Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press & Minotaur Books for my advance copy of The Guilt Trip in exchange for my honest review!
This book started a little rough for me. I find it confusing when a lot of characters are introduced at once. For this one we met 3 couples right away; 1 is getting married and the other 2 couples are great friends. I couldn’t keep who was with who straight until halfway through the book, but I know that’s a me thing!
The couples fly to Portugal for a wedding. No one seems to be a fan of the future wife (the brother of the soon to husband is here and sets off a cheating rumor). Is she crazy? Is she hiding something?
There is a lot of speculation of cheating in this one. Something just seems off in general. Sandie Jones does a FANTASTIC job of creating doubt in the reader’s mind. Just when you think, ah this is what is happening you think, ehhh maybe not?
This becomes unputdownable halfway through. You need answers! Is the wedding going on?! Is the future wife cheating on her soon-to-be husband?! Is a child’s paternity going to be questioned within the circle of friends?! Whaaaaaaat?!?
The ending was fast paced and in your face. That epilogue. That short, little epilogue and your mind is blown. Wow. It tied everything together and then I kicked myself, haha.
4 stars. SOLID read, great thriller. I didn’t anticipate the ending, but it was great and I’m left satisfied with how everything turned out!! You won’t regret reading this one!
*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!
Thank you to Netgally 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 2 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!
Thank you, thank you to Justine Sha with Harlequin Books for the opportunity to be invited to and included in this blog tour! I was presented an advance copy of Sister Dear in exchange for my honest review and opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own. Stay tuned after my review for an excerpt!
I never thought a book could have me feel all different kinds of emotions for the protagonist until I read this one. What do I mean? Here’s a list of everything I felt for Eleanor, our main character: sorry, angry, upset, crazy, happy, and my list could go on with all of these opposing emotions. What a tale Hannah Mary McKinnon takes us on and what a ride she takes us on with Eleanor!
This story is told through Eleanor. She recently loses her father, the only parent she had a relationship with. She is estranged from her mother and sister and could care less about them. When a secret comes out on her father’s death bed, her life changes.
Eleanor lives a single lifestyle, barely hanging on, and has a problem with binge eating. Her father’s death catapults her and she ends up learning even more about her mother. Her mother comes around and tries to be nice, but all she wants is for Eleanor to give any money her father left her, to her sister. Mind you, her sister didn’t even come to her father’s funeral.
Oh, did I not mention the secret that she found out? Right…well, her father wasn’t her biological father. Nope. And she found out she has a half sister. If you thought her mom and sister were drama…oh no, wait until you meet her real father and see how THAT plays out.
5 stars. Why? Because my opinion of Eleanor changed SO MUCH throughout this book, it was unreal. The ending made me angry, but weirdly I was ok with it. I’m still angry and upset over the ending, but any other ending really could have been a little more unrealistic. This book just takes you on a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. Such a great job by the author!! You won’t regret picking this one up!
EXCERPT: Chapter 1
The police didn’t believe me.
A jury wouldn’t have, either, if I’d gone on trial, and most definitely not the judge. My attorney had more than a few reservations about my story. Ms. Allerton hadn’t said as much. She didn’t need to. I saw it in her eyes, could tell by the way she shuffled and reshuffled her papers, as if doing so might shake my lies clean off the pages, leaving only the truth behind in her inky, royal blue swirls.
After our first meeting I’d concluded she must’ve known early on—before she shook my hand with her icy fingers—that I was a liar. Before she’d walked into the room in shiny, four-inch heels, she’d no doubt decided she’d heard my excuses, or a variation thereof, from countless clients already. I was yet another person claiming to be innocent. Another criminal who’d remained adamant they’d done nothing wrong, it wasn’t their fault, honest, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary, a wall of impending doom surrounding me.
And still, at the time I’d believed the only reason Ms. Allerton had taken on my case pro-bono was because of the amount of publicity it gave her firm. Reducing my sentence—for there would be one—would amplify her legacy as a hot-shot lawyer. I’d accepted her help. There was no other option. I needed her knowledge, her expertise, saw her as my final hope. I now know her motivations were something else I’d miscalculated. All hope extinguished. Game over.
If I’m being fair, the judgements Ms. Allerton and other people had made about me weren’t completely wrong. I had told lies, some, anyway. While that stripped away part of my claim to innocence, it didn’t mean I was entirely guilty. Not of the things everybody said I’d done. Things I’d had no choice but to confess to, despite that being my biggest lie of all.
But I’ll tell you the truth. The whole truth and nothing but. I’ll start at the beginning, and share everything that happened. Every last detail leading up to one fateful night. The night someone died because of me. The night I lost you, too.
I won’t expect your forgiveness. Our relationship—or lack thereof—will have gone way beyond that point. No. All I can hope for, is that my side of the story will one day help you understand why I did the things I did.
And why I have to do the things I’ve not yet done.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advance copy of You Are Not Alone in exchange for my honest review!
These two ladies NEVER disappoint when it comes to a joint effort novel. In this thriller it starts off with a bang with Shay, a lonely woman, witnessing a woman jump in front of a subway train.
Shay happens to stumble across the Moore Sisters, very successful, and they also happen to know the woman who killed herself by way of the subway. Shay finds herself being comforted by these women at the right time. Shay finds herself very lonely and without friends and the Moore Sisters start being there for her. Could there be more to the story than meets the eye with how the Moore Sisters happen to acquaint themselves with Shay?
This story was filled with twists and turns. I kept turning the page because I wasn’t sure where the story was going next. It is told from multiple points of view so we are seeing everything going on from every angle. One thing for sure, I was not ready for how it ended. I thought it was going in a completely different direction and I was blindsided…in a good way!
Greer and Hendricks create a tension that glues you to your seat as you turn each page. They have this unique ability to collaborate and pen such a great story. This is the 3rd story by them and I hope there are 20 more by them, their talents together are just remarkable when it comes to great thrillers!
4 stars. I loved this one and could hardly put it down. The uniqueness in the group of friends that befriended Shay was the perfect mix for this dark and edgy thriller. I highly recommend you find a copy of this one sooner rather than later!
Yes, another October 2019 read I gathered from my public library. Pretty soon I’ll be caught up with all my reads!
Another book with a crazy woman who stays inside her house and spies on all her neighbors? Yes…but trust me when I say this is one is different and will have you flipping the pages to keep up.
Phoebe has become a recluse when her high profile father dies amid a shocking scandal. Her marriage…well…she’s married so there’s that, but not much more to it than a title at this point in time. She starts to notice a car parked outside herself and believes she is being watched. Is she crazy? She starts to take note of the times they’re there…
…meanwhile she starts to befriend her new neighbors. Let me tell you that some crazy stuff happens and it all happens at once. It takes awhile to get to the meat of the stuff, but once part two hits, BAM, it is in your face.
4 stars. For avid thriller readers you may be able to predict the ending. I am an avid reader, but I live in la la land so I didn’t see anything coming. I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for a story where a crazy, middle aged woman takes center stage!
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?
Slowly getting through my Netgalley reads…I don’t even want to let you know how many I’m behind on. I have been holding true to my promise and I have not requested any more yet. See, I’m being a good girl! After I finish this review it’s off to read some more! My Kindle will be burning the midnight oil!
This book twisted and this book turned…I did not see the ending coming, although I feel like it COULD be predictable for those of you thriller aficionados, but not for me! What I appreciated most about this book was the side story of the detective, Valerie.
This book is about solving a murder…or two…Valerie is on the case and has her own family drama. This is apparently book number 3 in the Valerie Hart series so I don’t know what her personal life has been like up until now, but she had some drama. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything and didn’t realize it was number 3 until I pulled up the Goodreads page. So not only do we have this mystery of who killed who, we also have a side story going on…this book was just filled with great writing!
It was easy to follow, even after I ended up deserting this book for a MONTH (shame I know), but when I picked it back up it was easy to remember everything that happened. A big fancy prosecutor, Adam, is murdered. His family is just in pieces over his death and then another murder is discovered…are they connected? Oh, you’ll have to read to find out. It was a great thriller with a fun side story, again, I really appreciate that!
4 stars. I am sure you’re tired of me saying this, but I really liked reading for the mystery, as well as for the family drama and what Valerie would do. I was in her corner and I am so HAPPY with what happens in her personal life in the end. Aren’t you just curious to know what this is all about? Go get a copy of this book ASAP!
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???
I have a few people to thank for my copies of The Perfect Girlfriend…Netgally, Goodreads, and Harlequin Books! I didn’t realize I had this on Netgalley so I tried to win it on Goodreads…and won. Whoops! However, it did provide for a fun buddy read with my co-worker! I shared the love! Here’s my honest review in exchange for the free copies!
If you were to look up the definition of a crazy psycho ex-girlfriend a picture of Juliette would be what you would find! WOAH. Just when you think she couldn’t be more of a stalker, there she goes, doing something else batshat crazy!
She adores her ex-boyfriend. She will do ANYTHING to make him hers again. The ironic thing is that Juliette thinks she is completely normal and is doing nothing wrong. Put it this way…Nate, the ex-boyfriend, is a pilot so when they break up she decides to become a flight attendant for the same company he flies for.
She keeps track of him through his work schedule. She somehow has an extra key to his house and freely roams about when he’s flying. She also manages to get a spying app on his phone so she can see what he is always doing!!!
I won’t say too much more about the book because I don’t want to give anything away, but I think I read this book with my jaw open the entire time. It was absolutely crazy! Since I was doing this as a buddy read every day the two of us would be, “CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?!”
I have to give a lot of credit to Karen Hamilton for what her imagination conjured up…although I have to wonder if she was once a crazy ex-girlfriend herself, haha, just kidding!! I would like to note she is happily married with children (yes, I looked it up) so we can all rest easy!
Juliette is everything a devastated ex-girlfriend is; jealous, envious, and revengeful. The things she does will leave you speechless.
Here’s where it gets tricky…rating. I love a solid ending. The Perfect Girlfriend doesn’t have it. I was left a little miffed with how it ended. On the other side, I know people (one of my good friends included) who would LOVE how it ends. I don’t want to say how it ends, but just know if you read it you’ll understand. Would I say not to read it because of the ending? No, what Juliette does is well worth a read because it’s unimaginable. I think I’m just miffed because what I think should have happened to Juliette didn’t. Looking at it from my friend’s perspective, I get it. It was still a very well written suspenseful, thrilling novel. Well, I guess that settles it then. 4 stars. You will just have to read this one and then come back so we can discuss that ending!
Donna's Reading Chair 