Tropical Girl Reads

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wake in a bed, with a stranger leaning over me. She asks my name and I realise I don’t know what it is. I don’t know who I am or why I’m here…

I’m grateful to the people who rescued me. To the doctors, too, who brought me back from the brink of death.

But I see the suspicion in their eyes.

They don’t believe me when I say I don’t remember who I am. They are unsure if I can be trusted.

Am I the innocent victim? Or guilty of a terrible crime?

No one has reported me missing or come looking for me. But today, a bouquet of blood-red roses has been delivered to my room.

Am I in danger? Or is someone trying to help me?

Searching for anything in this town that might seem familiar, I’m cornered by a woman with wild eyes who calls me I name I don’t know. She tells me my brother is in danger and only I can save him.

But how do I know if I can trust her, if I can’t even trust myself?

No. of pages:- 341 pages

Publisher:- Bookouture

Date published:- 9th April 2021

Genre:- Thriller

I can say only one word–WOW!!! This book gripped me so hard that I simply couldn’t put the book down!! What will happen if you wake up all of a sudden and have no clue of who you really are and how you ended up in the hospital? Or the fact that you may be an innocent victim of a crime or maybe guilty of a crime you committed?

A woman wakes up in the hospital with no memory of how she ended up in the hospital. All she thinks is that her name is Sophie. After being discharged from the hospital, Sophie then finds a job in an abandoned house with Nathaniel as a caretaker. All Sophie remembered is that she had a brother named Miles who looked after her and she was determined to find out what happened to the brother. Meanwhile, the Detective Selena who is investigating her case is suspicious about her and turns out that she was Nathaniel’s ex.

As I have mentioned earlier, this book is an unputdownable filled with action packed twists and turns and I simply couldn’t wait to find what is going to happen in the end! Is the narrator’s name really Sophie or is it something else? Or is she running away from a crime or simply a victim of a crime? I was so curious to find out that I simple couldn’t put the book down and wait till the end! The ending left me breathless and I felt like I was watching a movie that I couldn’t stop to watch! So good and unputdownable that will take your breath away!!

A fast paced thriller filled with twists and turns that will keep you hooked into the story and keep you up all night–worth five stars!

Kelly Heard is a novelist from Afton, Virginia. She published poetry in literary magazines before signing her debut novel, Before You Go, with Bookouture.

Kelly prefers writing to most other pastimes, but you’ll occasionally find her in the garden, hiking, or exploring antique shops.

For more updates, follow Kelly on Twitter: @kheardbooks

Website: http://www.kellyheardbooks.com

She told my little boy a secret and now he’s gone…

Tucking her little boy Ollie into bed one night, Sarah notices his beloved teddy bear, which she bought him when he was born, is missing and in its place is a new toy given to him by her ex-husband’s new girlfriend, Laura. When she asks Ollie about it, he begins to shift uncomfortably, before whispering ‘Laura told me a big secret and she said I can never tell you’.

Sarah’s heart sinks. But when she raises her concerns, nobody wants to listen. To everyone else, Laura is the perfect stepmother and Sarah is just the jealous ex-wife. But Sarah knew the moment she met Laura she couldn’t trust her, from her overly perfect stepmother act to the way she evaded questions about her own history.

Soon Ollie is asking to spend more time with his dad and Laura, and shrinking away from Sarah. Then, when she calls to him in the garden one day, Ollie doesn’t answer back. The garden is silent. Ollie’s sandpit is empty. Ollie has disappeared.

Sarah and Steve are separated and together they have a son named Ollie. Now they are both seeing other partners–Sarah is seeing Joe, who is working in the law enforcements and Steve is seeing a woman named Laura, who is working in the hospice and who seemed to be having a mysterious past.. So when Sarah starts sending Ollie to spend the weekends with Laura and Steve, she finds odd things–the fact that Ollie had a bunny doll with one of his ears being cut off and a Whale doll given to Ollie by Laura. Then Sarah, finds some disturbing and mysterious things about Laura and wondered if she made a right decision to allow Ollie to spend the night with Laura.

This was her third book I have read and to me it was actually good! The story was intense and as a reader, I was wondering was Sarah was simply worried or jealous that Ollie seemed to be close to Laura? Though it was fast paced, there were not much twists and turns but the ending left me speechless and unexpected that I didn’t actually expect that ending!!! Character wise, I do feel sorry for Laura but I was also taking side of Sarah and Ollie sounded adorable. The situation seemed realistic to me. I also liked how as a backdrop and eventual twist at the end the author has put Joe’s relationship with his ex-wife Courtney. The writing was good and the author did a good job drawing the reader into the story.

Overall, an unputdownable book that will keep you up all night too! Worth four stars!

Bestselling Author, Sheryl Browne, writes taut, twisty psychological thriller. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies where she completed her MA in Creative Writing. Sheryl has also obtained a Certificate of Achievement in Forensic Science and – according to readers – she makes an excellent psychopath. Sheryl’s latest psychological thriller MY HUSBAND’S GIRLFRIEND comes to you from fabulous BOOKOUTURE. Her previous works include seven previous psychological thrillers, all with Bookouture, and the DI Matthew Adams Crime Thriller series, along with contemporary fiction novels, The Rest of My Life and Learning to Love published by ChocLit.

Sheryl lives in Worcestershire UK with her husband and her rescue dogs, Brie and Pablo. She expects her family to grow, however. imminent arrivals being other rescue dogs with disabilities who need that extra special bit of love and care.

To find out more about Sheryl’s novels, go to http://www.facebook.com/SherylBrowne.Author/ or follow @SherylBrowne on Twitter. To find out more about Sheryl, go to http://www.sherylbrowne.com