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The Tapes
Author: Kerry Wilkinson
Publisher: Bookouture
Date Published: August 11, 2025BOOK TOUR
Eve’s dad has passed away, and while cleaning out his garage, she finds a box of cassette tapes. Since Eve’s mom was known for her pre-podcast daily recordings, Eve decides to check them out. While sorting through the box, she comes across one with her name on it, written in her mother’s handwriting. The tape starts, “If they say I’m missing, I’m not. I’ve been killed.” But so much of the tape is missing or skipping. But one thing is for sure. Her mom knew something she shouldn’t have. The identity of The Earring Killer.
In her quest to figure out who the killer is, Eve might have inadvertently tipped her hand to the real killer. Who can she trust? Her brother, who she’s all but estranged from? Her ex-neighbor’s husband, who assaulted her? Her boss, who’s a bully? Kerry did a great job of presenting multiple suspects so that our suspicion falls on any number of characters. And as usual, Kerry is so adept at doing dialogue.
There were interludes between chapters of a book written about the Earring Killer, giving us insight into his victims, and potentially clues to who it might be. There was some repetition, with Eve noting how notorious a liar her mom was. So was she right about knowing who the Earring Killer was? You’ll just have to read the book to find out!
Author BioKerry Wilkinson is an auto-buy for me!
Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.
He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.
Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Kerry Wilkinson here: https://www.bookouture.com/kerry-wilkinsonBuy Link:
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0FFH4CSRGsocial
You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for taking me on the book tour with an advance reader’s copy. -
So Shall You Reap
Author: Mark Jenkins
Publisher: Indie
Date Published: July 29, 2025I may have a serious case of whiplash after reading this book! This is classified as a thriller, but it read more like horror to me!
Belle Jackson is one of the original vigilantes, seeking justice for a wrong that was done to her. But she has convinced her devoted husband, Harvey, that they are ridding the world of predators. But because of their notoriety, they decide to live deep within Superior National Forest, in an area that is off-limits to most people. They raise a family, and their legacy continues.
Years later, five teenagers decide to rob a bank to help one of their dads pay off staggering medical bills. Something goes horribly wrong, and as they take off in their getaway car, they’re stopped by a police officer. When the girls make up a sob story, he tells them the best place to hide is in the bowels of Superior National Forest.
While these two stories seemed disjointed at first, they intersect in the most alarming and gruesome way. And when the twists come, they don’t stop.
There were podcast chapters interspersed that didn’t seem necessary, but perhaps were included to make the book appear relevant.
I loved the nod to Freida McFadden (IYKYK)!
Thanks to BookSirens for an advance reader’s copy. -
We Won’t All Survive
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group
Date Published: July 29, 2025Eight people have been selected to participate in a reality show that tests their survival instincts. Only, when they arrive at the site, there is no one from the cast to greet them. The entrance gate is closed and locked, topped by barbed wire. They have to earn their food, water, and medical supplies through challenges. And their phones have been locked in a secure safe. And then someone dies….
I really liked this book, and here’s why:
– YA but reads still relatable on an adult level
– Fast-paced read
– Locked room (well, semi-locked room) trope, one of my favorites
_ Two female characters who are really strong, even though they might be in competition for the final girl
– Survivor/escape room vibesEach character is well developed as their initial trauma is revealed, known as their Precursor Crossroads Event – the point at which they had to make a life-changing decision. There are quite a few twists and suspects that kept me on my toes – I was so absorbed I read this book in a day!
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for an advance reader’s copy.
Background photo courtesy of Asher Legg on Unsplash.
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I Will Find You
Author: Jessica Huntley
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Date Published: July 27, 2025First, I want to apologize to all of the chores I didn’t get done, because I couldn’t put this book down!
Bonnie and Stephan are hiking the Swiss Alps on a mission. Bonnie is on a quest, which is revealed later in the book. Stephan is an experienced hiker and Bonnie is a long-distance runner who has spent the last year training for the hike. Somehow, they get far off track. And then it snows.
I don’t know why, but I’m drawn to books that take place in snowstorms, even though they make me feel claustrophobic. And this book becomes doubly claustrophobic when Bonnie and Stepan seek shelter in a cottage with a crazy woman. Did I say crazy? I meant psychotic. But there’s a history there, and soon hers and Bonnie’s paths will intersect in the most awful way. I love how the characters develop under the author’s skilled hand, until none of them end up how, or where, they started out.
This book was like a cross between Hansel and Gretel and Stephen King’s MIsery. In a snowstorm. With lying husbands. And I enjoyed every minute of it.
Thanks to @jessicahuntley @netgalley @inkubatorbooks and @booksprouts for an advance reading copy for my reading pleasure! Background photo courtesy @annapodraczky on @unsplash -
The Getaway
BOOK TOUR
Author: Rona Halsall
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Date Published: July 25, 2025Imagine you’re in a beautiful town in Croatia, longing to stay more than the two weeks you originally allotted, when you’re presented with the opportunity to extend your vacation. You and your partner both work from home, so you can work anywhere, your house is company-ready since you cleaned it up to sell, and it wouldn’t cost you a dime. Sound too good to be true? Yup – you and I know that, but unfortunately, Maddie just thinks it’s good fortune.
And it turns out to be anything but!
I love how Rona Halsall presents her characters and in this story, Maddie is perfect at trusting the wrong person, Tom is sufficiently contrite over his omissions about his background, and Alex and Ed are a perfectly charming…until they’re not!
Once again, Halsall has written a book that ramps up the tension and brings it to a satisfying ending!
Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Love Books Tours for an advance reader’s copy of this thriller by Rona Halsall.
Author Bio
Rona is the #1 best selling author of twisty psychological thrillers and loves to create mayhem in her characters’ lives to keep her readers guessing. She recently moved to Snowdonia, North Wales and lives halfway up a mountain with her three dogs
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The Unseen
Author: Ania Ahlborn
Publisher: Gallery Books
Date To Be Published: August 19, 2025This was the first book I’ve read by Ania Ahlborn, although I know her by reputation.
A mother is grieving the loss of her child, and a little child walks out of the forest. Could he take the place of her child Adam? And will her family of five kids accept him? One thing is for sure…the dogs are freaked out by him, and dogs know! Just sayin’.
Even though I went into this book blind (no pun intended), I felt like I knew where it was headed. I wanted to scream “what the heck are you waiting for, give that kid back!”. The writing was atmospheric, and you could picture the house, its isolation, and the woods behind it. There is a scene with wasps that had me squirming, and a few scenes where there is so much noise I could almost hear it. I did have some trouble distinguishing between the younger kids when they presented their points of view, but it didn’t detract from the story. Unlike some others, I didn’t have a problem with the ending, although again, it was predictable to me.
So even though it wasn’t my style of horror, I’m rounding up from 3.5 for the creepy kid factor, the atmospheric writing, and the uniqueness of the setting.
Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advance reader’s copy! -
Julie Tudor is Not a Psychopath
Author: Jennifer Holdich
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Date Published: June 24, 2025Julie Tudor is obsessed.
You know how you fangirl over a new TV show, obsess over a new lipstick color, or what to wear tomorrow? Yeah, no. Julie is not obsessed like that. She is OBSESSED! And by that I mean <cough> stalker <cough>.
We’ve all been there – where you thought the lead singer was singing just to you. Or that the hunk on the TV show was talking just to you, and would fall madly in love with you if you ever had a chance to meet. No? Just me?
Julie Tudor believes that her affections are totally mutual, and that the men in her life are only with other people because they are stuck in bad relationships…and she’s here to do something about that!
Also, FYI – Julie is not a pet person (trigger warning for assumed animal abuse).
I mainly felt sorry for Julie throughout her not <wink, wink> psycho serial killings. The fact that she was an older woman who dressed like an odd duck, had an inflated sense of her job, and an eye for a younger man at work, was not lost on colleagues, who made her the brunt of many office jokes. This book will make you extremely uncomfortable in a “can’t look away from a train wreck” kind of way. And that’s okay. It just means your normal!
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early eBook by this debut author and special box of summer paperback reads! -
The Bachelorette Party
Author: Camilla Sten
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date Published: June 10, 2025Who killed Tilly, Anna, Linnea, and Evelina?
There’s always something atmospheric about a deserted island, and Isle Blind is no exception.
But 10 years later, a new hotel has been built on the island and a group of women is invited to have their bridal party at the soft opening. One requirement – leave all electronic devices at the door. One of the women, Tessa, happens to be there for an ulterior reason: she’s obsessed with the murders, presumed accidental drownings, of the Nacka Four as the women were known. She’s fallen into disgrace as a podcaster for her aggressive pursuit of a former story, and she thinks this could be the case that will put her in the ratings again.
When Tessa steps foot on the island, her spidey sense is tingling. I love how Sten made comparisons between the women from the past and the current group (although I kept getting the name Matilda, from the first group, and Mikaela from the second group, confused)
Sten manages to ramp up the book during the last third of the book; I know, because I was holding my breath the whole time. I was also surprised to find I had tears glistening at the corners of my eyes reading the final chapter.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for providing me with an advance reader’s copy! -
Room 21
Author: Jessica Huntley
Publisher: Joffe Books
Date Published: May 27, 2025Jessica, what have you done? This book absolutely wrecked me…in a good way!
Kimberley loves her job as a maid. She prides herself on a job well done. But she’s just barely getting by, even though she shares an apartment with several other people. Not friends. Just people. So when she’s made an offer she can’t refuse, she hardly thinks about the consequences. Or the NDA she has to sign. Mistake. BIG mistake!!
The first thing that sweetened the pot (plot?) for me was that this is a locked room mystery. Employees come to this hotel, but they don’t leave. Why…well, that’s where this book goes dark. I was holding my breath waiting to see how far the author went, and let’s just say…she goes there!
I love that the author includes a real-life source for her inspiration of Kimberley’s epilepsy, and I think everyone who reads this will fall in love with Muffin, her seizure alert border collie.
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Before She Fell
Book Tour
Author: Natalie Sammons
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Date Published: June 24, 2024Did she fall, or was she pushed? That’s the question DI Roth must answer in a case that will either redeem her after her last case, or cast her into a vote of no confidence.
During an extravagant party for her 50th birthday, Susan Grey is found at the bottom of the steps, alive, but barely. The case is dismissed as an accident until the police receive an anonymous phone call – it may not have been an accident. There are a bunch of suspects, a few motives, a bunch of red herrings, and witnesses who might be lying.
This is a quick read from a new-to-me author, told from several POVs that will keep you entertained.Background photo courtesy of Guy Basabose on @unsplash
Thanks to Bloodhound Books, and to Love Books Tours for bringing me along on the book tour!
Book Cravings 