Tropical Girl Reads

The latest twisty psychological thriller from internationally-bestselling author Lucy Clarke, One of the Girls is the delicious story of a bachelorette trip on a stunning Greek island… that ends in murder.It was supposed to be the perfect weekend away. Six very different women travel to a sun-soaked Greek island for a bachelorette trip, to celebrate Lexi’s upcoming wedding. From the glorious ocean views to the quaint tavernas and whitewashed streets, the vacation seems too good to be true. But dangerous undercurrents run beneath the sunset swims and midnight cocktails – because each of the women is hiding a secret. Someone is determined to make sure that Lexi’s marriage never happens – and that one of them doesn’t leave the island alive.Gripping, twisty, and full of sun-soaked suspense, this timely thriller examines the joys of female friendship…as well as the deadly consequences when a relationship goes wrong.

So after reading The Castaway which actually took nearly my breath, I was excited for her new novel, One Of the Girls.

A group of friends get together in a villa in Greece to celebrate the hen weekend. But during their stay, secrets are revealed and then suddenly someone dies.

The story is mainly told from all the girls present in the villa perspective–Lexi, Bella, Fen, Robyn, Eleanor and Ana. Lexi and Bella are friends, Robyn is also friends with Lexi and Bella. Ana and Lexi have met each other at a yoga class and Eleanor is Lexi’s future sister-in-law. There was also someone else in the background who is plotting to do something. However, the more I read the book, the more I find that this is more a girl drama than a simple thriller. I did enjoy reading the book but it wasn’t enjoyable as I did with The Castaway. Personally, I wished there were not much POVs and except for Lexi and Bella, I didn’t find the other characters much fun. However, what I actually enjoyed about this novel is the setting–set in a scenic view of the Greek island overlooking the sea and the descriptions of the villa and the sceneries made me imagine that I was also celebrating the Hen weekend with the characters.

So if you like a thriller based in a mythical island with secrets, then this thriller is one for you. Worth four stars–mainly due to the writing more than the plot.

Julia Bird’s picturesque Cotswolds life is everything she’d dreamed of. Until, that is, she discovers a dead body in the library…

Julia Bird had imagined the quiet of rural life would be soothing after years in the city, but she finds she can’t just sit still.Determined to throw herself into village activities, she joins the library just in time to attend a talk by celebrated local author Vincent Andrews.

Charming, devilishly handsome and talented, Vincent teases the crowd with a reading from his forthcoming novel. Set in a village bearing strange similarities to Berrywick, with characters the audience start to recognise, Vincent hints of dark secrets to be revealed, to gasps of outrage from the room. The meeting ends in uproar, and, just hours later, Vincent’s dead body is discovered behind the bookshelves…

As one of the last people to see him alive, Julia feels morally bound to help the police investigate. With her trusty Labrador, Jake, at her side, she decides to do her own sleuthing and quickly discovers that Vincent’s personal life is messy, his finances are in disarray and his book sales are declining. But most of all, remembering her neighbours’ faces at the book reading, Julia wonders if one of them could have lost the plot enough to kill…

As Julia interrogates the suspects, she walks straight into another scene of murder and mayhem, and realises Vincent’s manuscript is now missing. There’s someone out there who’s deadly serious about keeping their secrets unpublished. Will Julia be able to stop them, before anyone else gets hurt?

Brilliantly twisty, this completely thrilling cozy mystery is perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Helena Marchmont and Clare Chase.

Murder in the library is sound thrilling and interesting and this book is just that. This is the second book of Julia Bird series. Here Julia Bird attends a book tak attended by a legendary handsome author, Vincent Andrews. But the next day, Julia finds Vincent stabbed inside the library. As the police investigate this case, Julia also gets herself involved as who would want to murder Vincent with so many suspects in the list. I greatly enjoyed reading the first book of the series. I did like this second book but this wasn’t as great as the first book. The pace was a bit slow but it got interesting towards the middle and the end. There weren’t much twists and turns in the book but the writing was good. However there was so much drama, jealousy and suspense that kept me interested in this book towards the end. Overall, it was a good cozy thriller–worth 3.5 stars! Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

The girl’s head is bent as if in prayer, her hands bound tightly together at the wrist. Her bare feet are still against the cold sand, the last thing she ever felt before she breathed her last…When the body of a teenage girl is found in Rydal Falls’ churchyard, Detective Morgan Brookes abandons her own birthday to attend the scene. In the dim evening light, Morgan can just make out the girl wrapped in a pristine white sheet and is certain she’s been left here for them to find.The autopsy identifies the girl as sixteen-year-old Shea Wilkinson, and Morgan’s heart cracks with sorrow. The beautiful teenager has been missing for weeks, could she have been suffering all this time? When she learns the sand on Shea’s feet is from a nearby island, Morgan leaves immediately, determined to find the killer’s hiding place and stop them in their tracks.But scouring the windswept beach, Morgan can’t find any sign that Shea was ever there. And then her phone rings with devastating news. Another girl has gone missing, a young nurse called Milly with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Shea.Morgan won’t rest until she has returned the kind, cheerful girl to her distraught parents. But Milly was last seen chatting to one of Morgan’s colleagues on the force… Refusing to think the worst, can she trace the clues and get inside the mind of the most cunning killer of her career, before another innocent life is lost?

This is a nail biting thriller that will keep you in suspense until the end! Detective Morgan Brookes is back again!

Shea Wilkinson has been missing for weeks, last seen at the MacDonalds in another town. Her body was found near the church. Detective Morgan Brooke starts investigating the case when she gets a phone call that another girl named MIlly goes missing. Milly was last seen talking to a colleague of Morgan when she disappeared.

The thriller was fast paced and the author knows how to put the reader on the edge. I really had a great time reading Morgan Brooke series and so this book did not disappoint me as a result. There were twists and turns, and the ending was unexpected as well. This kind of gave me a serial killer vibe as well and I do like the fact that the infamous American serial killers like Ted Bundy and BTK killers are mentioned in this book. Overall, this book gave me a thrill ride along the way and I cannot wait for the next book of the Morgan Brooke series!

If you are looking for a fast paced unputdownable thriller, then I highly recommend this book. If you have not started on the series yet, then I recommend you to start reading Morgan Brooke series as I can assure you, the series will give you a thrill ride! Worth five stars!

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

Part of what makes me interested in reading thrillers is the serial killer vibe in the book. I know it may sound disturbing but then it is sometimes fascinating to read about serial killers.

Here are some of the serial killer thrillers I have read.

1. Jar of Hearts – Jennifer Hiller

2. A Flicker in the Dark – Stacy Willingham

3. My Sister The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite

4. The Good Lie – A.R. Torres

5. The Surgeon – Tess Gerritson

My name is Isabel Butterworth. Your name is Isabel Butterworth.

We’re around the same age. We live in the same town.

But your life is more exciting than mine, isn’t it? Richer, dramatic, more fulfilling.

Imagine if I’d never found out about you…

But I have. Because someone mistook me for you.

And now I can’t stop thinking about you because I know you’re in trouble. You need my help.

And I need a way to get to know you.

To save you.

To be you

Two women, with the same name–Isabella Butterworth. One is leading a sort of fancy life even though her marriage is failing. The other not much of a fancy life. Then one of them gets mistakenly attacked by a man and then the other one is determined to find out more about the other person.

This was a gripping psychological thriller. It was truly engaging and fast paced and towards the fifty percent of the book, it got more and more intriguing and interesting with the twists and turns along the way. I like the fact that the author gave the reader an unexpected twist which also made the reader wanting to know what is going to happen next. But unfortunately, the book which I was going to give five stars dropped down to four stars as I didn’t really like the ending. However, the twists and turns in each of the chapter made me hook into the story and I actually enjoyed reading the book. I have read books written by this author before and this book was a complete surprise.

So if you like a gripping twisty and unputdownable thriller then this book is one for you–worth four stars.

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

Rachel sat at the kitchen table, trying to take everything in. She still couldn’t believe what her father had done. Clutching a faded photograph and a necklace in her hands, all she knew was that in her mother’s final days, she would do anything to protect her.

The call came on a seemingly ordinary day. But as soon as Rachel heard the pain in her sister’s voice, she had to face the fact that life as she knew it was about to be shattered: “It’s mum. She’s not well. She doesn’t have much time.”

Though her heart breaks to leave her husband and children behind, Rachel knows the right thing is to return home to care for her mother Janet. Their relationship has been strained for years. This may be the last chance for them both to heal.

Walking up to the front gate of her childhood home, Rachel is overwhelmed with memories: of hazy summers playing with her sister, of laughter ringing through the house, of the accident which cost their father his life. After that day, Rachel’s relationship with her mother changed forever.

Rachel has never forgiven herself for what happened and it is clear Janet hasn’t either. Determined to make amends, Rachel begins to get her mother’s house in order. But hidden in the cellar, Rachel unearths a devastating secret. A faded photograph and a tarnished necklace are the only clues to unravelling a secret that should have remained hidden.

Can Rachel unravel the mystery when it has the power to destroy her family? And when she finally discovers the truth, will it destroy everything she has ever known?

Wow…..I actually enjoyed reading this book. From the start to finish, I was literally hooked into the book.

The story starts with Rachel Verma, who is happily married receives a call from her sister Victoria to help her to take care of their ailing mother. Rachel had an estranged relationship with her mother and was determined to rekindle her relationship with her mother. While cleaning up the cellar, Rachel comes across a faded photograph and a skeletal remains of a woman. Now Rachel realizes that her family had been hiding dark secrets.

The story divides between the present day in Rachel’s perspective and the past dated 1986 told in the form of a woman named Sam, who comes to the small village and meets a man named Sean and fall in love with him. As the story progresses, we find Rachel determine to protect her mother as she is trying to rebuild the relationship with her and the suspicion that Sam’s new boyfriend Sean might be married. The ending was what blew me away, although I kind of knew that it was going to happen. The author also has done a good job of drawing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like part of the story. I also like Rachel’s married life and her friendship with the policeman, Lucas.

Overall, if you like a family drama book packed with family secrets, then this book is one for you–quite unputdownable and emotional and heartbreaking as well. As this is the first time I am reading a book by this author, I am looking forward to read more. Worth five stars!