Her Lonely Bone – ARC Book Review

Title:- Her Lonely Bones (Madison Harper series Book 6)

Author:- Wendy Dranfield

Date published:- will be published on 5th October 2023

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

The house is deathly silent as the summer sun starts to creep in through the dusty windows. The children should be waking up, the parents should be cooking breakfast. But they all lay still, their heads on their pillows, lifeless eyes staring at nothing, their bodies waiting to be discovered…

When a couple and their young twin boys are discovered brutally murdered in their beds, everyone suspects this is a home invasion gone tragically wrong. But as Detective Madison Harper walks into the run-down house that is eerily empty, she isn’t so sure.

Talking to the neighbors, Madison soon discovers that the family only recently moved to the small town of Lost Creek, Colorado. No one has met them, and no one knows their names. With nothing to identify them in the house, or even to show that the house belonged to them, Madison is suddenly faced with not only having to find a cold-blooded killer, but needing to identify the victims too.

Then, Madison’s heart stops in her chest when she discovers a small yellow t-shirt in the back of the family’s vehicle that says Daddy’s Girl. The couple must have had a daughter as well as the twin boys, but where is she? Madison suspects she’s been abducted, and vows to find the missing little girl before it’s too late.

But as Madison makes a breakthrough in identifying the family, she discovers they had a secret that changes the whole course of the investigation. Madison knows with every second that passes the chances of finding the girl alive get smaller, but she’s prepared to risk everything to find her, even her own life…

Madison Harper returns with another grueling case and adventure with Nate Monroe!

In a house, a couple along with two children are brutally murdered and their faces are beyond recognition. Madison is assigned to this case and it seemed that the family had moved into this house twenty four hours before they were being murdered. And while investigating the case, they find that another child is missing and Madison must find the murderer and the child before it is too late. Nate meanwhile gets a phone called from an inmate named Dennis who tells him that he wasn’t responsible for Grace’s disappearance. Grace is a child who disappeared fifteen years ago and Dennis was accused of her murder and sent to prison.

This was quite an unputdownable thriller! I haven’t read a book that is as gripping and fast paced as this one and I feel this is one of the best books of all the Madison Harper series. I stayed up all night reading this book and I simply couldn’t put the book down! There were twists and turns and also the fact that who the actual suspect was wasn’t revealed until later in the book! And the ending was actually unexpected ending! I just liked Madison and Nate’s chemistry with each other. I cannot wait to read more books of this series.

If you haven’t read this book yet, check it out but started with Book 1 as some background past of Madison and Nate are shared in the later books so you will be able to catch up. Overall a solid five star rating!

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

The Kamogawa Food Detectives – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Author:- Hisashi Kashiwai

Date published:- will be published on 5th Octobe 2023

Publisher:- Pan Macmillan

No. of pages:- 157 pages

Genre:- Japanese fiction

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

The Kamogawa Food Detectives, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason to stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to forgotten memories and future happiness.

From the widower looking for a specific noodle dish that his wife used to cook, to a first love’s beef stew, the restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to the past – and a way to a more contented future.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

If you have read Before the Coffee gets Cold, then you would most certainly enjoy reading this one–except this one is based on Japanese food!

Koishi and Nagare Kamogawa runs a restaurant that treats their guest with extravagant meals. But that’s not the reason why many people visit this restaurant. People have heard of this restaurant that apparently relives back the memories of the meal that they had eaten with their loved ones or made by their loved ones and the father-daughter help them to recreate those memories.

I actually enjoyed reading this book and this book made me feel like I was in Japan having Japanese meal. Reading about the actually food with its vivid descriptions of the food in detail also made me feel hungry as a result and made me wish that I can have that particular meal right now! I do like the relationship between Koishi and Nagare and I do like how each of the chapters are named with the name of the Japanese food that they will be using. Nagare recreates the dish thus making the guests feel and relive their memories of eating that particular dish thus feel a connection between the guest and the meal (a widower eating a dish that his late wife use to prepare, grand daughter recalls a dish that she and her grandfather would eat together). Oh, not to mention, I really like the mention of their cat!

Over all, this is a charming tale of short stories, quick to read and a book that talks about the food aligning with the retelling of memories that talks about loss, emotions, love and relationships. This is the first book of the stories and I actually enjoyed this one–worth four stars!

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

Day 22 – 30 Day Reading Challenge – You, with a View – Book Review

Title:- You with a View

Author:- Jessica Joyce

Date published:- July 11th 2023

No. of pages:- 352 pages

Genre:- Romance

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

Two weeks on the road… stuck in a car with your high-school enemy.

Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram’s past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information – and it goes viral.

Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother’s secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on.

Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There’s just one problem – Paul’s grandson is Noelle’s frustratingly handsome high-school rival Theo.

And Theo has to come, too.

It’s only two weeks. Surely Noelle can survive that long? But with one car between them – and often only one bed – it doesn’t take long for things to heat up…

I have seen so many raving reviews on this book and so I bought this book to see what is the hype about in this book.

I actually enjoyed reading this book.

Noelle Shepherd while going through her grandmother’s belongings discovers a photo of her grandmother during her young days with another man named Paul. Curious, Noelle posted the picture on Tiktok and eventually got a chance to meet Paul. But Paul is the grandfather of none other than her high school nemesis, Theo Spencer. Packed with her grandmother’s love letters to Paul and deciding to go on a two week road trip, Noelle has no choice but drive with Theo and Paul to a lifetime experience.

The story is told mainly from Noelle’s POV. Even though I am not much of a romance fiction type, I surprisingly enjoyed reading this book. I can as a reader feel the chemistry between Noelle and Theo and I also felt while reading this book that I was also going on a road trip with Noelle, Theo and Paul. There were some spicy scenes in the book as well. But besides romance, there is grief that is talked about mostly in the book–Noelle’s grief of losing her grandmother, who was more like her best confidante, Noelle’s issue being jobless and Theo’s stress at work, all beautifully written in this book. Plus, I really loved the front cover so it was a plus sign for me.

If you are looking for an adventurous road trip romance, then I recommend this book to you. This is the debut book of Jessica Joyce and so I cannot wait to read more books from her in future! Worth 4.5 stars.

Jessica Joyce lives happily-ever-ongoing with her husband and son in the Bay Area. When she’s not writing character-driven, realistic and relatable tales of millennials who are just Doing Their Best while falling in love, you can find her listening to one of her dozens of chaotically curated Spotify playlists, trying out a new skincare face mask, crying over cute animal TikToks, or watching the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice.

The Locket – Blog Tour

Title:- The Locket

Author:- Natalie Meg Evans

Date published:- September 25th 2023

Publisher:- Bookouture

No. of pages:- 474 pages

Genre:- Historical Fiction

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

England, 1942. ‘It has to stay secret,’ he whispers, placing the locket around her neck. ‘If they find it, they’ll send me away.’ As she holds the locket, glinting in the moonlight, she can’t hold back the tears. ‘I just wish we didn’t have to hide…’

When farmer’s daughter Irene meets Theodore at a village dance, sparks fly instantly. The war has brought him all the way from Louisiana to build a US airbase just across her father’s fields, but as they sway together, there is nothing else in the world. Only his gentle touch and his deep brown eyes.

But being together comes at a price. As Theodore is Black, the might of the US Air Force is against them, and all the members of the little village community disapprove of their relationship. And they will all go to terrible lengths to tear the two young lovers apart…

Decades later, heartbroken Ruby is back at her family’s crumbling farmhouse for the first time in years, after the loss of her beloved grandmother Irene. The roof has fallen in, family photographs are damaged – and her grandmother’s jewellery is nowhere to be found.

When Ruby uncovers her grandmother’s waterlogged diaries, she discovers that Irene treasured one piece of lost jewellery above all. A locket from a man called Theodore. And the missing locket holds the key to unravelling a heartbreaking secret that changed her grandmother’s life…

Is someone in the village hiding the locket to keep the truth about Irene and Theodore buried? And can Ruby find a way to honour her grandmother’s memory – or in digging up the pain of the war, will she tear her family apart?

An absolutely breathtaking World War Two story about the power of love in the face of adversity, and how the tragic consequences of war can echo through generations. Fans of Fiona Valpy, The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See will be addicted to this incredible read.

This is an emotional and heartbreaking historical fiction that I have read.

Heartbroken Ruby returns back to her grandparents’ farm house after her grandmother Irene passed away. While going through things, Ruby comes across Irene’s diary that described the life Irene had during the World War II.
In 1943, Irene, daughter of a farmer meets Sergeant Theodore Robinson and immediately the sparks fly between them. However, Theo is Black while Irene is White British and it was a time when Jim Crow laws are full in force and segregation is common back then. Irene is madly in love with Theo until she finds out that she was carrying Theo’s baby.

This was a very realistic historical fiction and the author must have done tremendous research about that certain era–the time as I mentioned earlier when segregation between white people and blacks are full in force. I actually enjoyed Irene’s part but I also liked Ruby in the story. Irene is a courageous and brave woman who would defy at any odds and culture to be with her true love and because of that Irene, Ruby and Will are like my favorite characters in the story. The writing is well written and mesmerizing and the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story, making them feel like they are also a part of the story. The story is divided into present and past dated 1943. It was really interesting to read about what life was like back then. Overall, this is an emotional and heartbreaking story that will make you cry–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Many thanks to Bookouture for making me a part of the blog tour. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Natalie is a RITA nominated, USA Today Bestselling author of six novels: The Dress Thief, The Milliner’s Secret (re-titled “The Girl who Dreamed of Paris”), The Wardrobe Mistress, Summer in the Vineyards, The Secret Vow and The Paris Girl that feature sisters, Katya and Tatiana. Since then, Natalie has released Into the Burning Dawn and The Italian Girl’s Secret, books set in the lucious Bay of Naples during the second world war. Now, the latest novel is available and it is called The Girl with the Yellow Star. The story takes place in Cornwall on the glorious north coast, and is a heart-wrenching story of loss, love and challenging choices.

Visit her website at https://www.nataliemegevans.uk

Day 21 of 30 day Reading Challenge- Shatter Me – Book Review

Title:- Shatter Me

Author:- Tahereh Mafi

Date published:- November 15th 2011

No. of pages:- 338 pages

Genre:- Fantasy/YA

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

There’s so much hype on this book–I get to know about this book through Instagram and Tiktoks and Booktubes and so I was curious to read this book. If you have been following my blog for a while, you will know that I am not actually a fan of fantasy novels but I actually decided to give this genre a try.

The book belongs with Juliette who has an unusual power–whatever she touches, the person will die. Although it was an accident, she was locked up in a secluded room for 264 days until one day, another inmate was put into the same room as Juliette. The person is none other than Adam who Juliette remembered as a childhood friend. Then one day, Juliette and Adam were taken to Reestablishment headquarters where Werner wanted to make used of Juliette’s power. Juliette refused to help Werner and Adam and Juliette escape together only to join another organization that helps with the benefit of the world.

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed reading this book. The story is told entirely from Juliette’s POV and so we get to see the inside of Juliette’s mind. There’s sort of a love triangle between Werner, Adam and Juliette which I think might follow up later in the series. I was drawn into the story and kind of felt like I was a part of the story with Juliette and Adam. As a matter of fact, I am curious and cannot wait to read the next book in the series. However, one bad thing is I didn’t really like Juliette much as I felt she was slightly a bit whiny in my opinion but that would just be me. I want to read more about Warner and hope to come across him later in the series. Overall this book worth four stars.

Day 20 – 30 Day Reading Challenge – Family Remains – Book Review

Title:- The Family Remains

Author:- Lisa Jewell

Date published:- August 9th 2022

No. of pages:- 452 pages

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 3/5

Writing:- 3/5

Overall rating:- 3/5

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs.

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.

Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.

After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.

As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.

In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.

After reading The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, I actually highly anticipated this book. And so I got my hands on its sequel The Family Remains afterwards and I have mixed reviews about the sequel.

The story starts with the discovery of bones by the Thames riverside. The bones were then found to be one belonging to Birdie (who we came across in Family Upstairs) and Detective Samuel Owensu is in charge of the case. Meanwhile Henry is obsessed to find the whereabouts of Phin that he actually goes to Chicago to look for him.

The pacing in the book was good. The story shifts first to Henry who is told in the first person narrative, Samuel who is told in the first person narrative and Lucy who is determined to stop Henry as she believed that Henry was going to kill Phin. Oh, then there’s a woman named Rachel who is married to Michael Rimmer who is actually Lucy’s ex husband. We all know that Lucy killed Michael in the first book and in this book, the French police are investigating the case and Rachel recounts her life with Michael.

The setting was great, the writing was great but I felt that the first book was a better than the sequel. I specifically liked reading Michael and Rachel parts. This book maybe read as a standalone but in my opinion, I think it is better to read Family Upstairs before reading Family Remains so you will have a keen idea about the characters and what happened.

Overall, to me this was an OK book–not Lisa Jewell’s best but an OK thriller. Worth three stars.

LISA JEWELL was born in London in 1968.

Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another twenty novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and The Night She Disappeared.

Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.

Lisa’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/LisaJewelloff…

The Baby I Left Behind – Blog Tour

Title:- The Baby Left Behind

Author:- Jen Craven

Date published:- 21st September 2023

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

No. of pages:- 311 pages

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

”Take him. Please forgive me.”

Cate grips the note with trembling hands, looking down at the delicate bundle on her doorstep. As she reaches down to the baby, she knows she has finally got everything she’s ever wished for. But is he hers to take?

Cate tries not to cry as she closes the door on the nursery room once again. All she has ever wanted is to be a mother. Cursed with a medical condition that means she is unable to have children, her only option is to wait for a call from the adoption centre. But that call feels like a lifetime away.

Then she hears a faint cry from outside her house. She’s convinced she’s imagining it, that the grief is starting to overwhelm her. But when she opens her door and looks down, her heart swells. By her feet is the most perfect baby curled up in a soft blanket.

As the newborn’s eyes light up, Cate feels instant love for him. She knows she can’t just accept a stranger’s baby – she has to call the police. But as she picks him up, it all finally feels right. This is where the baby belongs.

But when her darling baby is rushed into hospital, Cate knows that in order to save his life, she needs to expose the lie she has been so desperate to hide. Can Cate discover who the child’s real mother is? And if so, will she be able to make the hardest decision of her life to protect the child?

An emotional story about family, secrets and what makes a good parent. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jojo Moyes and Kate Hewitt.

This was such an intense read that I couldn’t put the book down from the moment I started reading the first chapter.

The story starts wit Cate who is yearning for a child but due to a condition she cannot get pregnant. Then on one snowy night she finds a baby at the doorstep with only a note. Someone had left the baby at the door step and Cate knew she had to call social services but instead takes matters to her hand…

This as I said was intense and a page turner thriller— it was also quite unputdownable as well. I simply couldn’t put the book down as I wanted to know what is going to happen towards the end. The story reminded me a bit of the Biblical story King Solomon. The only issue I had was, I didn’t really like the ending much. I mean one mother, Jada who abandoned her child got away with a lighter sentence while Cate suffered the serious consequences was in my mind unfair to me, even thought, maybe the author was trying to be realistic here as Cate did forge the birth certificate. The writing was really good and the author did a good job of bringing the reader to the story. Overall, this book worth 4.5 stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture. The review is based on my honest opinion only

en Craven is the author of emotional and suspenseful women’s fiction, stories where one decision changes everything. A former college instructor, she loves dark campus novels, which led to her contemporary debut, Best Years of Your Life, published in August 2022. Her writing style blends poignancy with drama to create what-would-you-do narratives of the human experience.
Aside from fiction, Jen has personal essay bylines in national outlets, including The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Today’s Parent, Scary Mommy and many more.
She writes from northwestern Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and three children. When not working on her books, she can be found thrift shopping, taking long walks, and beating her kids in backgammon.

https://www.jencraven.com/

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Jen Craven here: https://bookouture.com/subscribe/jen-craven

Buy Link:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0CB16YWLTsocial

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo

Bright Young Women – ARC Book Review

Title:- Bright Young Women

Author:- Jessica Knoll

Date published:- will be published on September 28th 2023

Publisher:- Pan Macmillan

No. of pages:- 384 pages

Genre:- Thriller/True Crime

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

An extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America’s first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.

January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that unwittingly saves her life. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades.

On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life, a young woman with painful secrets of her own, and the two form an instant connection. When Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When she hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she knows it’s the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.

Bright Young Women is the story about two women from opposite sides of the country who become sisters in their fervent pursuit of the truth. It proposes a new narrative inspired by evidence that’s been glossed over for decades in favor of more salable headlines—that the so-called brilliant and charismatic serial killer from Seattle was far more average than the countless books, movies, and primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.

This is actually a five star read for me!

This is a fictional true crime novel based on the real life events of the murders at the sorority in a university in Florida committed none other than one of America’s most infamous serious killers, Ted Bundy. Pamela Schumacher the sorority house president is awoken by a sound in the early hours of the morning and caught a fleeting glance of a man leaving the house hurriedly. She discovers two of her sorority sisters were dead and the other two were maimed and brutally beaten. This crime soon send shockwaves across the nations as people will remember this even for generations to come. Meanwhile Tina a woman from Seattle knows that the same man who committed the murders in the sorority is responsible for the disappearance of her friend Ruth who disappeared in Lake Sammamish Park back in 1974 and team up with Pamela to catch this man.

I have watched countless movies and read books all based on Ted Bundy but this is one of those books where the author did not use Bundy’s name but instead referred to him as the “The Defendant”. This is also one of the books where the whole story is based entirely on the victims and not on the murderer which actually increased my rating of the book. The book was fast paced and quiet a page turner and, in my opinion, I liked this book more than her debut books the Luckiest Girl Alive. I simply couldn’t put the book down as I really wanted to know what really happened to Tina’s friend Ruth. The names of the victims in this book have been changed (the victims of the sorority). I read in one of the reviews about how the judge referred to Ted Bundy as a “Bright Young Man “and this story is basically about young women who are bright ones recognizing their own worth and intelligence hence “Bright Young Women,” The story is told from the perspectives of Pamela and Ruth, who was dealing with her own issues and who is ready to accept her own fate. I also like how the author managed to draw the reader into that period, making us feel like we are in that era and also a part of the story. The story was captivating, there is a bit of tension and suspense in the book. I like how the author made the “The Defendant” unworthy and focused more towards the victim which is the reason why I enjoyed the book.

If you haven’t put this on your TBR list, go ahead and put this book on your TBR list. This book is a must read. A page turning, captivating, truly emotional book that will keep you up all night. Worth five stars!

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

Favorite quote

“He wants to extinguish us–we are the ones that remind him that he’s not that smart, not that good-looking, that there’s nothing particularly special about him.”

Let’s not forget the names of the real victims

Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman – The Sorority Murders


Janice Ott and Denise Nasuland – Lake Sammamish Park disappearance

essica Knoll is the New York Times Bestselling author of THE FAVORITE SISTER and LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE—now a major motion picture on Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan, and the articles editor at SELF. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and bulldog, Franklin. BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN, her third novel, publishes on September 19th.

Day 19 of 30 Day Reading Challenge- The Inheritance Games – Book Review

Title:- The Inheritance Games

Author:- Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Date published:- September 1st 2020

No. of pages:- 384 pages

Genre:- YA/Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why — or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.

To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch — and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

This book had so much hype that I wanted to read this book for a long time. So when I finally got my hands on this book, I was super duper excited to read this book.

And I finished this book within four days so you can say that I simply couldn’t put the book down.

Avery Gamble is living with her sister Libby and had plans to go to college. Avery’s life changed when a billionaire man named Tobias Hawthorne leaves his entire wealthy and estate to none other than Avery Gamble instead of his family. Now Avery need to find the reason why this stranger decided to leave behind all his wealth to her instead of his own family which consisted of Hawthorne brothers–Jameson, Nash, Grayson and Xander. Even though Avery and the Hawthorne family are at odds with each other, Avery must seek help from one of the Hawthorne brothers and uncover the clues left behind by their grandfather to find the reason why Tobias Hawthorne left wealth to Avery. And as they play the games, they find many secrets deep inside the family.

This was a fast-paced thriller told mainly from Avery’s point of view. There are some unexpected twists and turns, may secrets are revealed and there are riddles that are interesting which needed to be solved. I like how Avery gradually gains trust from the Hawthorne brothers. Other than the fact was the plot was interesting, the writing was great and I like the fact that the chapters are short thus making the book quick to read. I actually liked the cliff hanger towards the end which means that the story will continue into Hawthorne Legacy to discover more.

So is this book worth the hype? In my opinion, it is! Although there are some books that are not worth the hype, this book definitely worth the hype. I cannot wait to read the second book in the series to see what is going to happen next.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a “practice book” and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.

Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She’ll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

The Mother’s Secret – Blog Tour Book Review

Title:- The Mother’s Secret

Author:- Kate Hewitt

Date published:- 14th September 2023

Publisher:- Bookouture

No. of pages:- 406 pages

Genre:- Women’s Fiction

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4.5/5

When the call finally comes, my life as I know it is over—my job as a teacher, my marriage, my family are all gone. In a heartbeat, I’ve lost everything that ever mattered to me. All because of one secret, and what someone thinks she saw…

As I sit in the school’s office, listening to the accusations being made against me, I wonder how I got here. As they discuss what they think I did, words begin to jumble in my mind: “a video,” “blurred figures…” I don’t know how to explain that they’ve got it all wrong. Instead, I think back over the last few months and try to pinpoint the exact moment when I allowed a secret to ruin my life.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been so stupid, I can see that now. Because I know who told them I did this. But it’s just not true, I would never cross that line. So why would she do this to me, after all we’ve been through? What possible reason could she have to shatter my life into a million pieces?

When I open my eyes, my colleagues are staring at me, waiting for answers. I take a deep breath. It’s time to tell them what really happened. It’s time to tell them the truth.

An emotionally gripping and totally unputdownable story about the complexities of love, female friendship and betrayal. This page-turning read will stay with you long after the final page, and is perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Susan Lewis.

This was actually beautifully written told in the perspectives of two women.

Rachel has just become a mother to Nathan and is on maternity leave. She is having problems adjusting to the motherhood and she finds some marks on Nathan’s body. Has she done that or someone else is abusing her son particularly at the day care? Meanwhile Laura, who is Rachel’s cover up teacher gets into trouble when a student takes a picture of her and Ben, a student together. However, there was no love going between the student and the teacher yet accusations are hurled at Laura which may threaten her family life as well.

Kate’s stories are always beautifully written and she does a good job of drawing the reader into the story. The story overall is realistic particularly Rachel’s part where she is struggling with motherhood. It is nice to know and read about the two women perspectives and so we will know what each of the character think of each other. It was slightly slow burn but overall, it was actually a heartbreaking and emotional story in general. Laura’s part was particularly a little sad to read and I liked how Rachel in the end gets a happy ending.

If you are looking for a bit of drama and a book that is emotional and heartbreaking then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Many thanks to Bookouture for making me a part of the blog tour. This review is based on my honest opinion only.

Author Bio:

Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.

https://www.kate-hewitt.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KateHewittAuthor/
https://twitter.com/author_kate

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Kate Hewitt here: https://www.bookouture.com/kate-hewitt

Buy Link:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0C8JGC2S1social

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