thriller – Donna's Reading Chair

Book Review: The Day After The Party

Thank you to the Facebook Group I Just Want To Do Book Nerd Stuff With My Friends for selecting this as our book club pick for the month of April! I would have never read this one otherwise!

That being said, this was fairly predictable, with the exception of the twist at the end. Overall the book kind of felt rushed in general. This is the first book I’ve read by Nicole Trope so I’m not sure if this is her style…shorter, faster paced books with less details, or if that was a one off (if you’ve read her before, let me know).

Katelyn loses memory of her birthday party. Her best friend and husband seem to be hiding something from her. Supposedly her memory went missing from traumatic information and she believes her husband has a secret he’s failing to tell her. I did enjoy getting to know the backstory of Katelyn and best friend Leah and if I’m honest, it’s all weird how they’re both connected to Katelyn’s husband as well. Reminded me a little of Vanderpump Rules, haha.

This is told in dual POV with Katelyn and Leah, but in 3rd person, and with how rushed everything kind of was, didn’t really execute well. By the time you get to the end it’s like, wait, that’s it? Surprising, but, that’s it? Also, it doesn’t read like a thriller, more like a domestic drama.

3.5 stars. I’m not mad I read it, but it was just eh. If it falls into your lap, it’s a worth a read, but I wouldn’t seek it out. The ending made me bump it up a half star, so not a terrible book, but not a great one. Just a middle of the road one! Anyway, onto the next read!

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Title: The Day After The Party

Author: Nicole Trope

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: October 30, 2023

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 Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

What happens when you leave your Netgalley shelf alone for so long…you end up buying a physical copy of a book you were fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advance copy of The Good Sister in exchange for my honest review.

The story is about twin sisters, Fern and Rose, who grew up with a less than stellar mother. Fern works in a library and sees her sister multiple times a week. Rose is married, desperate to have a child, and ensures her sister is well taken care of.

Fern is neurodivergent and I thought the way Hepworth wrote her character was absolutely fantastic. I loved Fern so much and found myself wanting to protect her through the pages. This story is also told from Fern’s point of view in the current time and through Rose’s journal entries where she talks about the past.

The real question is…who is the good sister? As this story unfolds, we start to see a few things that have us questioning a lot. Was their mother really abusive and a user? She did have an overdose when they were 12 years old that sent them to foster care. Fern regularly visits her mother in an assisted living home. Rose refuses and has not seen her mother in 10 years.

Fern works at a library and is pretty much an outcast. She never partakes in activities with her colleagues and they all kind of leave her alone. No one really understands her…

Without giving too much away…Fern finds a way to get her sister a baby. A baby she gets warned about to not give to her sister. With everything that has happened in her past, Fern is in no way capable of raising a child, nor should she really be trusted. Rose has done nothing but protect her, shelter her, and take care of her, it makes sense she should raise the baby…right?

4 stars. The suspense part of this book doesn’t really kick in until the last part of the book, it reads more as a fiction/literary tale up until that point, but once it kicks in, it’s a WILD ride. I absolutely loved how Hepworth kept us guessing and strung us along. I also really enjoyed Fern’s friend Wally aka Rocco and loved what he added to the story, along with her colleagues. This put a smile on my face at the end with everything that happened, absolutely delightful read, highly recommend!

Title: The Good Sister

Author: Sally Hepworth

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

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: October 27, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: He Started It

After reading My Lovely Wife I knew I had to get my hands on He Started It…

This is a story of 3 siblings, Beth, Portia, and Eddie, who go on a road trip after their grandfather passes away in order to be eligible for their inheritance from him. This cross country trip takes us on a thrilling ride! The siblings are not close and I can only imagine the grandfather knew what was he was doing as the will states that, “anyone who ends up in jail, who does not complete the trip, or who deviates from the original trip in any way, will get nothing.”

This is a dual timeline book as well with the present time and then 1999 when the siblings took the road trip. The amount of lying and manipulation the siblings do is wild and makes each page turn faster and faster as you need to find out the end results.

With families and then a body in trunks (wait, what did I just say), will these siblings be able to complete the cross-country road trip? Is someone following them? Were they just set up by their grandfather and it’s all a rouse?

4 stars. Great, fast paced thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. The family drama is constant and all of the characters with their flaws add such a fantastic touch. Beth, our narrator, also keeps us on our toes because can we trust her? Overall, great read, you won’t regret picking this one up!

Title: He Started It

Author: Samantha Downing

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 21, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Golden Couple

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advance copy of The Golden Couple in exchange for my honest review! (Yup, this is one is so delayed I actually bought a copy of the book because I forgot I had an ARC, whoops.)

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have done it once again. These two have given me another thriller I could not put down. What was the one all about? Well, I’ll tell you!

Meet the golden couple, Matthew and Marissa Bishop. Their marriage is falling apart, there’s no intimacy, but Marissa wants to save the marriage for the sake of their young son. She seeks out the work of Avery, a therapist.

There’s just one thing about Avery…she lost her license. Why? She’s very unconventional and the board frowns upon that. She has a 10-step method that works, even if that means she spies on her clients. It’s apparent throughout this book how Avery lost her license, but it gives us some good suspense!

Matthew and Marissa are no angels, both hiding things from each other and Avery…except Avery starts to sniff the lies out. Can she save the marriage?

This book is told from Avery’s point of view, as well as Marissa’s, as well as intertwining the past ad present and that gives this book such a unique twist. Phenomenal writing once again from one of my favorite duos!

5 stars. A suspenseful thriller that will have you glued to the pages, unable to put it down. The tension builds and the pace quickens and you just have to know what is really going on. This one will not disappoint!

Title: The Golden Couple

Author: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: March 8, 2022

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Last Resort

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin, and Graydon House for my advance copy of The Last Resort in exchange for my honest review! (Yeah, yeah, yeah…I’m delayed…AGAIN…I’ve been saying this for years now…but like Eminem, I’M BACK!)

The Last Resort paints us a gorgeous picture of an amazing luxury retreat in the Mayan Rivera. The retreat is for couples and is put on by the most amazing power couple, or so we think, with doctors Miles and Grace Markell. When Miles goes missing, everyone becomes a suspect…

All of the couples at the retreat are full of problems. Couples that don’t truly know each other, couples that fight constantly, and the mystery behind the big power couple that sets crazy rules in place that they themselves don’t follow. So what exactly is going on…

Things just seem out of place and slowly those at the retreat start to see through some things. Can the couples all survive the retreat? It’s a slow build of characters, but let me tell you, you will enjoy the ending. A raging category 4 hurricane comes and ravishes the island and well…karma. Karma!!!

4 stars. This is one worth picking up. It’s a slow build, but very dramatic. I didn’t have a hard time keeping the couples straight and sometimes when there’s numerous characters that happens, but Stapley does such a great job with her pen that it flows very well. Let me know if you have read this or decide to check it out!

Title: The Last Resort

Author: Marissa Stapley

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Graydon House

Release Date: June 18, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads