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On a Quiet Street
Author: Carla Kovach
Publisher: Bookouture
Date Published: January 15, 2024You’ll read this book in one day! Well, one day if your day ends at 1:30 a.m. because you HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!
This was such a complex mystery, of identity, he said, she said, cheating husband, lying husbands, wives, and mothers! There was a stalker, threatening texts, and break-ins.
Kovach takes us on a whirlwind quest to find out who Charlotte is, if Leah is her mother, and if Leah did what her mother said she did. There was a little repetition in the retelling from different points of view, but that by no means took away from the horrible truths that are unveiled.
A solid 5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader’s copy!Photo background courtesy of Yoksel 🌿 Zok on @unsplash
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The Fury
Author: Alex Michaelides
Publisher: Celadon Books
Date Published: January 16, 2024The setting: the story takes place on a private island off the coast of Mykonos, with flashbacks to home in London. While the island is only a couple of acres wide, it has a full-time caretaker, a ruins, and big estate. The Fury (Menos in Greek) is the wind that sometimes swirls around the island.
The cast of characters: one professional actor, one up-and-coming actor, one wannabe actor, one aspiring actor, one philandering husband, a housekeeper, and the caretaker.
The pacing: so slooowww. Especially in the beginning, presumably a narrative ploy meant to keep the reader in suspense. Elliot is the first-person narrator who tells the story from his point of view, as he imagines it played out, in five acts. Remember – there are a lot of actors in this group!
The payoff: finding out who was murdered and why. The denouement is told in layer after layer after layer with an almost audible ta-da! There is showmanship, sleight of hand, unrequited love, and great emotional damage.
Thank you to Celadon Books for surprising me with an advance reader’s copy of this highly anticipated 2024 title! -
They Are the Hunters
Author: Faith Gardner
Publisher: Mirror House Press
Date Published: January 11, 2024I’ll just preface my review by saying I have loved everything that Faith Gardner has written, so when this one seemingly strayed into YA territory I said “uh oh!”. But no worries – of course she came through!
Almost everyone in this book is a psychopath or psychopath adjacent. But the characters are also so normal, they could be your neighbors. There’s a little bit of an origin story for the parents, Angela and Carson, and the secret that binds them. There’s nerdy Ezra, perfect daughter Eliza (okay, maybe not in her black hair/clothing phase), and new-in-town girl Olivia, who is just looking for a friend. And a collision course that brings them all together.
The writing is tight, with bits of humor that break up what would otherwise be a very macabre story of a hereditary inclination toward unaliving humans. But with the greatest of intentions.
Thanks to NetGalley, Mirror Press and BookSirens for an advance reader’s copy for review.
Background photo Alex Perez @unsplash
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The Heiress
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date Published: January 9, 2024I am so glad I decided to pull this book next from my TBR pile! Wow! This might be my favorite Rachel Hawkins book to date!
I love how she has written Ruby, a strong woman determined to make sure that her legacy is left in the right hands. And so, enter Camden, her adopted son (describing a picture he was forced to pose for, “I looked like a f***ing ventriloquist’s dummy who’d come to life in an assisted living facility”). This is really the story of three people, Ruby, Camden, and his wife Jules.
“We’re so close now, and soon, everything I’ve done will be worth it. And I will tell him. All of it, the whole story, no lies between us, just like it’s always been.”
Jules is the catalyst for reuniting Camden with his estranged family. She believes that once he’s away from their tiny rented apartment in Colorado and back in the huge house on the estate he’s heir to in North Carolina, he’ll see how good life could be for them. Of course that’s not the case. His cousins Ben and Libby, and Nana Nelle, are firmly entrenched in the house, a condition of Ruby’s will. And they spare no love for Camden, although Ben is intrigued by Jules’ witty repartee.
And of course there are Ruby’s secrets. All those dead husbands. That time she disappeared in the mountains. And finally, the way she died. The perfect combination for a suspense-filled novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader’s copy.
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The Mother-in-Law’s Secret
Author: Melanie Price
Publisher: Wendlebury
Date Published: December 26, 2023Well, let’s just say everyone in this book has a secret! But who will be the first to reveal theirs? And what will the consequences be?
This is a totally new tale of revenge and manipulation. Isabel wants her mother-in-law to like her, so that she can gain entry to her secret room. But Cassandra is not having it – no one is good enough for her son Miles. And William, her husband, is just standing on the sidelines, smirking at all of them. Or…is that all he’s doing?
There were a ton of twists and turns in this book. There was one twist in the end that caught me off guard, because the character development of this one person did not foreshadow the change in their personality, but the story was good enough that I’m still giving this book 4 twisty stars!
Thanks to Love Books Tours for bringing me on the tour for The Mother-in-Law’s Secret!
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Holmes, Marple & Poe
Author: James Patterson, Brian Sitts
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Date Published: January 8, 2024This was an unexpectedly fun read!
Auguste (Poe), Brendan (Holmes) and Margaret (Marple) are three private investigators with exceptional detective skills and unidentified sources of wealth. They may or my not be related to Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie, and it was interesting to see how fully developed their characters became through the course of the book, with my favorite, Margaret Marple, holding the team together.
I loved the way the story flowed, with one case starting as another one began. I lost track of the number of cases, but because there was always a new one, I never got bored or tired of reading. Each case had a clever solution, but the PIs were not always danger-free in pursuing their leads.
Thank you so much to Little, Brown and the #JamesPattersonStreetTeam for an advance reader’s copy. -
Make Her Pay
Author: Miranda Rijks
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Date Published: December 10, 2023Leonie has it all. But for the past 10 years, she has not had a single night of good sleep. All because of the choices she made. No, wait. The choices her overbearing father made on her behalf.
After getting the job, the apartment, and the man of her dreams, she can’t shake the fear that she doesn’t deserve all this. And as she waits for the other shoe to drop, it comes down with a resounding BANG!
Miranda Rijks has once again woven a complex story of suspense, with characters that pop off the page. I got goosebumps when Leonie was in situations where the reader knew what was going on, but she didn’t. I was rooting for her all the way, because despite what she did, she was a really likeable character. I tried to take my time reading this, savoring the story, as I didn’t want it to end!
An easy 5 stars! Thanks to NetGalley, Inkubator Books, and Booksprout for an advance reader’s copy. -
The Girl Who Heard Maggots
Author: Abby Davies
Publisher: Apple Loft Press
Date Published: December 5, 2023Ivy has the best of intentions. She’s protective of her six-year-old charge Wren, and she likes her employer enough to dress up in a Victorian maid’s outfit. She’s not too sure about the other inhabitants of the house. Then there is the chauffeur, Maddock, who acts more like a bodyguard, the housekeeper, Ping, who never looks her in the eye, and the elusive daughter, Odette, whom she’s warned to keep Wren away from at all costs. Oh yes…and the woods she’s been warned not to enter.
Abby Davies has once again written a taut, atmospheric suspense novel filled with fully developed characters and some great twists and turns.
Thanks so much to BookSirens for an arc from Abby Davies, who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors.
Apologies for the background photo, “wasp eating maggots” courtesy of jiri_chris @unsplash
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Casual Cruelties
Author: Alison Irving
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Date Published: November 3, 2023While this book is classified as a domestic thriller, it read to me more like women’s fiction.
A woman, going through a certain stage of her life, is constantly finding herself having to do what her husband wants. Every day is filled with his constant little casual cruelties. Even though she works. Even though she’s smarter than him.
Every day is spent judging his moods, waiting to see if he will snap at her today, or if he’ll apologize for something he’s done. A great part of the book is spent with” Groundhog” like days – waiting, strategizing, waiting. Until a solution is finally at hand.
The book is well written with many witty turns of phrasing, has quite a few triggers, and has an ending that makes it worth the wait.
Book Cravings 