Blogtober Day Eighteen: If You Liked This, Then Read That

Hey, lovelies! I want to start by saying a big thank you to my favorite human, Alana (find her here!), for helping think of this post idea. Today I am going to be recommending some books that are all great for October. I thought it would be fun to recommend books based off of other books. So, this will be a ‘if you liked this book, try that book’ kind of post, but they’re all books that would be great to read during the spooky season.

If you liked Sadie by Courtney Summers then you should try I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan. Sadie is a girl that is trying to find out what happened to her younger sister. At the same time, we get chapters that are written in the format of a podcast (which is why the audiobook is so great). The podcast is several months after Sadie’s chapters and it’s trying to find out what happened to her. I Hope You’re Listening follows Dee. Ten years ago, she saw her best friend abducted. In the present timeline, a new family moved into her best friends old house and the young girl that lives there is kidnapped. Dee is equally horrified and fascinated. One of the thing’s Dee did to move on from seeing her best friend kidnapped was to start a podcast that focuses on current kidnapping cases. She brings awareness to current cases and directs the internet to see if they can find anything that might help solve these cases. These two books both follow young girls that have dealt with loss. They both also have taken to trying to find the truth themselves or with the help of others. Also, both have podcasts. I really enjoyed both of these books and I think you will too.

If you liked Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power you might like The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel. Burn Our Bodies Down follows Margot, who has always been desperate for family outside of her mother. So, when she finds out that she has a grandmother she travels to meet her. Things get weird at her grandmothers house. Margot realizes that she is surrounded by secrets and she’s desperate to get to the truth. The Roanoke Girls is about Lane moving in with her grandparents after her mother commits suicide. The women in this family have either left and not been heard from again or they’re dead. This family is full of secrets and Lane can’t help but run when she learns the truth. But she returns when she hears here cousin, Allegra, is now missing. These two books are both full of family secrets and young girls that are determined to learn the truth, but the truths they discover might be more than they bargained for. I loved Burn Our Bodies Down and mostly liked The Roanoke Girls but they definitely have some common elements.

If you liked Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson you will probably like A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. Truly Devious follows Stevie after she’s been accepted to the famous Ellingham Academy in Vermont. Stevie is determined to solve the schools cold case. The founders wife and daughter were kidnapped shortly after the school opened. While she’s working on that, one of her fellow students is murdered. There is more going on at this school that Stevie realizes. A Study in Charlotte is a Sherlock Holmes retelling of sorts. It follows Charlotte and Jamie who are descendants of Holmes and Watson. They end up going to the same boarding school where they are being framed for murder. These two books obviously have the boarding school in common. But they also both are filled with diverse characters and murders that aren’t quite what they seem. They also both have complicated romances that I absolutely adore.

If you liked Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus you should try Little Monsters by Kara Thomas. Two Can Keep a Secret is the story of Ellery moving to her mother’s home town to live with her grandmother. Her aunt went missing years and years ago and five years ago, the homecoming queen was killed. Someone is making threats. Threats that say this will be the most dangerous homecoming season in five years. The threats aren’t taken seriously until a girl goes missing. There are all kinds of secrets in this town and they’re all going to come to light. Little Monsters follows Kacey after she moves to a new town to live with her dad and his new family. She suddenly has a stepmother, a stepbrother, and a half sister. She almost doesn’t trust the calm when she settles into her new life and makes friends with Jade and Bailey. Then Bailey disappears, and everyone is looking to Kacey for answers. She doesn’t know if there is anyone she can trust anymore. So, these two stories both follow girls that have not so great mothers that cause them to move to new towns. In those new towns, things are probably not as perfect as they seem at first look. I liked both of these, but I cannot recommend Little Monsters enough and I wish more people talked about it.

If you liked A Million Junes by Emily Henry you might like We Speak in Storms by Natalie Lund. A Million Junes follows June who is dealing with the grief of losing her father. The one rule that’s been instilled in her is to stay away from the Angerts. But when Saul comes back to town, there’s just something about him that she can’t stay away from. The two join together to figure out what the truth behind their family feud is. They find magic, ghosts, and secrets. We Speak in Storms is the story of three characters, Joshua, Brenna, and Callie. It’s been 50 years since the tornado that destroyed the drive-in movie theatre, and on it’s fiftieth anniversary another tornado comes. The three main characters are all outsiders and they’ve been brought together when they don’t know that they need it. They work together to solve their problems and the problems of the past. I chose these two together because they both involve ghosts and history that needs to be righted.

These are the ten books I’ve chosen for my first attempt at ‘if you like this book then try that one’. I hope you agree with my choices because I had so much fun picking out comparisons for some of the more well known books. I tried to highlight books that I don’t often see anyone talking about. I enjoyed these books very much and I hope you will too. Do you have any books that you think would work for these comparisons?

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus

GoodReads Summary:
Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.
A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.
Until now.
This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.
Truth or Dare.
Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark.
Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.
But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.
Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.
Review:
I always forget how much I enjoy mystery/thrillers until I’m reading them. This one was no different. I really enjoyed the mystery of who is in control of the truth or dare game. The one problem I had with this book is similar to the ones I had with her previous books; the characters were sort of hard to distinguish between. I found myself wondering whose chapter I was in. I would say that I wished I listened to the audiobook, but that’s the route I went for the other books and I had the same problem.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed this. The characters were interesting and I was invested in their stories. I liked that they had problems other than the truth or dare game. Their relationships and friendships were fun and I enjoyed them.
Overall, this was a fun read and I got through it quickly. I wonder if there’s going to be another book because of the way this ended. I think the ending was the part I disliked the most.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

GoodReads Summary:
Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.
The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.
Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.
Review:
Looking for your next audiobook? Well, you’ve found it. Two Can Keep a Secret had two narrators that read the alternating perspectives of Ellery and Malcolm. They did such a great job of putting life into their characters. Especially toward the end when all of the action was happening.
I have to start off by saying that the mystery in this story was so good. I had myself convinced it was someone different every fifty pages or so. But the actual reveal, there’s no way I would have predicted that. I think this story was so compelling. I didn’t want to stop listening whenever I put it on.
I also adored the characters. They were diverse and distinct. I didn’t feel like any of them were out of place. They all held my interest and made me want to know more about them.
Overall, I’m going to keep this review short and to the point. I really had fun with the different stories and all the different characters. I also really enjoyed all of the twists (there were quite a few that had me dropping my jaw). I already can’t wait to see where the mystery goes in McManus’ next book.

Keep reading lovelies, Amanda.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Summary:
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, The Brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, The Beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, The Criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, The Athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, The Outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they just the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
Review:
I chose to listen to this book on audiobook because I was on sort of a time crunch to read it before the end of February. So, when I saw it available from my library, I knew I could fly through it while doing other things. I’ve heard mixed reviews about One of Us is Lying, but I ended up enjoying it. I was expecting it to be more of a thriller, but it was mostly just mystery. I enjoyed the up and down of the story with a surprise here, a reveal there. I think the pace of the story was well done. It was fast enough where I was interested in the mystery and figuring out what happened but slow enough where I felt like I really got to know the characters and feel their struggles.
The characters are really what made this story for me. I really enjoyed the idea of each of them having a label and then learning that they might not be exactly what they’re labeled as. I enjoyed getting to know each character and learning more about them. Bronwyn is the smart girl, but she’s also a sister and a friend, determined and fiercely loyal. Addy is the princess, but only because of the influence of others. She realizes that and really takes time to figure out who she is and wants to be. Nate may do criminal things, but it’s because he has no other choice. Cooper plays baseball and is good at it, but there’s so much more to him than that. And Simon is an outcast, but it seems that he made things that way himself.
I think the audiobook made this book ten times better. If I read the book physically, I think I may have been bored or not as invested in the story. The four narrators did an incredible job bringing life and personality into their characters and the rest of the story.
Overall, I wasn’t blown away by the story, but I enjoyed the experience of reading it. I didn’t predict any of the twists or reveals, but there weren’t any jaw dropping moments. I really adored the characters and their interactions most of all. I recommend the audiobook for sure if you’re interested in reading this story.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.