t often when a book prompts that type of response from me.

Lucy Foley can do no wrong. I think that’s the trick for having a good reading year; starting the year by reading a Lucy Foley book. I rated The Paris Apartment five stars on Goodreads.

With the start of a new year, I’m feeling positive. I’m looking forward to 2024 and starting the year off fresh. To kick off my reading year, I wanted to go back to TBRs. TBRs (To Be Read) is where I will schedule or plan out which books I want to read for the month. I used to do this a few years ago but got out of the habit of pre-planning my books. Each month, I will write a new post detailing which books I will read along with the overall theme of the current month’s TBR. This month, I will be focused on reading thrillers. I’m excited to share my TBR as I had a lot of fun picking out which books I plan on reading.

I have two rules that will be for all TBRs and books that I plan on reading. The first rule is that I will pick three books to read in a month. I won’t plan on reading any more than three, but if for whatever reason, I end up finishing these three books ahead of time, I can always move on to something else. The final rule that I have is that one book in every TBR pile has to come from the library, with no exceptions. In this instance, I ended up renting two books from the library, so look at me being an overachiever.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

I wrote about The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead in a book haul post I made last year, so I won’t go into detail about this book. It apparently revolves around a sex cult and it’s a dark book. That’s about all I know, but my interest is piqued.

The Vanishing by Wendy Webb

I mentioned how I had fun picking out my books this month. I decided to go through my Goodreads TBR shelf and choose the thriller book that’s been on my TBR the longest and one of the thrillers that I most recently added to my shelf. I have had The Vanishing by Wendy Webb on my TBR since July 10th, 2015. I think it’s about time that I take the time to read it.

Julia Bishop has been hit hard by the death of her husband. Her husband was conniving and spent her life savings, so Julia needs a fresh start. She accepts a job offer to be a caretaker for Amaris Sinclair, a renowned horror novelist. When Julia begins staying at the Sinclair estate, she feels unsettled by the place. She investigates further which may reveal some haunting secrets that are meant to stay buried.

As a side note, this book takes place in Minnesota which reminds me that I need to read more from local authors. It’s not often that I get to read a book that takes place in my home state.

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

Gina Royal is a stereotypical, Midwestern housewife. After a car accident, it’s revealed to Gina that her sweet husband is actually a serial killer. Gina moves with her two kids to escape her husband’s morbid notoriety. After settling in a new home, a dead body turns up in the lake that Gina lives on. Gina is being stalked and receives mysterious letters. If there is one thing that Gina is fully capable of doing, it’s taking on someone who is pure evil.

I added Stillhouse Lake to my shelf on November 29th, 2023 which is a stark contrast to The Vanishing. I am a sucker for tropes where a woman finds out that someone close to her is a serial killer and then the story continues from her perspective.

I am looking forward to reading these books. Thrillers tend to be fast reads for me, so these three books could last me the whole month, or I might finish them early. Time will tell.