Tag Archives: Bookish Chatter

Chatter about books, reading and anything related to either one.

Review: The Search Party

The Search Party

The Search Party
By Hannah Richell
Atria Books,9781668036068, January 2024, 352pp.

The Short of It:

So many secrets!!

The Rest of It:

A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance. ~ from the publisher

Right from the start, you are in for a wild ride! Max and Annie develop a glamping resort in the wilds of Cornwall. To test everything out, they invite a few of their college friends and their families to experience glamping (glamour camping) with great food, luxury tents and the like. But it’s been awhile since everyone has been together and some are now married with kids!

All of the couples are very different, as are the kids. Some young adults, teens and a few elementary aged kids. Kip, Max and Annie’s adopted son, is at the center of the tension as he’s very sensitive to things and will shut down when stressed or involved in a confrontation of any kind. Some of the parents don’t understand why Kip is given such a wide berth by his parents. Much of what he does, and his reaction to things set him apart from the other kids and make him an easy target.

Then, something goes horribly wrong. A storm moves in, a child goes missing and as the couples are held captive by the weather and the stress of a missing child, all the secrets pour out. Tempers flare. Hard feelings come out. Much more than a thin tent, luxury or not, can contain.

This was a super fun read with lots of twists and turns. The couples take turns being deplorable so loyalties jump around quite a bit. You really don’t know what’s next!

Highly recommend.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Sunday Matters: My New Love For Audiobooks

Sunday Matters

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all well. We are still in a heat wave and probably will be for the rest of the summer. Scorching heat, for us, usually doesn’t hit until August and September but man, that mild June we had did not prepare us for July!

Since my surgery, audiobooks have been a way for me to get back into reading. I was never a fan of them before. I just couldn’t get into them. Well, now that my Premium Spotify account includes free audiobooks, and many new releases at that, I’ve been totally into them and loving my commute because of them. My attention span is way different post surgery. More focused. Not focusing on constant pain can free you up for all sorts of things!

Right Now:

Student ministry this morning. This summer has been a good mix of games and messages.

This Week:

This Wednesday we have a student movie night and we will be watching Nacho Libre and eating, you guessed it, nachos. I  have never seen this movie! It will be fun.

Nacho Libre

Reading:

I blew through a number of books recently and posted reviews for:

The Return of Ellie Black
You Like It Darker

I started these two:

Clear by Carys Davies
“Clear is the story of a minister dispatched to a remote island to “clear” its last remaining inhabitant–an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.”

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
“A brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.”

I was granted a review copy of Murakami’s new one, The City and Its Uncertain Walls. Yay! All is right with the world.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Watching:

Still watching Alice in Borderland. We are almost done with season 2. We also got hooked on an old show, Mike & Molly with Melissa McCarthy. I really like it. It’s cute and easy to watch.

Grateful for:

This new thing I’ve been trying, The Pour Over. It bills itself as a “Christ first, news source.” It’s free. I’ve been giving it a go and I have to say, the news is very unbiased and usually includes a bit of scripture if it pertains to the topic. It’s a way for me to stay on top of what’s going on, without steam coming out the top of my head. These days, news is just hard to listen to. I am on social media for work so sometimes I can’t avoid things but lately, I’ve been scheduling my work posts and just closing the apps when I am done. It’s good for my soul.