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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.
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There Should Have Been Eight
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Date Published: November 21, 2023For me, two things combined to make this a truly suspenseful book – the descriptions of the mansion, and Luna’s impending loss of vision.
The author made me want to know about every twisting hallway and hidden room in this gothic family estate located across a bridge and miles from the nearest town. You can feel the tension mounting as a snowstorm sets in. Add to that the ruined wing, people coming and going, and people disappearing, and this reunion is seriously flawed. To top it off, cell reception is almost non-existent!
Someone is playing elaborate games, scaring Darcie by leaving her dead sister’s doll on her bed. When it shows up again, you have to wonder if Darcie is just manipulating the scene…or is someone really trying to freak her out?
You might be able to guess some of the secrets, you might even guess “who done it”, but the story is so well written that you won’t guess the why!
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for this advanced reader’s copy -
The Christmas Holiday
Author: Mikayla Davids
Publisher: Indie
Date Published: December 2, 2023Meet the in-laws. How awful can it be?
Alicia has finally married the guy she’s been friends with benefits since college. She had no idea his family were as wealthy as they are so when she’s invited to spend the Christmas holiday with them at their lodge in a remote area in Ireland, we can feel her anxiety. There is already an underlying tension to what should have been a festive event. Her sleep-deprived sister-in-law tends almost 24/7 to her baby. Her father-in-law is becoming a bit of an ogre. In her effort to get in everyone’s good graces, Alicia commits one faux pas after another. Then her mother-in-law goes missing and author Davids really ramps up the suspense. Four people go out on the search party. Only two come back. Which two? And what is this family hiding?
This is a quick, well-thought-out mystery told in alternating chapters, with well-developed characters. After reading this title, and The Family Secret, Davids is quickly becoming an auto-buy for me.
Thanks so much to the author and Love Books Tour for an advance reader’s copy.
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The House Guest
Author: Alison James
Publisher: Bookouture
Date Published: November 1, 2023Wow! I have been very stingy with my 5-star reviews but I’m happy that I found The House Guest well deserving of that rating! This is an intricate but fast-paced story with well-conceived characters that reel you in.
Because of a trust that’s almost diabolical in the way it was written, Hugh, doesn’t own the beautiful, historic house he lives in with his wife Alexis, but has a life-long tenancy that can only be passed on upon his death to his heirs or other living relative. His goal is to have lots of kids and since he’s young and still has time to have kids, he’s not too worried. Until a distant cousin shows up on his doorstep. She doesn’t seem interested in the house once she learns she can’t sell it, but why is she hanging around?
There are a few chapters towards the end that repeat the same sequence seen through each of the main characters’ point of view. With each retelling, we get a little more insight into the motivations for each. And that’s when…the plot thickens…
Take the time to read this twisty book. You won’t regret it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader’s copy.
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When I’m Dead
Author: Hannah Morrissey
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date Published: October 31, 2023I would say it would be great to be back in Black Harbor, but oh what a bleak place! The way the author paints the town, you just know you would never want to live there, either by birth or accident. You can just feel the dreariness, poverty, and crime creeping around the edges.
Hannah Morrissey writes dark, intelligent thrillers but she’s not afraid of using humor to break up the bits between the gore. “Libby’s eyes land on a copper-colored vintage [wine] labeled Hallowine. She remembers sampling it once from her mother’s glass and immediately making a face. It tasted like licking the basement floor.”
While the adults in the book could have used a little more development, the teenagers were on point and included mean girls, victims, and secret connections. And because of Morrissey’s background as a police transcriber, the book had a good frame of reference for the police and medical examiner procedural. Are you able to guess the perpetrator partway through the book? Yes. Was it Morrissey’s intention? I believe it was.
I have liked all of the the author’s Black Harbor, and I know if Morrissey writes it I will buy it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advance reader’s copy.
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Gone Tonight
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date Published: August 1, 2023Ruth takes a mother’s love to its extreme. She will do anything to protect her daughter Catherine from her past. Catherine is a dutiful daughter, bound at the hip to her single mother. So when Ruth is diagnosed with a fatal disease, Catherine at first goes into a tailspin. Determined to see if her mother’s past can yield more information that will save her, Catherine plunges into an investigation her mother is unable to stop.
Sarah Pekkanen is a master at finding the twist, and then twisting it just a bit more!
Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader’s copy.
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