Under The Radar Books.

Category: The Reviews.

  • The Charm Offensive

    The Charm Offensive By Alison Cochrun

    Synopsis.

    Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

    Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.

    As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.

    In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer

    The Review

    The Charm Offensive

    By: Alison Cochrun

    Let me be the first to say that romance is not my usual genre. I do enjoy a good love story every now and then to break up the death and murder, and this one hit all the boxes.

    It was super easy to read; I flew through it.

    It kept me intrigued and interested from beginning to end.

    It had a sexy ship that I was into from the get!

    P>S> I LOVE CHARLIE!!!!

    And even though I no longer watch ANY of the bachelor franchise nonsense, I genuinely felt the nostalgia of the first few seasons, which I did watch.

    I really liked the books’ ability to connect with a lot of different readers. You don’t have to be single and searching to empathize with the characters; you don’t have to be thirsty for drama to enjoy the crisis in the book.

    I think it will especially appeal to the cynics.

    It was simply good fun!

    For 24hrs. worth a good time Id pick this one up when its available September 7, 2021

    I gave this one 5 Stars!

    Thanks to @atriabooks and @netgalley for this fun book-in-one-day arc in exchange for my honest review!

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  • The Family Plot

    THE FAMILY PLOT by Megan Collins

    Synopsis.

    When a family obsessed with true crime gathers to bury their patriarch, horrifying secrets are exposed upon the discovery of another body in his grave in this chilling novel from the author of Behind the Red Door and The Winter Sister .

    At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse has a lot to learn when it comes to the real world. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she has spent the last several years living on her own, but unable to move beyond her past—especially the disappearance of her twin brother Andy when they were sixteen.

    With her father’s death, Dahlia returns to the house she has avoided for years. But as the rest of the Lighthouse family arrives for the memorial, a gruesome discovery is made: buried in the reserved plot is another body—Andy’s, his skull split open with an ax.

    Each member of the family handles the revelation in unusual ways. Her brother Charlie pours his energy into creating a family memorial museum, highlighting their research into the lives of famous murder victims; her sister Tate forges ahead with her popular dioramas portraying crime scenes; and their mother affects a cheerfully domestic façade, becoming unrecognizable as the woman who performed murder reenactments for her children. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.

    The Review

    Do you love true crime? What about a really a good mystery? Do you love those? I do!

    THE FAMILY PLOT by Megan Collins is the perfect mixture of all the things I love. It’s about hunting serial killers and family secrets, and it has a trope that I eat up like cotton candy, THE SURVIVING TWIN trope. I loved the interplay between the characters in the family the most. I happily played a couch therapist as I read, trying to guess what each character would do next based on the family systems theory.

    It reminded me a lot of the tv series THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and of Riley Sagers, HOME BEFORE DARK. Although both of those were in different genres, I think you should definitely check out THE FAMILY PLOT if either of those appealed to you.

    THE FAMILY PLOT is out today!

    Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for an advanced copy of this scrumptious, delicious piece of literary cotton candy!

    Recommended for avid true-crime fans, amateur sleuths, and girls who know what dioramas are.

    4 Stars!

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  • The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina

    The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova

    Synopsis.

    Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Sarah Addison Allen, this is a gorgeously written novel about a family searching for the truth hidden in their past and the power they’ve inherited, from the author of the acclaimed and “giddily exciting” (The New York Times Book Review) Brooklyn Brujas series.

    The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low or empty, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers—even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets that she has held onto so tightly their whole lives. Instead, Orquídea is transformed, leaving them with more questions than answers.

    Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, the four descendants travel to Ecuador—to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked backed.

    Alternating between Orquídea’s past and her descendants’ present, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina is an enchanting novel about what we knowingly and unknowingly inherit from our ancestors, the ties that bind, and reclaiming your power.

    The Review

    The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina

    By Zoraida Cordova

    This book is out-of-this-world!!

    This book is almost too good to be true. It’s fun and fast-paced and rich and immersive, and it has amazing roots and context. It’s a must-read!!

    It is tough to describe the feeling you’re going to get when you pick this book up. It will feel familiar yet ethereal. It’s an incredible fusion of 3-D and 5-D world concepts. It will feel at some points like you’re reading a steamy and diverse version of THE NIGHT CIRCUS. And At other times, it feels like you’re reading the script for an episode of AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW mixed with WHEN A MONSTER CALLS.

    The writing is enigmatic. There were magical creatures and even more magical characters with beautiful, tarot-card-like personalities, including The Star, Three of Swords, and Temperance. There is a lot of word-candy with juicy sentences and dialogue in passages that elicit emotions with sticky words like:

    transmutation

    mestizo

    machete

    ennui

    sinew

    lycanthrope

    This is more than just your everyday average good book. It’s more of an experience!

    So get your hands on it!

    10/10 recommend

    All the STARS!!

    Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced readers copy!

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