If I could describe this story in one word, it would be the letter Z. This book had so many twists and turns. I kept trying to guess what they would be; I was wrong most of the time. Rachel Hawkins kept me guessing.
The characters are relatable (or at least understandable), smart and funny. How Jane and Eddie met is cute. Their chemistry is electric. She has secrets, and so does he. There is a hint of what is to come at the midpoint.

Jane is a dog walker escaping her past while trying to class climb the old-fashioned–a rich single man.

Eddie is an affluent and alleged widower with a past of his own that on the surface seems innocuous.

And John Rivers is an annoying opportunist who preys on single women in a bind.

These three characters together make for a great thriller, that is–if Rachel Hawkins is writing it. The pace of this book was perfect; I was never bored. The way the characters conversed with each other and the plot, kept me engaged. The short length of this story made me hesitant that it could be interesting. Boy was I wrong.
I love the small town trope. How everyone knows everyone, and is always in each others’ business served well. I don’t know much about Alabama, but for it to be the setting, gave the story a different feel. It’s not the typical book setting and it worked.

I have never read the classic novel, Jane Erye by Charlotte Bronte. This story was inspired by it and updated with an Alabama setting and 21st century themes to fit in the Southern Gothic subgenre. I highly recommend this story.

When I think of queen pins, I think of the rapper, Lil Kim or the female head of an illegal organization–that’s just me. Of course they wouldn’t spell it that way. The new movie starring Kristin Bell and Vince Vaughn was given this title for good reason. Queenpins is based on a true story; about two women, a homemaker and blogger, with few good ideas and even fewer zeros in their bank accounts, concoct a $40 million counterfeit coupon scam. It is rated R for mature language throughout according to IMDB.

Kristin Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste also starred together in The Good Place (2016). The last time we saw Vince Vaughn on the big screen was in Freaky last year. But the best surprise is that we get to see a bevy of comedic actors in one place on the big screen which we haven’t done in quite some time.

This screenplay is brought to us by the writing duo, Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly who are also husband and wife since 2009. They also directed this feature. Click the link below, if you’re curious.

I learned about this new app from LaceyBookLovers on Youtube. This is a growing trend to produce these apps that charge you for stories in short increments. My main issue with this one is that they are offering chapters of books on this site that has the entire book for sale at $4.99 on book retailer websites.

Hopefully, the gullible public sees this scam for what it is and rejects this money grab. However, the bigger issue is the growing trend to deliver short length stories for a price. Short stories have been around since the beginning of storytelling. The difference is, we used to read them in magazines or newspapers, etc. where we were paying for more than just the short story.

With the rise of self publishing, this creates opportunities for entrepreneurs, looking to capitalize off of the booming industry, to overcharge unfastidious customers, leaving them paying four times the price for a book they could have purchased–in its entirety–on one of the book retailer sites.

The emergence of virtual coins for stories concept, has become popular online. It’s seemingly innocuous idea gives the impression that this pay to read option is cheap. The Scream app has coins that can be purchased in bundles:

60 coins $2.99, 100 coins $4.99, 300 coins $14.99. There are more purchase options for you to buy. I’m not sure how much each chapter cost in coins but, for example, there are a lot of self published books on here. Most of the self published are sold on retailer sites such as Google and Amazon for 4.99. That’s the whole book. I imagine–since you would be reading a few chapters at a time–it will cost you more than five dollars in the end, if you purchased the whole book, in chapters, on this app.

Scream reading app is currently offered to I-phone users. It is owned by Crazy Maple Studio. The app came out this month and has eleven reviews in the Apple store so far. On Linkedin.com Joey Jia is listed as the CEO of Crazy Maple Studio. This is the same company that owns Chapters: Interactive Stories.