Tropical Girl Reads

They live in the big houses on the pretty street. Those other women, as we call them. And to think I used to want to be like them, to have their money and happiness, to live and laugh and play like them. Not any more.

It’s the fourth of July and the whole town is gathered at the local pool. Through the sweltering afternoon, we single mothers don’t mix with the other women—the ones with the perfect lives and happy marriages. Women like Sabine Miller. But when Sabine shoots me a desperate look across the water and suddenly disappears, my blood runs cold…

Running to the back gate, all I find is a silver charm bracelet she dropped on her way out. I convince myself I’m imagining things until Sabine’s husband Mark appears. When he realizes she’s missing, he phones the cops straight away. “Someone has been threatening Sabine,” he says. “Now they’ve kidnapped her.”

Hours later, I wish I’d run faster. The whole town is searching the streets, calling Sabine’s name over and over. On the TV, Mark is begging for someone to bring his wife home.

The truth is, I was the last person to see her alive—and it’s killing me inside. Now the cops are at my door asking questions. I’m terrified they’ll find out what happened years ago between me and Sabine. Something I’ve never told anyone.

But I need to tell someone. Can you keep a secret?

No. of pages:- 324 pages

Date published:- 6th January 2021

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

After reading her debut book, The Stepdaughter, I was so excited to read her second book, The Missing Woman. Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC and this review is based on my complete honest opinion.

It’s the Fourth of July and every neighbors at the town is gathered around the pool to celebrate fireworks. Erica sees Sabine, with her friends Monica and Carole, who are all elite people by the side of the pool. Then suddenly Sabine shoots Erica a look, that ran Erica’s blood cold…a few hours later, Sabine’s husband, Mark Miller says Sabine disappeared. And there were trails of blood on her door at her home and Mark admitted that someone had been threatening the family and that person would have abducted Sabine.

To me, the book started a bit slow however, as I read on and on, there were some unexpected twists and turns that you didn’t expect and then I got hooked into the story! There were so many suspects, who had every reason to hate the Millers and so many theories and so as a reader, you are confused as who and why would someone abduct Sabine. It felt as if I am trying to solve really a hard crossword puzzle but not succeeding. I was completely engrossed into the book that I was determined to finish the book! The ending was unexpected and I am still reeling about the ending.

Overall, just like the first book, this book is totally unputdownable that will keep you into the story till the ending, with lots of twists and turns–worth five stars!

This book will be released next year on 6th January 2021 on Amazon so if this book interests you, you can pre-order your copy now!

Georgina Cross is the suspense author of The Stepdaughter (September 2020) and Book 2 (January 2021) with Bookouture. And Book 3 with Ballantine, Penguin Random House (late 2021).

She is represented by Rachel Beck with Liza Dawson Associates with her suspense fiction appealing to readers of The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle, The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth, and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Georgina has been writing since she was a child. Notebooks & floppy discs filled with stories: adventures growing up in New Orleans and tales from Malaysia & England where her family lives. After graduating from Louisiana State University, she enjoyed a career in marketing & communications and founded Susie’s Wish non-profit which sends patients with life threatening illnesses to the beach. She spends time with her husband and their combined family of four sons watching plenty of scary movies and basketball tournaments.

Author website: http://www.Georgina-Cross-Author.com
Twitter: @GCrossAuthor
Facebook: GeorginaCrossAuthor
Instagram: GeorginaCrossAuthor

Dear Louise. It’s time we all put the past behind us. We’re meeting for my birthday. I want you there. Love, Amy. X

When Louise receives an invitation to her old friend Amy’s birthday weekend in a cottage next to the woods near their old university campus, a chill runs down her spine.

Fifteen years ago, Hannah walked into those same woods and never came back. Her death destroyed her friends. They’ve not met as a group since. Until now.

As the party gets underway and old grudges are uncovered, a game of truth or dare is proposed. It’s clear one person has questions about their friend’s death – and now they want answers. And nothing will stop them.

When everyone has buried secrets, digging for the truth is going to get dangerous.

A gripping and addictive psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages, for fans of Gillian Flynn, Teresa Driscoll and Ruth Ware.

No. of pages:- 241 pages

Date published:- will be published on 18th December 2020

Genre:- Thriller

Thank You Netgalley, Bookouture and author for the ARC! This review is based on my honest opinion.

Louise gets an invitation from Amy to spend the weekend at Amy’s cottage to celebrate her birthday, along with Kat and Daisy, whom they had been friends since the university. However, many years ago, during their final year in the university, one of their closest friends, Hannah was found dead, a few miles away from Amy’s cottage. The death was ruled as suicide. However, soon, past secrets kept looming up, threatening to destroy the friendship…

To me, at first, the book started slow. However, gradually, the story started to getting a bit intense. There is not much twists and turns you would expect in a thriller but nonetheless, it was actually a good thriller that will get the reader hooked into the story. The truth and dare game towards the end of the book to find the real truth about what happened to Hannah had my interest piqued into the story.

It was a good thriller and a short fast read thriller. Worth three stars!

Lesley attended the Curtis Brown Creative 6 month novel writing course in 2015/6, and in 2017 The Orchid Girls (then On The Edge) was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish fiction prize.

Lesley is the author pf three psychological thrillers: The Orchid Girls, The Woman at 46 Heath Street and The Leaving Party.

Lesley spends her days writing in coffee shops in Kings Cross where she lives and works as a librarian. She loves the atmosphere and eclectic mix of people in the area. Lesley discovered Patricia Highsmith as a teenager and has been hooked on psychological thrillers ever since.

‘Mama, wake up.’
The little girl reached for her mother’s face with one pudgy hand. But the eyes stayed closed, and the blood continued to trickle across the floor.

When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house. And unprepared for the nightmares it inspires about her childhood.

When the DNA collected gives a positive ID, Morgan can’t wait to put the attacker behind bars. But the person it matches to is already in prison. How could the DNA of someone who has been locked up for over twenty years have shown up in Morgan’s crime scene? And then they make another close match. To Morgan herself.

Faced with the impossible proof that she is somehow connected to this case, Morgan delves deep into the crimes of a killer who stalked the Lake District two decades ago. But distracted by the old case, she misses the signs that he has found a new victim. And when he strikes close to home, Morgan finally realises that she has been living on borrowed time. To find this killer, it’s clear she must confront the nightmares in her past…

No. of pages:- 301 pages

Date published:- will be published on 10th December 2020

Genre:- Thriller

Thank You Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC! The review is based on my honest opinion.

This book is the continuation of Detective Morgan Brooke’s series, the first one One Left Alive. In the second book, a college student, Gabby Stevens was found murdered and her body was found four days later, partly decomposed. Morgan Brookes, working with Ben is investigating Gabby Steven’s murder and while investigating, she also had to deal with the personal nightmares…

This like the first book was incredibly good! Fast paced thriller, twisty and unexpected chapters and as a reader I was hooked into the story that I simply couldn’t put the book down! Most of the all, towards the ending, it got really interesting, like a cat and mouse chase story with the killer and I just gobbled and hooked into the story till the ending. The part where Morgan’s DNA was found at the crime scene was the pivotal point in the story coupled with a deep secret that Stan was about to tell Morgan, made me get interested into the story more, as the thirst to know what is going to happen was great! The author did a good job of making the reader engage into the story!

Overall, this is a gripping, past paced thriller that you would not simply put down–worth five stars!

Helen Phifer is the #1 Bestselling crime and horror novelist of the Annie Graham, Lucy Harwin and Beth Adams series. Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District. She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years. Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.

Her debut novel The Ghost House was released October 2013 and introduced readers to police officer Annie Graham. It went on to be an Amazon #1 bestseller in Canada. It reached #1 on the Amazon Contemporary Horror Charts in both the UK and the US, pushing her idol Stephen King off his #1 spot many times. She was thrilled when the second book in the series The Secrets of the Shadows managed to push The Ghost House off its #1 spot even if it was a little surreal. This was followed by The Forgotten Cottage, The Lake House, The Girls in the Woods and The Face Behind the Mask.

The Good Sisters is a standalone old, fashioned horror story which Helen admits scared her so much when she was writing it that she couldn’t write once it got dark. Set in an abandoned convent it will definitely give you the chills.

March 2017 saw the publication of Dark House, a gripping psychological thriller which introduced readers to the dangerous world of Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin. This was followed by Dying Breath and Last Light.

The Haunting on West Tenth Street is a supernatural thriller set on the streets of New York and features Homicide Detective Maria Miller.

Her brand new series featuring Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams is published July 16th 2019

Everyone’s welcome. But not everyone leaves…

Nick and Amber Miller are splitting up and selling their Devon family home. But despite the desirable location, the house isn’t moving. Not a single viewing so far.
 
When their estate agent suggests an open house event, Amber agrees, even as she worries about their gossiping neighbours attending and snooping around their home.
 
But Amber has more to worry about than nosy neighbours. Because thirteen people enter her house that afternoon, and only twelve leave.
 
Someone doesn’t want the house to sell, and is willing to do anything to stop it…

No. of pages:- 376 pages

Date published:- will be published on 10th December 2020

Genre:- Domestic Thriller

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book! This review is based on my own honest opinion.

Nick and Amber Miller are splitting up and decide to sell their house, even though Nick’s mother, Barb does not want to sell the house. The estate agent arranges the open day and Amber, through an app is able to see the open day. She counts thirteen people go inside the house but only twelve people leave the house…where’s the thirteenth one? Then ever since the open day, small things start happening around the house…

This is the first book I have read from this author. At first, the book was a bit boring but towards the middle, it got more and more interesting with unexpected twists and turns in each of the chapter. The story was told from the perspectives of Barb, Nick’s mother and Amber Nick’s ex-wife that you wouldn’t know which side of the story as a reader to believe in. The eerie things that are happening around the house after the Open Day particularly the presence of a certain “man” in the house was intriguing, interesting and creepy–the author did a good job with that! The book was written fast paced and well written, that I was so hooked into the story that I didn’t want to even stop reading! However, the ending to me was a bit disappointing but maybe it was just me.

Overall, this book is a fast paced thriller that will keep you up all night! Worth four stars!

Sam Carrington lives in Devon with her husband, two border terriers and a cat. She has three adult children and a new grandson! She worked for the NHS for fifteen years, during which time she qualified as a nurse. Following the completion of a psychology degree she went to work for the prison service as an Offending Behaviour Programme Facilitator. Her experiences within this field inspired her writing. She left the service to spend time with her family and to follow her dream of being a novelist.

SAVING SOPHIE, her debut psychological thriller, published in September 2016. It became a Kindle eBook bestseller, with the paperback hitting The Bookseller Heatseeker chart at #8. Sam was named an Amazon Rising Star of 2016. Her second psychological thriller, BAD SISTER, published in 2017 followed by ONE LITTLE LIE in July 2018. THE MISSING WIFE published in June 2019 and her fifth, I DARE YOU published on 12th December. Sam’s sixth psychological thriller THE OPEN HOUSE will be publishing in December 2020.

You can find out about Sam’s novels, upcoming events and book news at samcarringtonauthor.com