The Running Bibliophile

Did you fall in love with The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware? Not sure what book you should read next? Don't worry, here are four books you should read if you loved The Turn of the Key.
The Breakdown by B.A. Paris Cass is having a difficult time ever since she decided not to stop to help the woman pulled over on the side of the road. She tells herself it was night time, storming, and in the middle of nowhere and not safe to stop, but then, the next day, that same woman Cass didn't help is found murdered in her car. Cass starts forgetting things . . . simple things. Then comes the mysterious phone calls and the feeling she's being watched.

Stillhouse Lake (Stillhouse Lake, #1) by Rachel Caine Gina Royal is your typical housewife that drives the kids to and from school and makes sure she has dinner on the table when her husband Melvin comes home from work. That all changes one day when she comes home from picking up their kids and the police are swarming their house. Melvin has…

Since I reread Ocean City (Ocean City, #1) by Katherine Applegate, I decided to continue rereading the series and continued on to Love Shack (Ocean City, #2). I honestly do not remember most of what happened in the series even though I read it at least twice, so it's kind of like reading it for the first time. The major theme in the second installment was alcoholism. Underlying themes include illegal immigrants, racism, premarital sex, sexual advances, and suicide.
Katherine Applegate did a phenomenal job in portraying the struggles of what an alcoholic might go through to have just one more drink and that no matter how many people try to help them, people with an addiction have to want to change. I'm not sure how I feel about an eighteen year old already being an alcoholic as I feel like someone that age would be more likely to have a drug addiction, but regardless, I felt like it was a great teaching moment for teens. I thought it would have been beneficial if the publisher…

One of my favorite cozy mystery book series is Gemma Halliday's High Heels Mysteries. It originally caught my eye from an email I received from BookBub.com. The first five books could be bought in a bundle for the amount of 99 cents, and the synopsis included a description of the main character being a fashion designer for shoes. After reading the first book in the series, Spying in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries, #1), I was hooked. When I heard that the latest edition, Suspect in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries, #10), was coming out on October 1, 2019, I could hardly wait.

Suspect in High Heels (High Heels Mysteries, #10) exceeded my expectations. Both of the people I suspected of being the killer (one more than the other) were not the killer. Usually one of the people I suspect is correct, but I definitely was in the wrong this time. I love the main character, Maddie Springer, and how she always seems to get herself in trouble and that her husband is so forgiving of her getti…

I first read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 30 years ago in the spring of 1989 as an almost 10 year old in the fifth grade. It was not a book I chose to read as it was required reading for my class to prepare us for middle school and all the books we would be required to read. Of the two books we were required to read that year, this was the one I actually enjoyed, with the exception of the ending. Thiswas the first book I read that actually made me cry.
Charlotte's Web tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and how he is saved from death a couple of times, first by a little girl named Fern and then by a spider named Charlotte who befriended Wilbur when he was lonely because none of the other farm animals would play with him. The story follows the friendship between the pig and spider until Charlotte's death. Charlotte's death is what really got to me as a kid and as an adult rereading the book. What made it even worse was that she died alone, and no one should have to di…

Not knowing a thing about Chevy Stevens' book That Night, I decided to purchase it from ThriftBooks.com. Within a couple of days of receiving it, I began reading it, and it immediately sucked me in.

There were several things I loved about That Night. One of those things was that the chapters alternated from the present day to past years. This kept the book interesting and me engaged. I think that if Chevy Stevens had started from the beginning of the story, it wouldn't have kept my attention quite as well and wouldn't have had the impact it had.

Additionally, the relationships in the book were right on target, especially the way teenagers act in high school. The gossip and mean girl syndrome were right on par, and the way adults tended to believe Shauna over Toni was very believable as well. Who hasn't encountered a Shauna at some point in their life? The relationship between Toni and her sister Nicole seemed very believable to me, but being an only child, I don't …

Reading Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby, #2) by Beverly Cleary as an adult for the first time ever was a delight. How did I never read this book as a child? Maybe if this had been recommended to me by a teacher or librarian, I would have enjoyed reading in elementary school a lot earlier than I did.
Beverly Cleary did an amazing job of capturing how a five year old acts in kindergarten. I felt like I was back in school again. When I was in kindergarten, there was a morning class and an afternoon class. Unlike the book, we didn't have nap time because there wasn't enough time with such a short day. I enjoyed that the kids were in charge of certain things in the classroom like passing out the art supplies because that sort of thing was a huge deal when I was a kid.
I loved the fact that Ramona misunderstood a few things that her teacher said because kids of that age often misinterpret what is said by adults by no fault of their own, and they often do things that they think are n…