A Well-Read Tart

A Food and Book Lover’s Blog

MURDER ROAD (Dark Side of the Word Podcast)

Hello, Tartlets and Darksiders! A new book club podcast episode is up on Dark Side of the Word. Join me and Kait as we discuss the supernatural/true crime novel Murder Road by Simone St James. Honeymooners April and Eddie take a wrong turn onto the infamous Atticus Line in Coldlake Falls. When they drive past a girl on the side of the road, they stop to offer help, not realizing that the girl’s seriously injured. They speed to the...

JUST LIKE HOME (Dark Side of the Word Podcast)

Hello, Tartlets and Darksiders! A new book club podcast episode is up on Dark Side of the Word. Join me and Kait as we discuss the supernatural suspense novel Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey. Vera didn’t have any intentions of coming back home. But, her mom is dying and she has to get the house ready to sell -- not that anyone's going to buy the house of an infamous serial killer. As Vera begins to pack up the house, disturbing childhood...

MY MURDER (Dark Side of the Word Podcast)

Hello, Tartlets and Darksiders! A new podcast episode is up on Dark Side of the Word. Join me and Kait as we discuss the psychological thriller novel My Murder by Katie Williams. After being brutally murdered, wife and new mother Lou is brought back to life via cloning, along with several other victims of her serial killer. She gets to return to her happy marriage. Her daughter. Her old job. All the parts of her life she was told she...

THE BABYSITTER Book Review

"To the Women." Author Liza Rodman dedicated her memoir, The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer, "to the women." I always read dedication pages, and when I saw this phrase at the beginning of the book, I thought the sentiment was sweet. But, that's about it. Because I didn't know yet. I didn't know what I was about to read. By the time I finished reading The Babysitter, the full impact of "to the women" hit me like a brick.  ...

THEME MUSIC Book Review

Dixie Wheeler, the main character of Theme Music, is a little odd. She gets a pass, though. You would, too, if your whole family was brutally slaughtered in front of your eyes. YEAH. You heard me.   What's Theme Music about? The prologue of Theme Music  is an incredibly graphic replay of when Dixie Wheeler's father pulled a Lizzie Borden on his family, taking an axe and chopping them into pieces one Thanksgiving morning....

THE WHISPER MAN Book Review

I devoured The Whisper Man by Alex North in one weekend. I started on a Friday night, and then I just didn't want to stop. When I finally did, I had to take several deep breaths, then shake my head to clear away the intense, mesmerizing world I'd gladly lost myself in for hours on end.   The Whisper Man eff'd me up Every cliché you hear about a good thriller should be applied to The Whisper Man-- because it actually deserves these...

Quick Look Books: Thrillers (March 2019)

Thrillers. Easily one of my new favorite genres. For a long time, though, I wouldn't touch them. Although I love me some supernatural thrillers, I had no interest whatsoever in suspense, mystery, or "whodunits." I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I haven't always been so great at picking books to read. I was an English major, so I've read a lot of novels. I eagerly devoured whatever titles were assigned for AP English and Lit back in...