Welcome to Litsy!

Here‘s my review for a book I didn‘t finish.

I started this book. It‘s a thriller set in a Midwestern strip club in 1999. It‘s good so far.

I couldn‘t decide what book to read next so I put 3 books into an image spinner wheel and the wheel picked Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski. All I know about this book is that it‘s a thriller set in a midwestern strip club. It sounds interesting. I‘ve never read a book that is set in a strip club. Will I DNF this one? I usually like thrillers so I don‘t think I will DNF this one.

I thought this was pretty decent overall. My #doublespin for February @TheAromaofBooks

Who kidnapped and murdered one of the Lovely Lady strippers? Did keep me reading to the end, but I can‘t say I really cared about any of the characters. Although it was kind of interesting to read about a group of strippers, where they came from, how they lived.

A serial killer is targeting strippers. This thriller follows multiple perspectives, the women at the club, the detectives investigating, a victim, suspects, the killer.

At first it was too many people. But the view points & tone changes between characters was spot on & as it continued I found that it wasn‘t muddled or confusing and I liked the callbacks to earlier situations from a new perspective. It ended up being really addicting & fun.

Soooooo good!! A great thriller I highly recommend with an ending that surprised me!

This was good! It felt like more of a character study of the various women who work at this strip club than a "thriller", solving the crime itself had a much slower burn. I had a hunch about whodunnit that turned out to be correct, but it didn't make the read less interesting. Choosing to set the story in 1999 felt random though, aside from the occasional pop culture reference it didn't seem to serve the plot in any relevant way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Real Easy is a mystery and suspense novel that takes place in a Midwestern strip club in the late 1990‘s. It‘s told through various points of view and Marie Rutkoski perfectly depicts each character through their backstory and what is driving them. The suspense built and it kept my interest without a lot of mindless violence or relying on the salaciousness of having a strip club as the setting. 4 stars

Kind of flat-lined for the most part, and I don‘t know where she was going with some of the chapters, but it is cool writing, and a bit different from your typical thriller.

Starting this one!

A friend was looking for a book about strippers & so we ended up doing a #BuddyRead of this thriller set in a fictional Illinois town. The cast size (with stage & real names) is a bit overwhelming- many perspectives offered and some, frankly, could be deleted with no impact- but I appreciated the shoutout to some real Illinois events- like Harvard‘s Milk Days-& the 1999 time period. I figured out the killer about halfway through! Nice to be right!

This is a mystery/thriller by an author that normally writes YA fantasy. And I think she did a really good job with it. The setting is a strip club. One of the dancers goes missing and until they find the cause, the girls are all in danger because there are a lot of suspects. I liked how different all of the characters were from each other.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I read the first half and listened to the second as my ebook loan ran out. This was a well-written, suspenseful read. There is a section where the book seemed to drag, but the story gets tense again. If curse words offend you, this isn't a book for you.

By finishing Real Easy, I have my first ever#BookSpinBingo! Thanks for the fun, @TheAromaofBooks.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I‘m used to thrillers that use multiple POV specifically to push plot, but here it serves as a vehicle for strong character development. The mystery, though intriguing, becomes secondary to the stories of The Lovely Lady‘s entertainers. These women are diverse, well-fleshed, and unique, yet all endure the same plight of simply having a female body. A tough read, but so good. 👉🏼Inspired by Rutkoski‘s own time working in a strip club.

I really enjoyed this one…I was so wrapped up in the characters, and their lives in the strip club world, that I felt sad when it ended. I love a book that gets my anxiety going when it all starts coming together.

“You're so pretty it makes me want to go home and punch my wife.“

So this is an example of why I needed to change books to Halfway to the Grave today. Right away, I knew Real Easy was going to be dark. I'll still finish it as it is well-written and I like dark books, but not on a dreary weather day.
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Next up is this book. I just started it, but the behind the scenes of club life is interesting so far.

So I've read some reviews that have drawn my attention to this book. I am a psych major so I'm always interested in case studies and this book seems to have some really interesting characters. I've had a streak of 3 🌟 reviews and would really to break it with this one.
#2022 #newrelease #realeasy

I‘d like to thank Goodreads for this ARC. I was so looking forward to reading it, as It recently appeared on many best selling lists. I was a bit disappointed. It wasn‘t a bad story, but it didn‘t interest me the way that I was hoping it would. The very end of the book confused me a bit. I don‘t want to include a spoiler, but am wondering if anyone else who read it feels the same. Over all, this is another book that I felt was “so-so”.

4¾⭐
What you will get with this gritty character-driven mystery/suspense/thriller: A quickly moving plot, various POVs (possibly too many), a serial killer who preys on strippers, and characters who feel authentic with realistic motives, actions, and fears. Overall, I highly recommend this and if you listen to the audio version there is an interview between the narrator & the author where she tells you her motivation for writing the story & such.