Tropical Girl Reads

Someone like you – ARC Book Review

Someone Like You: Escape with this perfect uplifting romance by [Tracy Corbett]

What happens on holiday doesn’t always stay on holiday…

When mousy factory-worker Lilith Monroe meets gorgeous Will Taylor on holiday, she reinvents herself as Lily, a risk-taking costume designer extraordinaire. What’s the harm in a few white lies when she’ll never see Will again?

Back in England, Will can’t stop thinking about Lily. When his events company needs a costume designer last minute for the Royal Windsor Festival, it’s like fate is knocking on his door. He can hire Lily and see if the spark is still there. Except he hasn’t been entirely honest with Lily…

Can a holiday fling become something more, or are there too many untruths between Lilith and Will?

A gorgeously uplifting romance for fans of Portia MacIntosh and Trisha Ashley.

No. of pages:- 285 pages

Date published:- 12th April 2021

Genre:- Romance

If you would enjoy a cheesy, cozy romance novels, then this book might be for you all.

What will happen when two people meet on a vacation and then lie one another about their selves? Well, Lily lost her grandparents and then goes to Caribbean for the vacation. Will Taylor who is a single father also goes for a vacation to Caribbean. The two meet each other and then fell in love and then when the vacation is over, they go on their separate ways back in England. Now here’s the white lie–Lily told Will that she was a costume designer when in fact she is working in a clothing factory. Will told Lily that he was not married. So when back in England when Lily gets a job in Will’s production company, things start to turn uphill.

First of all, I love the book cover so five stars for the beautiful cute cover! But the plot line…I didn’t really like it. I feel like I was watching some soap opera Hallmark holiday movie where boy meets girl, fall in love, then fall out and then again get back together. The writing was good and I didn’t very much like some of the characters like Will. Overall, the book was unrealistic and a bit predictable as you know that is what is going to happen in the end that it will be actually happily ever after.

Overall, I rate this book as three stars–thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Tracy started writing in her late twenties, song lyrics, sketches for pantomimes and short stories, before venturing into the wonderful world of novel writing. She describes her writing style as modern tales of romance, with engaging quirky characters, who overcome adversity, grow as people and conclude in satisfying optimistic endings. When Tracy isn’t writing, she enjoys amateur dramatics and can regularly be found dressing up in various strange costumes and prancing about the stage pretending to be all manner of odd characters!

The Bookshop by the Sea- Book Review

Sophie Lawson should be enjoying her sister’s wedding day. But nothing could have prepared her to see the best man again.

After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove—the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children.

Now it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits. Seth has a new job, and Jenna is set to marry her college beau in Piper’s Cove. But the destination wedding reunites Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance.

When an advancing hurricane strands Aiden in Piper’s Cove after the wedding, he finds the hotels booked to capacity and has to ask Sophie to put him up until the storm passes. As the two ride out the weather, old feelings rise to the surface. The delay also leaves Sophie with mere days to get her bookshop up and running. Can she trust Aiden to stick around? And will he find the courage to risk his heart?

No. of pages:- 335 pages

Date published:- 13th April 2021

Genre:- Romance

Ever since her mother died and her father abandoned the family, Sophie Lawson had been acting as both a mother and a sister to her siblings, Jenna and Seth. Now her younger sister is getting married, Seth has got a job and Sophie is going to open up a book shop but gets a surprise when the best man at the wedding was Aidan, her ex boyfriend who dumped her many years ago.

I really enjoyed reading this book! The book was warm, funny and I do like the relationship between Sophie and Aidan, that Aidan still finds that he had feelings for Sophie still. The writing was engaging and I was hooked into the story and vouched for both Sophie and Aidan to get back together!!! Though the ending is predictable, nonetheless it is a cure romantic love story set in a small town in North Carolina, and how a storm actually brought these two former love birds together.

I really enjoyed reading this book so worth four stars! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book–the review is based on my honest opinion.

Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 35 novels, three of which have been adapted into Hallmark movies. She has appeared on the The 700 Club and won awards such as The Holt Medallion Award, The Carol Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.

Denise writes heartwarming, small-town love stories, peopled with layered characters who have real-life issues. Her readers enjoy the vicarious thrill of falling in love and the promise of a happily-ever-after sigh as they savor the final pages of her books.

In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking chai lattes, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband raised three boys and are currently enjoying an empty nest and two beautiful granddaughters.

My Little Girl – ARC Book Review

My Little Girl: A totally gripping psychological thriller full of shocking twists by [Shalini Boland]

Your daughter is missing. Did someone close to you take her?

Seven-year-old Beatrice has gone missing. Her mother Claire’s whole world has been turned upside down in just one moment and she can’t stop shaking. She’s desperate to find her precious daughter, but nothing about the day she disappeared makes sense…

The mother-in-law: Jill was meant to be looking after Beatrice. She says she didn’t take her eyes off the little girl but her version of events doesn’t add up… Claire has never got on with her, so why should she trust her now?

The husband: He should have been with their only child. Instead, he changed the plans without telling Claire. She didn’t think there were any secrets between them, but maybe she was wrong?

The first wife: Laurel has always been jealous of Claire’s family. Has her husband’s ex-wife taken her daughter?

Which one of them is lying? And who really knows where Beatrice is?

No. of pages:- 363 pages

Date published:- will be published on 22nd April 2021

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological thriller

The worst nightmare a mother could face is when her own child disappears mysteriously into thin air. That’s what happened to Claire Nolan when her mother-in-law, Jill offered to look after Beatrice and her friend Millie. Claire’s husband, Ollie was supposed to look after the girls but Jill, ended up looking after them. Jill tries hard to become a good grandmother but Claire thinks Jill could be absent minded and may not look after Beatrice properly. And so that’s what happened when Jill was answering the phone and the next moment, Beatrice went missing.

This is the second book I have read from Shalini Boland, the first one being the Wife. This book was really gripping and well written that I was hooked into the book from the beginning. The story was told from the perspectives of Claire and Jill, their complicated relationship with each other and the fact that Jill is more favorable towards Laurel, Ollie’s ex-wife more than to Claire, creates a tense atmosphere between the two women. So we would know how these characters feel about each other. Though initially I didn’t like both the women, soon I get to have soft spot for both as I know what it is like to feel when your child goes missing. Too many suspects, particularly Laurel, who seems to be jealous of the way Claire is living happily with Ollie. There were so many twists and turns and the ending was really good that I couldn’t even put the book down!! Read this book in one go!! I mean I couldn’t wait until the end to know who on earth had really abducted Beatrice.

In short, this novel is quiet unputdownable, chilling, gripping filled with twists and turns that will take your breath away! Quiet a roller coaster ride I had with this book! Worth five stars!

Shalini Boland is the million-copy, USA-Today bestselling author of psychological thrillers: ‘THE GIRL FROM THE SEA’, ‘THE BEST FRIEND’, ‘THE MILLIONAIRE’S WIFE’ (optioned for TV by Legendary Studios and FX Networks), ‘THE SECRET MOTHER’, ‘THE CHILD NEXT DOOR’, ‘THE SILENT SISTER’, ‘THE PERFECT FAMILY’, ‘THE MARRIAGE BETRAYAL’, ‘THE OTHER DAUGHTER’, ‘ONE OF US IS LYING’ and ‘THE WIFE.’

MY LITTLE GIRL is now available to pre-order!

Her titles are published by Bookouture, Grand Central (USA) and Tantor.

Shalini lives by the sea in Dorset, England with her husband, two teens and their cheeky dog, Jess. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter, but now she spends her days writing psychological thrillers (in between re-stocking the fridge and dealing with endless baskets of laundry).

She is also the author of two bestselling Young Adult series as well as a children’s WWII novel with a time-travel twist.

Beneath Black Water River – ARC Book Review

Beneath Blackwater River: A totally gripping, addictive and heart-pounding crime thriller (Detective Kay Sharp Book 2) by [Leslie Wolfe]

She looked alive, her hair drifting freely in the water, her red lips gently parted, as if to let her final breath escape. A small locket floated by her face, attached to her neck with a silver chain…

When Detective Kay Sharp first left Mount Chester—population 3,823—in her rear-view mirror, she promised never to look back. The town only contained bad memories and dark secrets. But when a brutal crime surfaces, she finds herself home once more, and this time she’s not going anywhere.

Kay is called to Blackwater River, where the body of a seventeen-year-old girl has been found. Surrounded by snowy peaks and a forest alive with the colors of fall, the victim floats in the water, a hand-carved locket around her neck.

The locket seems strangely familiar. Digging into cold cases, Kay discovers that three-year-old Rose Harrelson was wearing it when she vanished fourteen years ago. In the middle of the night, the little girl’s bedroom—with Mickey Mouse on the wall and a hanging baby mobile—was suddenly empty. The unsolved case still haunts the town.

But the teenager they have found has been dead for only a few hours. If the girl in the river is Rose, where has she been? Who has been hiding her all these years? Kay knows she must solve the kidnapping in order to untangle the mystery of the dead body.

Then Kay receives a shocking call. The dead girl has been identified—and she’s not Rose. So why is she wearing the locket, and what happened to the missing child from all those years ago? As Kay unearths a web of lies and deceit spun for decades, the close-knit community will never be the same. And Kay will find herself facing a truly terrifying killer…

A totally gripping page-turner that should come with a health warning! Be warned: you’ll lose sleep and your heart will race like crazy as you read twist after twist. Perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Robert Dugoni and Kendra Elliot.

No. of pages:- 354 pages

Date published:- will be published on 23rd April 2021

Publisher :- Bookouture

Genre:- Thriller

What a roller coaster ride!!!

This is the second book of the Detective Kay Sharp series and just like the first book, this book did not leave me with disappointment!! It was soooo good!!!!

A body of a teenage girl was found by the river and was identified that as Rose Harrleson who went missing fourteen years ago, as she was wearing the same locket. But then later on the media speculated that the body was indeed belong to Alyssa Caldwell, the heiress of Caldwell farms in California. Biggest question–how did Rose’s locket ended up in Alyssa’s hands? Meanwhile, a serial killing is taking place with a man abducting runaways from the highway.

Just like the first book, this book was unputdownable with twists and turns in each chapter that you didn’t even expect!!! I was so hooked into the story that I didn’t even realized I have finished the book until I came to the ending!!! It was really good! The author does an amazing job with her writing skill and knows how to keep the reader hooked into the story. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride with Detective Kay and her partner Detective Elliot who actually became my favorite characters in the book. The ending to me was unpredictable (which is what I like in a good thriller) and unexpected. It was really good!

Overall, an unputdownable thriller filled with twists and turns that will keep you up all night reading! Quiet a thrill ride with this book! Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

I See You – Book Review

I See You: The addictive Number One Sunday Times Bestseller by [Clare Mackintosh]

You do the same thing every day.
You know exactly where you’re going.
You’re not alone . . .

When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it’s there. There’s no explanation: just a grainy image, a website address and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it’s just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.

Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make . . .

No. of pages:- 386 pages

Date published:- July 28th 2016

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

After reading her I Let You Go, which is Clare Mackintosh’s debut book, I always wanted to have a chance to read more of her books. So when I finally got a chance to read this book, I was mighty excited!

Zoe Walker, a commuter who travels to London for work uses the same route always. So when she sees her own picture on an escort ad in London Gazette newspaper, she was shocked and surprised. A few days ago, a woman was found murdered in a park and her picture too appeared on London Gazette on the same ad, a few weeks before she was murdered. Another woman was raped and another woman was burgled in her own home, all their pictures appeared on London Gazette. Is it merely a coincidence or someone playing a sick game?

I do enjoyed the plot very well. The story is told mainly of Zoe’s perspectives and also Kelly, the detective who starts investigating the case along with another detective Nick as they believe there is some connection between the attacks and the ads. There were twists and turns, the thriller was quiet fast paced and I was hooked into the story. However it was a bit predictable though the ending, the epilogue part was kind of unexpected. The characters are all realistic and you could actually relate Zoe’s paranoia and anxiety as she felt that someone might be stalking after her.

Overall, it was a good thriller, quiet unputdownable with some twists and turns you didn’t expect. Worth five stars!

With over 2 million copies of her books sold worldwide, number one bestseller Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of I Let You Go, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and the fastest-selling title by a new crime writer in 2015. It also won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016. Both Clare’s second and third novels, I See You and Let Me Lie, were number one Sunday Times bestsellers. All three of her thrillers were selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, and together have been translated into over thirty-five languages. After the End was published in 2019 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller.

Clare is patron of the Silver Star Society, a charity based at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, which supports parents experiencing high-risk or difficult pregnancies. She lives in North Wales with her husband and their three children.

A Bitter and Sweet Cherry Season – Book Review

The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season: A Novel by [Molly Fader]

In cherry season, anything is possible…

Everything Hope knows about the Orchard House is from the stories of her late mother. So when she arrives at the northern Michigan family estate late one night with a terrible secret and her ten-year-old daughter in tow, she’s not sure if she’ll be welcomed or turned away with a shotgun by the aunt she has never met.

Hope’s aunt, Peg, has lived in the Orchard House all her life, though the property has seen better days. She agrees to take Hope in if, in exchange, Hope helps with the cherry harvest—not exactly Hope’s specialty, but she’s out of options. As Hope works the orchard alongside her aunt, daughter and a kind man she finds increasingly difficult to ignore, a new life begins to blossom. But the mistakes of the past are never far behind, and soon the women will find themselves fighting harder than ever for their family roots and for each other.

No. of pages:- 272 pages

Published:- June 9th 2020

Genre:- Literary Fiction

Bitter and sweet indeed with a cherry on top, a powerful and emotional story of three women of three generations that takes place in a Orchard House in rural Michigan.

Hope and her ten year old daughter Tink arrives to the Orchard House after fleeing away from a domestic abuse marriage. Through her late mother’s story, the Orchard House is occupied by her aunt, known as Peg who has lived in the Orchard House in her entire life. The cherry season has started and Hope, who has never met her aunt Peg and the three women are trying to get know each other. After the initial ups and downs, soon the three women get to know each other and becomes inseparable and Hope and Tink gets used to the life in the Orchard House, making new friends.

This book was emotional and I was so hooked into the story. The story is told from the perspectives of Peg, Hope and Tink and it’s good to know what the three women think of each other. It was unputdownable as well and the writing was really good and engaging that the author did a good job making the reader hooked into the story. The ending of the book was intense that kept me at the edge of my seat and I simply couldn’t put the book down and didn’t realize until the audiobook ended!!

Overall it is a powerful and emotional family drama that talks about courage and friendship and also the family bond. Worth five stars in my opinion!

Molly Fader is the author of The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets. Under the name Molly O’Keefe she is the award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author of sexy contemporary romance.

Bitteroot Lake – ARC Book Review

Bitterroot Lake: A Novel by [Alicia Beckman]

Twenty-five years ago, during a celebratory weekend at historic Whitetail Lodge, Sarah McCaskill had a vision. A dream. A nightmare. When a young man was killed, Sarah’s guilt over having ignored the warning in her dreams devastated her. Her friendships with her closest friends, and her sister, fell apart as she worked to build a new life in a new city. But she never stopped loving Whitetail Lodge on the shores of Bitterroot Lake.

Now that she’s a young widow, her mother urges her to return to the lodge for healing. But when she arrives, she’s greeted by an old friend–and by news of a murder that’s clearly tied to that tragic day she’ll never forget.

And the dreams are back, too. What dangers are they warning of this time? As Sarah and her friends dig into the history of the lodge and the McCaskill family, they uncover a legacy of secrets and make a discovery that gives a chilling new meaning to the dreams. Now, they can no longer ignore the ominous portents from the past that point to a danger more present than any of them could know.

No. of pages:- 326 pages

Date published:- 13th April 2021

Publisher:- Crooked Lane

Genre:- Thriller

A murder reunites five women and recount the event that happened twenty five years ago that affected their friendship with each other.

Janine calls her friend Sarah for help when Lucas was found murdered in a cabin. Janine maintains she didn’t kill him. But twenty five years ago, Lucas sexually assaulted Janine and apparently got away with it.

The plot was good but the story was not very fast paced, not much twists and turns you would expect in a thriller. Too much unnecessary details that affect the plot of the story that I thought was not necessary. It was slow and boring to me and I almost put this book away but in the end managed to finish the book.

Overall, this is a slow burn thriller, not much of twists and turns. Worth only three stars.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion.

Alicia Beckman, author of “BITTERROOT LAKE” (Crooked Lane Books, April 2021), is the alter ego of Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award winner and bestselling author of the Spice Shop and Food Lovers’ Village mysteries.

When four women separated by tragedy reunite at a lakeside Montana lodge, murder forces them to confront everything they thought they knew about the terrifying accident that tore them apart, in Agatha Award-winning author Alicia Beckman’s suspense debut.

Open Water – Book Review

Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists – he a photographer, she a dancer – trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.

At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.

No. of pages:- 151 pages

Date published :- 13th April 2021

Genre:- Romance

This is the story between two Black British students of Ghana origins who are both artists and meet in a pub in London and the love story between them.

I really like the style of the writing in this book. This is also a short and fast read but is also quiet unputdownable, as well. I was simply hooked into this mesmerizing love story–it develop as a friendship between the two and soon became a love story. Nonetheless, though I am not much a of romantic book fanatic, I enjoyed reading this book–worth four stars!

Thank You Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC–this review is based on my honest opinion.

Books I am currently reading and coming soon to the blog!

Here are the books I am currently reading!

The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season – Molly Fader

2. When Alice Forgot – Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot: From the bestselling author of Big Little Lies, now an award winning TV series by [Liane Moriarty]

3. The Little Teashop in Tokyo – Julie Caplin

The Little Teashop in Tokyo: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile and fall in love! (Romantic Escapes, Book 6) by [Julie Caplin]

4. The Castaways – Lucy Clarke

5. Annie’s Summer by the Sea – Liz Eeles

The Stepmother – ARC Book Review

The Stepmother: An emotional and suspenseful novel packed with family secrets by [Ros Carne]

One guilty secret will tear her life apart…

After a series of heart-breaking miscarriages, Kate’s marriage is hanging by a thread. When her husband Michael tells her he has shocking news, at first, she thinks the worst – he’s been having an affair. It would explain why he’s been so distant. Instead, he reveals that the daughter he abandoned twenty years ago is coming to stay.

Kate is blindsided by the sudden arrival of Imogen mere hours later. Her new stepdaughter is beautiful but troubled and seems wary of her own father. All the same, Kate is pleased to find herself connecting with Imogen, until one day, Imogen reveals a disturbing secret to her stepmother, making her swear never to tell a soul.

With Kate already keeping secrets of her own, she worries her marriage will crumble under the weight of another. But perhaps it’s not Imogen’s intrusion Kate should be worried about. Perhaps it’s Michael’s past she should have been looking at all along…

A completely addictive domestic suspense novel that will keep you guessing into the early hours of the morning. Perfect for fans of The Stepdaughter, Amanda Robson and Adele Parks.

No of pages:- 257 pages

Date published:- 8th April 2021

Publisher:- Canelo

Genre:- Domestic Thriller

The title appealed to me at first so I was excited to read this book. But unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations.

Kate is a sculptor and she was having a not so happy married life with a man named Michael, who is a solicitor. So when while she was walking her dog Timba, she meets Steve and asks him to model for her. And what should have been job just turned to a steamy love affair between the two. Then Michael’s daughter Immy comes to stay with them.

This was OK in the beginning but then towards the end, it got a bit boring and I simply finished the book because I have to. Was not fast paced, kind of all direct and and not much unexpected twists and turns you would normally expect from a thriller. The characters are not very likable in my opinion except for the dog.

Overall, it was not a good thriller–I think 2.5 stars would do.

The title appealed to me at first so I was excited to read this book. But unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations.

Overall, it was not a good thriller–I think 2.5 stars would do.

The title appealed to me at first so I was excited to read this book. But unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations.

Overall, it was not a good thriller–I think 2.5 stars would do.

Ros Carne was born in London. After working as a journalist for several years she retrained as a barrister, specialising in family law. She has also taught on the Bar Vocational Course at City University. Her first novel, The Pupil, was published by Canelo Books in August 2020. Her second novel, The Stepmother, will be published in April 2021. Ros has two adult sons and lives in Oxford where she now writes full time.