#TheNightWeBurned – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews – July Recap – Wild Weather and Scorching Temps

Rosepoint Reviews - July Recap

July in the upper Midwest is a volatile month with sudden, violent thunderstorms or tornadoes or highs in the low seventies with a cool breeze. You can’t accuse the area of boring weather. Still, I shouldn’t be grousing as with the sudden drenching rains and warm to hot days, the lawn has gone nuts—you can almost literally watch grass grow here—and my garden is loving it. Well, my sugar snap peas didn’t love it so much.

Late start with the garden, slow spring, and just now beginning to get some tomatoes trying to ripen. The baby deer are beginning to venture out—still have their spots. They look sweet until they get into my garden—squash being the current favorite. The CE is happy about that though.
Fawns with spots

We are trying to get in some steps, got the bikes all pumped up—and walking or riding any semi-cool mornings we can get. Still we managed fourteen books in July. These are mostly from NetGalley and also my local library with both audiobooks and digital. (As always, links below are to my reviews that include purchase info.)

Rosepoint Reviews - July Recap
Drowning in the Desert by Bernard Schopen (CE review)
The Night We Burned by S F Kosa
The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda (audiobook)
Splinter by Paul McHugh (CE review)
Trotting Into Trouble by Amber Camp
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (audiobook)
The Last Ranger by Peter Heller (CE review)
Home at Night by Paula Munier
The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan (audiobook)
Night Owl by Andrew Mayne (CE review)
Some of Us Are Looking by Carlene O’Connor
Unwrapped by Lynda McDaniel
All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers (audiobook)
The Cove by Gregg Dunnett (CE review)

These included historical fiction, literary fiction, psychological fiction, cozy mysteries, and thrillers.

Favorite Book of the Month

I was gifted two ARCs from favorite authors in July, one being Unwrapped by Lynda McDaniel and the other, Some of Us Are Looking by Carlene O’Connor, both of which earned my five stars. I really like that slightly darker turn in Ms O’Connor’s Irish mysteries and Unwrapped proved to have a sweet Hallmark type of ending–timed perfectly for the Christmas season. The CE also had a couple he particularly enjoyed, one for the sense of humor (The Last Ranger) and another because of that totally off-the-wall wallop of a surprise ending (The Cove). There were several others hovering in the 4.5 star range for both of us–it was one of those great reading months. But in the end, I’ll have to go with–

Book of the Month for July—Unwrapped.

My Reading Challenges page… I have 88 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (one book ahead of schedule) and still riding at a 97% feedback ratio in NetGalley. As always, I’m struggling to keep up with the rest. *Sigh* Maybe after the summer months…

First the death of the Instagram feed—then Musk messed with Twitter—and there went that feed. I’d boycott that stupid “X” but need to Twitter away my reviews. Is anyone getting around this (other than adding another job to the post) so they can show both feeds on their blog? All I’ve got now are the blank spaces where those feeds used to show up in my right column. Any suggestions, help, or ideas? I’d welcome them all!

Welcome to my new subscribers and thank you, as always, to those who read and comment. I love hearing from you!

k-luv-u-bye

The Night We Burned by S F Kosa – #BookReview – #bookclubs

Book Blurb:

A new psychological thriller from suspense powerhouse S.F. Kosa featuring a decades-old secret, a mysterious cult fire, and a woman looking to outrun the ashes of her past…until they come roaring back once more.

Dora is always aware of the line between fact and fiction. As a fact checker at an online magazine, her job depends on it. And as a woman outrunning her secrets, so does her life. But when a colleague decides to pursue a story about a murder in her hometown, one linked to a deadly fire at a cult compound twenty years prior, suddenly all of Dora’s carefully spun deceptions are at risk.

And if she can’t stop the story, her entire life is on the line.

As Dora works with her colleague, altering facts to hide her past along the way, she’s thrown back into a world she tried desperately to leave behind. One of ritual and belonging, of danger and darkness. A world where two girls promised to help each other through…until it all went up in flames.

As her lies pile up, so do the murders. Until Dora realizes she won’t be lucky enough to escape twice.

My Review:

You never know what you’ll be exposed to in a book club. Books you probably wouldn’t choose on your own—this being one.

It didn’t take long, however, before the hook was set. It has been twenty years since Dora Rodriguez left the life. It’s taken her twenty years to do a makeover, now working at an online magazine out of Seattle. She’s a fact checker and co-worker, Miles, is hot on the story of the anniversary of a fire that killed members of the infamous Oracles of Innocence religious cult.

One of the few survivors was recently found murdered—left with a mysterious but telling stone in his mouth. Miles wants to drive to Bend to research the cult and he wants Dora to return to her hometown with him to help with his investigation.

Now splits the timeline and even the POV, as Dora relives the time between 2000 when she was lost, alone, and hungry and 2020. Dora is scared her involvement in the cult will be discovered and prosecutable following the devastation of that night.

The description of her rescue by a cult member sounds like a familiar sound track, one we’ve heard more than once, regarding the reports of the cults that arose out of the 60s and 70s resulting in the shocking death of numerous followers.

Back then, Christy, feels she has finally found the “family” she has always longed for. Love, support, and shelter, the young woman Eszter now her best friend who discovered her sitting on the curb.

It evolves simply enough, the clothes, the structure, the work assignment, and finally the name change from Christy to Parvenah—her cult name. She does not know anyone else’s given names, only those assigned by Darius, their leader.

“…right now, your words say to me ‘gimme, gimme, gimme,’ but I hear you offering nothing.”

Is this really brainwashing? Sexual manipulation, indoctrination, psychological exploitation of the friendless population hungry for love, respect, inclusion. Eszter is her best friend until jealousy comes between them for the favors of Darius. Then violence begins to happen, dark secrets manifest.

As the reader is fed the heartbreaking evolution of the cult, Dora makes ever-increasing ill-conceived decisions, stupid choices that leave you scratching your head and wondering if she has completely run off the rails. It’s easy to invest in several scenarios, predict what will happen as it turns ever more intense.

The characters are well developed. You might begin with some sympathy toward Christy, Parvenah, Dora, but eventually you want to strangle her neck. No WONDER she ended up in a brutal cult!

Think you know where it’s going?

You don’t.

The reader can discern some small quibbles in the storyline—and there are a number of them. Noah? Don’t we know who Noah really is all along? What happens to Miles? Is he leading this research or isn’t he?

Thinking you know where this is fun depending on your view of successful predictions—only to be caught in that one last—MAJOR—twist in conclusion.

A Gotcha.

I was stunned. That’s twice this year(?). I love when that happens. Have you read this one? Did you love it?

I received a review copy of this book from my library with the recommendation of the book club that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Crime Fiction, Women’s Psychological Fiction, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
ASIN: B08QX23BKD
Print Length: 370 pages
Publication Date: August 10, 2021
Source: Local Library – through book club