By Tessa Pulyer Posted on

#WWWWednesday | What I #amreading This Week – June 15, 2022

  • What am I currently reading?
  • What did I just finish?
  • What am I reading next?

I finished The Dark Matter of Natasha early yesterday morning, but as I’m typing this up I still haven’t started The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark. By the time you read this however, I should be well in to it. The early reviews are very good and I heard awesome things about it from someone I follow on IG, so I’m expecting a wonderful read!

  • Genre: Psychological Thriller
  • Pages: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
  • Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Two women. Many aliases. Meg Williams. Maggie Littleton. Melody Wilde. Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job. She’s a con artist who erases herself to become whoever you need her to be—a college student. A life coach. A real estate agent. Nothing about her is real. She slides alongside you and tells you exactly what you need to hear, and by the time she’s done, you’ve likely lost everything. Kat Roberts has been waiting ten years for the woman who upended her life to return. And now that she has, Kat is determined to be the one to expose her. But as the two women grow closer, Kat’s long-held assumptions begin to crumble, leaving Kat to wonder who Meg’s true target is. The Lies I Tell is a twisted domestic thriller that dives deep into the psyches and motivations of two women and their unwavering quest to seek justice for the past and rewrite the future.

The Dark Matter of Natasha by Matthew R. Davis was very unexpected. The approach kind of reminded me of a modern take on James Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man in a psychological thriller style story. But then I was scarred by James Joyce when I was an undergrad (lol) so anything that has sexually explicit material from the pov of a young man is bound to remind me of my first literary experience with it.

  • Genre: Psychological Thriller
  • Pages: 130 pages
  • Publisher: Grey Matter Press
  • Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Natasha stalks the quiet streets of dead-end Lunar Bay like doom in a denim jacket. She’s a grim reminder that some teenagers can never escape the ever-tightening noose of their lives. Burned out and benumbed by a traumatic past, dogged by scurrilous small-town gossip, she finds solace in drugs, sex and Slayer. What horrors have her flat eyes witnessed? And how far will she go in pursuit of the one tiny spark of hope that still flickers in her haunted heart? When a naïve transplant crosses her path, he’s drawn into shadow and doubt. With his girlfriend ghosting him, Natasha’s fresh introduction to her half-lit world is darkly appealing. Now faced with confusing quandaries—connection or convenience, relationship or exploitation—can he help any of the women in his life? Or is he just helping himself? The untold tragedies of Natasha’s lonely life may be more than he can handle. And in a town whose history is littered with dead girls, there may be no happy ending for anyone. A tar-black coming of age story, this gritty psychological thriller from Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Matthew R. Davis, eloquently chronicles the crushing gravity of small-town hopelessness, the double-edged catharsis of sex, drugs, and heavy metal, and the brutal weight of youth’s first lessons in accountability.

I enjoyed Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon, so I am very hopeful that I will enjoy The Sizzle Paradox as well. Reviews have been very mixed but that was also the case with the first book that I read by her. Fingers-crossed!

  • Genre: RomCom
  • Pages: 336 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
  • Publication Date: June 28, 2022
For fans of The Kiss Quotient and The Love Hypothesis, The Sizzle Paradox is the next sparkling romantic comedy by Lily Menon. Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud – she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship, only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. The science is sound, but how can she give her expert opinion with no real-world experience? In order to complete her doctoral thesis, she must crack the Sizzle Paradox – it seems the more sexually attractive she finds a guy, the less likely it is to come with an emotional connection; but why? – and to do that she must get the help she desperately needs. Kian Montgomery, her best friend, roommate, and fellow grad student, has no trouble bringing both romance and sizzle to his own relationships. When he offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics to find a good match, she’s certain it will solve her problems, and in exchange she agrees to set long-term-commitment-averse Kian up with someone different to give his romantic life a much-needed shakeup. But once the two progress with their “tutoring sessions,” they start to feel less like the academic exercise they were supposed to be as real feelings develop. Which is a problem, because Lyric and Kian are best friends and absolutely, irrefutably nothing else… Right?

What are you reading? Do you love it?

22 Replies to “#WWWWednesday | What I #amreading This Week – June 15, 2022”

  3. Staci Troilo says:

    OMG. The moocow. I knew I was going to hate that book from the opening page. I thought I’d blocked it out, but you said “Portrait” and there it was. {shudder}

    The Lies I Tell sounds good, but it also sounds like something I read over the summer. Maybe I’ve read too many psychological thrillers. Hmm…

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Tessa. BTW, I’m planning on starting The Gatekeeper soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      That book has a way of haunting people, doesn’t it?

      I hope you enjoy The Gatekeeper! Dez is such an interesting leading man.

      Like

  4. Mae Clair says:

    The Lies I Tell sounds like a good one. I do so enjoy my psychological thrillers.
    I devoured four books over vacation week (all of them 5 stars), and just started Ruth Ware’s One by One last night. I think it’s going to be a winner!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      I’ve heard good things about Ruth Ware but haven’t read any of her books. I actually have an arc of hers because I’ve heard so many good things.

      The Lies I Tell is so good so far. It definitely has me riveted!

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Teri Polen says:

    I was on the fence about downloading The Dark Matter of Natasha, but I didn’t. Just couldn’t fit it on. The Sizzle Paradox sounds like a fun read!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. WendyW says:

    I haven’t seen the Sizzle Paradox, it looks like something I would enjoy. I’ll be looking forward to your review!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lady Tessa says:

      It definitely does! You read Make Up Break Up by this author didn’t you? I thought we both read it but I definitely could be misremembering.

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.