3 Fantastically Awesome Books BJ Thinks You Need to Read (March 2023)
The Last Housewife by Ashley Winsted I was so fascinated by this book, it was disturbing and sexy all at the same time. So Shay is a housewife living in Texas when she’s listening to a true crime podcast. The host from the podcast is her childhood friend who she lost touch with when she fled New York State never to return. But the podcast is about her best friend from college’s murder—she broke up with the friend as well. See, there was a very insane traumatic thing that happened, Shay and her 2 roommates met a man they thought was the 4th roommate’s father. Turns out he was really into dominance and BDSM and they all fell for him and ended up being his mistresses. They all lived in his house and they all worshipped this man, like it was a cult. They weren’t allowed to leave, only to go to class so they wouldn’t attract suspicion. In the present day Shay goes back to help her friend, the podcast guy, and she learns that there is a rather large and very secret BDSM community that she needs to infiltrate to figure out who killed her ex-roommate friend. Very disturbing how this society treats women like they need to be put down so the men can get their control back, but at the same time the descriptions are super steamy.
Survive the Night by Riley Sager Riley. Freakin. Sager. Man, he’s done it again. The ending? Totally didn’t see it coming. But then I also wasn’t looking for it. I just go along for the ride, you know? Anyway, so in the 90s Charlie’s roommate Maddy got murdered by the serial killer that has been terrorizing her college. All she wants to do is to go home to Ohio like right now. She meets a man named Josh at the bulletin board where she posts a flyer about needing a ride. He agrees to take her that night. But something doesn’t feel right after she gets into the car with him. She is grief stricken and she’s not quite herself and her imagination does have a tendency to run wild. So she’s trying to figure out if the bad feeling she has about Josh is all in her head or is he really the killer. I couldn’t put it down.
The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle I really got into this one. Luke is a student at a boarding school in Connecticut when his roommate/best friend convinces him to sneak out with a pair of girls late at night. While they’re out a murder happens on campus and they kind of witness it. Like they know it happened near them and they know it’s the Dean’s second wife. They don’t know who did it, and they don’t tell the police that they’d snuck out because the roommate is on his third strike and will get expelled if that’s found out. The roommate falls under suspicion anyway and gets kicked out. But Luke knows he didn’t do it, so he embarks on his own investigation and finds out who did it to save his roommate. Well done, I was into it.
BJ Knapp is the author of Beside the Music, available for purchase here. Please sign up for the Backstage with BJ Knapp mailing list to get updates on events, signings, dog pictures and so much more.
added on 04.03.23