suspense – Donna's Reading Chair

Book Review: No One Was Supposed To Die At This Wedding

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for my advance audiobook copy of No One Was Supposed To Die At This Wedding by Catherine Mack in exchange for my honest review. This was released on May 13, 2025 and I’m a little behind because I was finishing up the first book in this series and I’m so glad I did!

Catherine Mack is an absolutely hilarious writer that will have you laughing out loud while you’re trying to solve a mystery. I absolutely love the perspective she has with this book as she is telling YOU the story. She will drop you hints and give you some behind the scenes perspectives so it feels like she’s with you, telling you this story personally. Does it make it easier to solve the mystery? Ha…good luck!

This book follows behind Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies and picks up where it left off. Could this be read as a standalone? Absolutely. I do feel like you’ll enjoy it more if you read the first one in the Vacation Series because you’ll already have all the background on the characters and situation. She does give you brief backgrounds in case you didn’t read it, but I think this would be even that much more enjoyable paired with it (or maybe you wouldn’t even miss it and I just know what I would have since I read the first one).

Eleanor is attending her best friend’s wedding and everything is great until a note is discovered that says someone will die at the wedding. Eleanor and her gang of friends go into detective mode to try and figure out who is a potential murderer and who the target is.

We also have a love story in the mix with Emma (Eleanor’s best friend) and her movie star fiance Fred Winters, as well as Eleanor with her own love life drama being around her ex-boyfriend Connor while with her new (yet also previous) beau Oliver. Oh the drama with that as well!

4 stars. This will have you constantly chuckling while also playing detective. I failed at guessing who the murderer was in the first book and I failed miserably this time as well. If you read it, let me know if you figured it out because…HOW?!

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Title: No One Was Supposed To Die At This Wedding

Author: Catherine Mack

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Romance

Publisher: Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books

Release Date: May 13, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Close Your Eyes and Count To 10

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for my audiobook copy of Close Your Eyes and Count To 10 in exchange for my honest review. I received access to this one after the release date so it’s available NOW for you to read or listen to!

The book was certainly a thriller from start to finish! This was the most intense game of hide an seek!

Enter Adele, a single mother of 2 teens who happens to need money after her husband just disappeared after an apparent money issue. Adele’s teenagers are all about the latest and greatest influencers, as Adele is trying hard herself to become one. So when they stumble upon Maverick Dillon holding a game of hide and seek on Falcao Island (a place where her son happens to know thanks to a friend he online games with), they encourage her to enter. Wouldn’t you know she gets picked to complete?

Bravely leaving her children behind, she embarks on what she thinks will just be a weekend chance to earn money to make all their problems go away. What she doesn’t count on are people on the island warning her to leave before the game even begins. What she really doesn’t know is what is happening behind the scenes with Dillon’s company (he’s kind of like Mr. Beast) AND a HUGE storm is approaching the island.

This is the perfect storm for a page turning thriller you cannot put down.

5 stars. I couldn’t stop listening. I was so desperately trying to piece everything together (I failed, shocker). How she puts everything together is absolutely brilliant and it had parts I just could not see coming. I highly recommend this book for any thriller enthusiast, you will not be disappointed!

Title: Close Your Eyes and Count To 10

Author: Lisa Unger

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery

Publisher: Harlequin Audio, Park Row

Release Date: February 25, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Heart Of The Sun

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for my advance audiobook copy of Heart Of The Sun by Mia Sheridan in exchange for my honest review. This one has me wanting to start doomsday prepping!

Mia Sheridan does not disappoint in this dystopian-esque tale where we have childhood friends finding eachother after years apart. Tuck, who is recently out of prison, and Emily, an up and coming popstar, find eachother thanks to Emily’s mom who encourages Tuck to reach out to Emily to apply to be her bodyguard.

Emily has the movie star boyfriend and the beginnings of a fancy Hollywood life. Tuck is a little surprised with her choice of boyfriend, but does his duty as her bodyguard. They are on a private flight across the country when a solar flare hits and they crash, leaving them in survival mode. Tuck, who gets involved a slight mistrust, does his job to keep her safe, even if she doesn’t necessarily want him to.

They do everything they can to make it back to California to check on her parents and get home to where they think they can be safe. They encounter a lot on a the way and the scary part of this book is that one major solar flare or nuclear attack in our atmosphere and BAM, this is reality.

This is a slow burn that checks off so many boxes. Childhood friends. Enemies to lovers. Bodyguard romance. Second chance. I absolutely loved and adored this!

4 stars. It’s a fantastic dystopian romance that will have you unable to put this down. I absolutely could NOT stop towards the end of the book and I just loved how Sheridan ended it. This truly is an absolute gem that also has me doomsday prepping now, so, thanks for that, haha. This is one to add to your collection immediately, it’s out tomorrow, May 20th!

Title: Heart Of The Sun

Author: Mia Sheridan

Genre(s): Fiction, Dystopian, Romance, Chick Lit

Publisher: Harlequin Audio, Canary Street Press

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Unlucky Ones

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for my advance audiobook copy of The Unlucky Ones in exchange for my honest review. My apologies for the delay in the review, I’m behind (as always), but I did enjoy this one!

The book is actually the fourth book in the Black Harbor series, but don’t let that deter you from this! I don’t feel like I missed out on anything!

We have former police transcriber turned novelist, Hazel, return to a town she said she’d never come back to when she finds out her ex-husband has been murdered. Black Harbor was a place she ran from, it isn’t a good town. Black Harbor honestly had a small town vibe for being such a large city, and was the place to be if you were looking for the latest and greatest drug on the streets.

Kole, an officer investigating the murder, happens to be Hazel’s former lover…yeah, maybe kinda sorta when she was still married too. They end up joining forces to tackle the case, much to other’s dismay, but there’s something shady things happening and others ending up dead, so they have to do what they have to do.

I do plan on going back and reading the first three books in this series because I enjoyed it so much. I want their back story in full and see how their relationship has ebbed and flowed.

4 stars. It’s a great thriller with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure, I highly recommend this one!

Title: The Unlucky Ones

Author: Hannah Morrissey

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Suspense

Publisher: Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio

Release Date: March 25, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Night Before

*blows dust* WHAT?!?!? A book review?!? You know what…it’s long overdue for myself to get back in the saddle. Why? I’m tired of reading books and then forgetting what they’re about…haha. But, honestly I have a HUGE backlog of books I have read and I MISS blogging about them. So…hopefully I will stick with it a little longer. I don’t plan on posting as often as I used to, but I am definitely aiming for weekly posts!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advance copy of The Night Before in exchange for my honest review! (Oops, I’ve had this book for 3 years…I am so, so sorry it took me THIS long to read it, I wish I picked it up sooner!!!!!)

Wow. The Night Before opens up with a bang. Laura is plagued by a murder from her high school years that she is adamant she didn’t commit (even though not everyone may truly believe her).

Laura moves from New York City after a sudden breakup into her sister’s home, in her hometown. She thought she left everything behind and finds herself back here. Laura decides to jump back into dating and her sister, Rosie, thinks it is a bad idea.

Walker takes us through an alternating timeline, Laura in therapy, Laura on her date, and her sister after her date. There were twists and turns and a shocker I did not see coming. When I stopped and reflected on the book, I smiled. It was just THAT good.

I loved the alternating timelines. We hear from Laura in realtime on her date (which was in the past) and then immediately get thrown into the present with Rosie and what is going on there. This kept me hooked and kept me up past my bedtime!!!

4 stars. SOLID read, great thriller. I never saw one specific part of the book coming…it was a total shock. I love how the book ended and everything came into place. My heart broke a little for Laura, but in the end, I am happy with how things turned out for her!

Title: The Night Before

Author: Wendy Walker

Genre(s): Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: May 14, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Stolen Things @RachaelHerron @DuttonBooks #Mystery #Thriller #Suspense #MomsWhoRead #ReadMe

Ok, I have to go all the way back to October for this one…I told you I was behind. You just didn’t know HOW behind, haha. I won’t lie, I had to read a few reviews on Goodreads to jog my memory! Yes, I’m one of those people who forgets the majority of books/movies…overall I remember if I liked it or not, so I at least have that going for me!

This was a captivating thriller where you thought you knew who did it, until you realized you didn’t. This book tackles rape, murder, missing person, police brutality and racial issues. Yeah, it goes all into that.

The mom is a 911 operator and receives a phone call from her daughter who has been drugged and she has no idea where she is. Her father is the chief of police and they go on a man hunt and find her. She ends up being drugged and raped, found at her friend’s home. Oh, by the way there’s a dead body in the closet in the room she’s found in. Her friend, who holds rallies against the police, which the daughter attends, is now accused of rape and murder. The daughter denies her friend could possibly do anything wrong, but the evidence is there…and oh yeah, her once best friend is MISSING!

There was a lot of action. The mother is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to her daughter and what is going on and it is a crazy, wild ride. The parents of the friend are banging down her door asking for answers of what the police all know and where their daughter is. She looks into her own people within the police department and does not hold back her own private investigation. I will say the beginning of filled with nonstop page turning action that starts to fade a little as the book goes on…now, it is still a captivating read with thrilling action that makes you go, oh my what is happening!!

4 stars. I could relate being a mother and doing anything to figure out what happened to my child. Highly recommend this for lovers of thrillers! Have you read this one? Did you enjoy it?

Title: Stolen Things

Author: R.H. Herron

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Publisher: Dutton

Release Date: August 20, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Into The Water @PaulaHWrites #IntoTheWater #Thriller #PsychologicalThriller #PaulaHawkins #Mystery #4stars @PenguinBooks @PenguinUKBooks @riverheadbooks

Thank you to my work colleague for lending me this book! I hate saying this now as I don’t want you all to be jealous of the great reads I get passed through the work place! I just want to highlight my FAVORITE part of this book as I referred back to it A LOT. I wish many books had this and I do know that not every edition of this book has this page…

There were a lot of people to remember in this book. Each chapter was from a different viewpoint of a character. Each chapter I flipped back to that page above so I kept everything straight. Game. Changer.

The reader’s digest summary is that Nel Abbott is discovered dead in the drowning pool. It is believed she killed herself, but the family is not quite buying it. She has been writing all about the drowning pool and the women that have died in those waters. The locals do NOT want her writing anything. They kept warning her to stop. Nel’s daughter’s best friend happens to be one of the victims, but Nel just can’t keep her nose out of what is going on.

This story was suspenseful and had me thinking something different each chapter. I thought there was some crazy secret love affair going on with how 2 sets of characters were acting and turns out…nope…but there were multiple love affairs in the book. I just completely made one up in my head, haha. People do crazy things when they’re in love. People do crazy things to protect their family. What happens in this book is a wild, fun ride. Again, it was super easy to follow thanks to the cheat sheet in the beginning. This would be a difficult story to follow without it!

This is my first book by Hawkins and I am excited to read more from her! The characters were unique and I disliked quite a few, but that the book that much more interesting!

This is a solid 4 star read. It is a suspenseful, mind racing thriller that will have you wanting more and more until all your questions are answered. And yes, all your questions will be answered!! The ending was unexpected yet great! Have you read Hawkins work before? Am I crazy for being so late onto her fan train???

Title: Into The Water

Author: Paula Hawkins

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Release Date: May 2, 2017

Find it here on Goodreads and Amazon

First Line Friday: May 10th

As always First Line Friday comes courtesy of Hoarding Books Blog. I discovered this magic thanks to Crystal at Must Love Reviews.

This week I am highlighting a book that was given to me by a colleague that I am hoping I will finish before our school year is out!

There was something you wanted to tell me, wasn’t there? What was it you were trying to say? I feel like I drifted out of this conversation a long time ago. I stopped concentrating, I was thinking about something else, getting on with things, I wasn’t listening, and I lost the thread of it.

Guess which one I chose to read first…yes, that line is from Into The Water by Paula Hawkins! I am excited to delve deeper into this one! What are you currently reading??

Book Review: I Am Watching You

Woah. I need a moment to process what just happened. Everything I knew that was happening just changed in a split second!

Let me set this book up for you…read it. Ok, ok, ok…but just a little because this book is a page turning, nail biting thriller that will leave you speechless. It is a story about a young teenage girl who goes missing on a trip to London. It is told from multiple perspectives; a witness who saw her traveling to London on the train, the father, the friend she was traveling with, and a private investigator that the witness hired. The case ends up going cold and unsolved for over a year until…well, just know that the case gets solved and you find out whodunit…and if you can guess who did you must be a psychopathic serial killer.

I read this as a buddy read with my friend and we finished this book within days. I took off running and then she surpassed me and was cheering me on to finish. You should see the text I sent her when I finished reading chapter 46. I would show you, but, then I’d have to kill you. Honestly we didn’t know much about this book except that I have heard rave reviews about it and it was highly rated.

We almost didn’t read it because she kept seeing reviews where people drone on about the witness describing flower arrangements…ok…so to those reviews I say, yeah, not quite what it seems. I will say that Driscoll does an amazing job at stringing you along and giving you just enough details to keep you hooked and wanting more.

This earns a solid 5 star rating from me. It was just…amazing. I have since added her other 2 thrillers (one out and one coming out soon) to my want to read list because that’s how amazing this read was. I am telling you, my mind was absolutely blown! And for what it’s worth, my friend who can usually predict everything in a thriller, did not see the ending coming. Read it. Tell all your friends. Then come back and TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS BOOK! OH EM GEE!

Title: I Am Watching You

Author: Teresa Driscoll

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: October 1, 2017

ASIN: B06Y1264PX

ISBN-10: 9781542046596

Amazon //\\ Goodreads

BONUS: I want to share a quote from this book that speaks VOLUMES to me. Also, after reading this book, good luck to my kids to ever getting them to allow me to go anywhere by themselves! 😉

Because once you become a parent, you learn that love can involve more fear than you had ever imagined, and you never quite look on the world in the same way again.

Doesn’t that just hit right home for my fellow parents out there??? Anyway…pick up the book, trust me, it’s a GREAT one!