Review: The Good Widow by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

32604387

Twisty.  That’s the best possible way to describe this engaging psychological thriller.

Jacqueline has a pretty good life.  She enjoys her job as a teacher.  And if asked to describe her marriage of eight years, she’d probably say it was pretty good.  All that comes to a screeching halt, however, when two police officers show up at her door with the worst possible news.  Her husband has been killed in a tragic accident.  Well, actually, that’s not the worst part of it.  He wasn’t where he was supposed to be, and he definitely wasn’t supposed to be with the woman who died with him.

Confusion reigns as she tries to make sense of what happened.  So when Nick, the fiance of the mystery woman, persuades her to join him on his quest to find answers she willingly joins him.  But answers lead to more questions, and she finds herself no closer to the truth.

Nice little mystery with a neat little twist at the end.  A great, quick read!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Good Widow

Review: Guilty by Laura Elliot

35214498

I’m going to preface this review by saying that this one didn’t grab me right away as many psychological thrillers do.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at the beginning.  In fact, I almost gave up on it.  I’m glad I didn’t.

Constance is missing.  When the thirteen-year-old suddenly disappears, all efforts are put into finding her.  Her much loved uncle Karl soon finds himself the focus of the investigation.  Through a series of circumstantial pieces of evidence along with a determined journalist, he quickly becomes suspect number one.

Fast forward six years…

And I’m stopping here.  If you read the blurbs on various book-related sites, you’ll find more details leading up to this point.  But I’m not going to give them to you.  Part of the pleasure of this story was the discovery, the itchy inkling feeling I had as I got deeper and deeper into the story.  And I’d like for you to have that same experience.  So go forth and enjoy!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Guilty

 

Review: The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

31443398

A friend…a very good one.  Someone who knows you better than you know yourself.  Someone you can turn to in your darkest hour, to help you pick up the pieces.  What can be better?  Leah considers herself lucky to have such a person in Emmy.  She’s been there for her through it all, even after all the time they were out of touch.

And now, Emmy is willing to give up everything and start over for Leah.  Everything begins to unravel, however, when a local girl turns up beaten and left for dead.  And then Emmy goes missing.  Exactly when did Leah see her last, anyway?  As Leah digs deeper and deeper, she realizes that maybe she didn’t really know Emmy that well after all.

This is the perfect follow-up to Miranda’s last novel, All the Missing Girls.  It has just the right mix of intrigue, mystery, whodunit-ness to keep you guessing.  And even if you put pieces of the story together before the halfway mark, as did I, the last 30% is sure to take you for a ride.  That alone is enough of a reason to grab this one!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Perfect Stranger

Review: Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens

29939148

I absolutely love Chevy Stevens.  She’s one of my go-to authors, one of the few whose new books are definite must reads.  This latest from her didn’t disappoint.

When Lindsey met Andrew, she thought all her dreams were finally coming true.  He was loving, attentive, wealthy, handsome…basically everything you could want in a husband.  And things were very good for awhile.  But then he began to change.  Or rather, his true personality began to show.  Controlling and abusive, this wasn’t the man she fell in love with.  As things get more and more dangerous, she starts to plan her escape.

Finally it happens.  She and her daughter get away, and Andrew is sent to prison for several years.  When he’s released, though, all those feelings come barreling back.  The paranoia, the fear that she’s being followed. And has someone been in her house, messing with her things and with her mind?  Andrew swears it’s not him, but clearly he’s not the most trustworthy individual. And lest you think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t blink.

In some ways this is your typical “wife leaves abusive husband” drama.  But then it becomes more.  Because Chevy Stevens.  She has a way of taking the ordinary and weaving it into a compelling story that you just can’t put down.  Don’t miss this one!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Never Let You Go

Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

28815474

A missing baby.  A maybe slightly psychotic mother.  A lying father.  Kinky next door neighbors.  They’re all there, a cast of characters to set you up for one heck of a story.

When their babysitter cancels at the last minute,  Anne’s first instinct is to skip the dinner party next door.  But somehow, her husband Marco convinces her that it’ll be okay to leave the sleeping baby home alone.  Their houses share a wall, after all.  And they’ll be checking up on Cora every thirty minutes.  What could possibly go wrong?

Of course it does go wrong.  Baby Cora goes missing.  And there are very few clues left behind.  It’s natural that suspicion would fall upon her parents.  Anne has been slightly depressed, after all. And Marco’s business isn’t doing so well. Was he so desperate for money that he’d stage a kidnapping and ransom demand?

But wait.  There’s more. There are also the shady dinner party neighbors, especially the wife Cynthia who has eyes for Marco.  And Anne’s dad? He’s got a ton of money, thanks to her mom.  Along with that, he has some questionable business dealings.  Or was it really just a random event, a crime of opportunity?  Somehow the detectives in charge don’t think so.  But the deeper they dig, the more twists and turns they find.

This was quite an enjoyable book.  There are so many characters who could be guilty that even when I found how who dunnit, I was still suspicious of the others.  And it’s very twisty and turny, right up until the very end.  Also to note, I listened to the audio version which had an excellent narrator.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Couple Next Door

 

Review: Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia

29276588

What a great mystery this book was.  I can’t remember the last time I read a story with so many twists and turns.  And then those twists and turns had twists and turns.

Small towns are hard, especially if you’re a teenager with a secret.  When Hattie Hoffman goes missing, it’s all anyone can talk about.  And when her body is found a short time later, the rumors begin flying.  Hattie was a good girl from a good family with everything going for her and a bright future ahead.  But even good girls have secrets, and good girls may not be who we think they are.

Told from three points of view alternating between past and present, we find out that Hattie wasn’t who she pretended to be.  And the bad person may or may not be who we think it is.  Even when you think you know who it is, it really isn’t.

Again, a very vague review.  But do you really want me to spoil it for you?  Of course you don’t.  So just trust me and read it.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Everything You Want Me To Be

Review: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

26050845

When a book keeps me up until after midnight to finish it, it’s a keeper.  Granted, it was a Saturday night with no school the next day but still.  And yes, it’s another story about a dysfunctional family.  Just trust me when I say it’s really, really good.

Jack and Grace are the perfect couple.  He’s handsome and charming, she’s beautiful and elegant.  His job as a highly successful lawyer allows them to have an exquisite home filled with luxurious furnishings.  Their dinner parties leave nothing to be desired with Grace painstakingly preparing everything herself.  And last but not least, they appear to dote on each other with no sign of their honeymoon phase wearing off anytime soon.

But when the doors close, it’s a different story…

So this is where I’m going to stop.  Yes, I know it’s not much as far as reviews go.  The question is, did I intrigue you?  Did my brief little intro make you want to go get the book immediately?  Because you should.

~Thalia

~Buy It Now:  Behind Closed Doors

Review: Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten

27065377

Such an intriguing title, and such an ambiguous beginning.  Two girls, both blonde, in a hospital.  One’s in a bed, one is not.  The question is, just which girl is which?

Kate.  Rising up from the ashes, working to better herself, crafting a master plan from day one never to be dissuaded from it.  She’s had a hard life.  Orphaned in theory, dad in prison for killing her mom.  She’s become very good at taking care of herself.  The perfect image is everything, and Kate is very good at it.  When she enters a new school, she sets her eyes on the prize.  She knows exactly who to target.

Olivia.  Poor little rich girl, mom dead, dad loving but always working.  She’s harboring a secret, one that took her away from school for an entire year.  Now back, she’s determined to finish her senior year while at the same time keeping everyone from getting too close.  When she and Kate happen upon each other, they feel like two lost souls destined to become friends.

As the story progresses, we’re left to wonder just who is in charge?  And who is being played?  Sometimes I thought it was Kate, sometimes I thought it was Olivia.  And even after finishing the story I’m not entirely convinced it wasn’t indeed both.

The story switches back and forth between Kate and Olivia, giving each girl her own stage from which to tell their perspective.  And some chapters blend the two combining their stories into one.  This isn’t a distraction and works well.  The author does an excellent job of giving us enough but not giving away too much until the very last pages.  Then it all comes together splendidly.  Still, I’m left wondering if the door remains ajar for a possible sequel?

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Beware That Girl

 

Revisit: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

22557272

I’m a bit late to the game on this one.  While most people who’ve read it did so last year, for some reason I’m just recently getting to it.  Not sure why, because it was definitely worth my time.

I knew before going in that there was a girl on a train who saw something.  Beyond that, I was clueless.  Sometimes that’s the best way to be when starting a book that the entire world has read.  Rachel is a pretty sad and lonely character.  She’s a divorced, unemployed alcoholic whose free time is spend riding the train back and forth to London.  During her daily travels, she becomes obsessed with a couple who lives surprising close to her ex-husband.  She begins watching them, inventing stories of their lives. Then one day she notices something amiss.  And next, somebody goes missing.  Is there a connection to what Rachel witnessed from afar, from the anonymity of the train car?

I must admit, as Pegasus did in a previous review, that I cringe whenever I hear someone refer to a book as “The next Gone Girl” for many reasons.  Mostly because I don’t want another Gone Girl.  I want something equally well-written but at the same time different.  So I kinda wish that description would just go away.  But still, this was an outstanding book for me.  Rarely have I come across a character as unlikeable as Rachel was.  Highly annoying and not particularly bright, she failed to elicit any sympathy from me.  Even towards the very end.  That can be said for ALL of the characters in this book.  They’re all dreadful people.

I imagine many of you have read this book by now.  But if, like me, you’re a bit of a book procrastinator,  there’s no time like the present to jump on the bandwagon!

~Thalia

Buy it Now:  The Girl on the Train

 

Review: The Stepmother by Claire Seeber

30449430

I seem to have a thing for stories about families so dysfunctional that it’s criminal.  Evil parents, deranged siblings, you name it and I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame. So of course I couldn’t pass up a book with a title so intriguing as this one…

Jeanie feels like she’s living in a fairy tale when she meets Matthew.  After  a whirlwind courtship and marriage, she dares to believe that she’s found her happily ever after.  And she deserves it, after living through such a traumatic past.  Matthew is perfect, everything she could imagine wanting for the rest of her life.  Sure there’s the small issue of his teenage children, but Jeanie is sure they’ll come around with some time and patience.

But in this story, there’s no such thing as a happy ending.  Someone has discovered Jeanie’s darkest secrets and is trying their hardest to expose her.  The question is, just who is it?  And which one of her new family members is out to destroy her?

There are so many twisted characters in this story with so many secrets that I was left guessing until the very end.  I couldn’t decide exactly who the “bad” person was.  Was it Jeanie’s stepdaughter, Scartlett?  Or was it someone from Jeanie’s past?  An outstanding story that had me hooked from the very first page.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Stepmother