I'm a thousand miles from nowhere: THE LAST ONE.

The Last One by Will Dean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Caz is so excited when her boyfriend, Pete, takes her on vacation aboard the luxury cruise liner, RMS Atlantica. They have a great first night, but when Caz wakes up the next morning and reaches for Pete, he's not there. As she leaves their room to look, she realizes that the ship is empty. Not empty, as in the passengers are elsewhere, but empty empty. No passengers, no crew. The giant ship is in the middle of the ocean, and Caz is all alone on it. I won't say much more to avoid spoilers, but this is a crazy read. It has a tense, eerie feel-- you rarely get a "locked cruise ship" story, but that's what we have here. The story certainly keeps you wondering, and it offers an interesting, timely commentary on society. I won't say on what. ;)

I found this book hard to put down, and the story is really unique. Those are all major plusses. It goes a little off the rails as it continues, though. And there are a lot of unresolved plot points that made me feel as if the story didn't truly finish. (The actual ending is also cray cray.) Overall, this was a 3-star read for me.

I received a copy of this book from Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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I've been kind and I've been ruthless: FIRST BORN.

First Born: A Novel by Will Dean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Molly is a very quiet and shy person who lives her life based on routine and structure. She's the exact opposite of her outgoing identical twin sister, Katie. Molly has always relied on Katie, but her sister recently moved to New York City from London. Then Molly receives the worst news: Katie has died, a possible murder. She has to overcome her fears and travel to New York City to try to figure out exactly what happened to her sister.

FIRST BORN is a twisty thriller that offers a ton of surprises, but I confess that I just didn't love it all that much. I kept reading to find out what happened, so the book captured my attention, but I did not find the characters very engaging or likeable. There was not much character development here, and the writing style was rather weird. It's a wild plot, for sure; so if you can suspend disbelief and just go for it, you'll enjoy this one. Barely 3 stars for me.

I received a copy of this book from Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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