Tropical Girl Reads

‘Come home.’ Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories – she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he’d built for his family.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting . . . but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

This was actually a creepy thriller/horror book that I actually enjoyed reading so much!

Vera reluctantly returns back to her childhood home, known as The Crowder Hall built by her father. But the house itself holds a dark secret–the place where her father who is a notorious serial killer had killed and kept the bodies in the very same house as Vera is reminded of that secret. Meanwhile, her mother Daphne, with whom Vera has a strained relationship has invited a stranger named James Duvall as Daphne and Vera are facing financial difficulties…

I actually enjoyed reading this book. It was slow-paced but despite that, I was completely hooked into the story. Reading this book made me feel like I was watching a horror movie that will put me at the edge of the seat so the author has done a good job with that. There is a Stephen King vibe in this book as well as there are moments of horror stories coupled with the thriller in the book that would leave the reader feel intrigued. There wasn’t much gory scenes in the book but there are some parts in the book that completely grossed me out and was too disturbing to read at times. The ending was fantastic and unexpected and I actually did not expect that sort of ending at all! Besides from all the horrors and twisted thriller, this book also talk about strained relationship particularly between Vera and her mother, strained friendship between Vera and her friend Brandon and how Vera is still haunted by the house. The descriptions of the house certainly gives the reader a creepy vibe which will make the reader feel like they are reading a horror story.

If you are a fan of Stephen King, then this book will be the one for you–I give four stars!

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

Two marriages. Three little lies. Someone’s going to die…

I hold my breath as my handsome husband walks through the door. I’ve planned the perfect surprise birthday party for him. Our friends are gathered and the champagne is flowing. But when I catch the look in his deep brown eyes, I realise I’ve got this horribly wrong.

Then I see her. Danielle Baines. She’s the sort of ultra-polished woman who demands to be the centre of attention, with her salon-styled hair and diamonds glittering on her ring finger. I’ve never liked her. And I know the feeling is mutual. So why is she here?

All evening my stomach is churning. I’m desperate to smooth things over with Aiden as I can’t face another argument. And yet I can’t help but notice how careful he is to avoid Danielle…

Now it’s the end of the party and the man I love is confessing a secret that shocks me to the core. But it’s not what I was afraid of. It’s much worse. He says we’re in danger. He tells me we have to leave with our son. Turn our backs on the life we’ve built here and start again.

I thought I knew everything about my husband. But suddenly he feels like a stranger.
Should I trust him? And if I don’t, how can I protect my family?

Shalini Boland has become one of my favorite thriller authors and so I get excited when I get the ARC of her latest books. A Perfect Stranger is her latest psychological thriller.

The story talks about two couples–Marcus and Dani and Emily and Aiden. Marcus owns a successful car dealership business and both he and Dani had been trying to have a child. Aiden and Emily already have a son, Josh and Emily is expecting another baby. But when Aiden tells Emily that he was in debt and that their family should leave the comfort of their houses and move somewhere else under different name, Emily wonders how well she knew her husband. Dani meanwhile finds a terrible secret about her husband and wonders how well she knows her husband.

The story started a little too slow but then soon, it gained its momentum and became fast paced and page turner with twists and turns along the way. The story is told from Dani’s and Emily’s perspectives, mostly from Emily’s perspective. The author has managed to capture us readers into the story so making the reader feel like a part of the story. The story also describe the relationship with the spouses and mainly, talks about how much you know your partner and how trustworthy your partner can be. The ending was unpredictable, which actually made me give a higher rating and the twist at the end was actually completely unpredictable–did not predict that type of ending at all.

Overall, I actually enjoyed this fast paced thriller and managed to finish this book within two days. Worth four stars in my opinion.

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

Confined to an opulent Beverly Hills hotel during a raging wildfire, a young couple is caught in the escalating tension between the wealthy guests and the staff, in Liska Jacobs’s blistering, dark social satire, The Pink Hotel.

Newlyweds Keith and Kit Collins can hardly believe their luck when the general manager of the iconic, opulent Pink Hotel invites them to come for a luxurious stay as a bid to hire Keith. Kit loves their small-town life, but Keith has always wanted more, and the glittering, lily-scented lobby makes him feel right at home.

Soon after their arrival, wildfires sweep through the surrounding mountains and Los Angeles becomes a pressure cooker, with riots breaking out across the city amid rolling blackouts. The Pink Hotel closes its doors to “outsiders,” and Keith and Kit find themselves confined with an anxious, disgruntled staff and a growing roster of eccentric, ultra-wealthy, dangerously idle guests who flock to the hotel for sanctuary, company, and entertainment.

The Pink Hotel exposes a tenuous class system within its walls, full of insurmountable expectations and unspoken resentments, which deteriorate as the city burns. In her barbed, provocative new novel, Liska Jacobs explores the corrosive nature of greed and interrogates the notion of true love, while hurtling readers toward certain disaster.

Keith and Kit Collins are newlyweds and luck has it when the manager of one of the opulent hotels in Beverly Hills invites Keith to stay in at the Pink Hotel. But wildfire starts raging followed by riots and blackouts and Keith and Kit find themselves confined inside the hotel with disgruntled staff and wealthy guests while trying to enjoy their honeymoon.

To be honest, the front cover is appealing and beautiful and should be given a five star for the cover. The plot sounded interesting which was I requested the arc for the book. However, it wasn’t great as I expected the book to me.

Though the book is labeled as a thriller, it wasn’t fast-paced or that there were not much OMG moments in the story, and none of the characters in the book didn’t really fall out of for me. I almosted got bored with the story but as a person who doesn’t DNF the book, I kept reading the book, hoping that it will get better somewhere in some part of the story. Overall, this was an OK thriller book–not really great, not really an unputdownable thriller that you would expect in a thriller. I also didn’t really enjoy much but maybe this was just me.

Overall, this book worth 2.5 stars in my opinion.

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

Isabella pedals her bright red bike on the familiar route home, admiring her charm bracelet catching the light. But half an hour later, she is nowhere to be seen. All her frantic parents find is an angel-shaped charm discarded on the sidewalk…

When twelve-year-old Isabella Farner disappears, Agent Tori Hunter races to the scene. Witnesses—including her partner’s son who was biking home with Isabella—saw a man throw her into the back of his blue van and speed away. Terrified that a child she loves like her own might be next, Tori knows every second counts in the hunt for the missing girl.

Isabella’s distraught parents insist no-one would want to harm their perfect family. But soon a photo of Isabella looking terrified is discovered, holding a copy of today’s newspaper. Why would the Farners conceal information about their own missing daughter? And what else do they have to hide?

Then, while searching a stretch of road where the van was last seen, Tori finds a tiny clue: an angel-shaped charm. Isabella was here. But what chance is there that she is being kept alive?

Unable to trust Isabella’s parents, as Tori closes in on the truth she realises someone already known to police must be involved: and she herself is in terrible danger. But even if Tori makes the ultimate sacrifice, will it be enough to find this innocent girl before she disappears forever?

Agent Tori Hunter is back with another case–this time it involved the disappearance of a girl named Isabelle.

The story starts with Isabelle being kidnapped by a masked man in front of her friend Quinn, who happened to be Braddock’s son. Agent Tori Hunter along with Braddock sets to investigate the case–to find out that two more children also had gone missing few years ago and one man might be responsible for their disappearances. With time running out, Tori must find Isabelle before it’s too late.

This was such a page turner!!! From start to finish, I was literally engrossed into the story, feeling like I was also a part of the story. The part where Isabelle was getting kidnapped was the starting point of the story and where the reader was actually made to dwell into the story. There were some twists and turns, some of them surprising and it was a fast paced thriller with me wanting to know, what is going to happen next. Will it be too late for Tori to save Isabelle? Is some sort of ring going on in the town? The ending left me…speechless! It was completely unexpected ending! Tori would forever be one of my favorite detectives as she is the eiptome of a courageous woman!

Overall, if you are looking for a police procedural, which is fast paced, twisty and unputdownable, then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

He went missing when you were sixteen. Was it all your fault?

Trembling with shock, Jodie picks up the old T-shirt. She hasn’t seen it for twenty years. Her boyfriend had been wearing it – her Ben – the day he went missing. The last time anyone saw him alive.

After her dad’s funeral, all Jodie wants is to clear out her childhood home as quickly as possible and get back to life with her son. But a terrifying discovery changes everything she knew about her kind, loving father.

Her boyfriend Ben went missing when they were just teenagers. His parents still stare out the window desperately waiting for him to come home. So how did the T-shirt he was wearing when Jodie saw him walk away from their last date end up in her father’s attic?

The search for answers leads Jodie to an old family friend who knows all her father’s secrets. She can’t shake his questions about her older brother, and the real reason their dad left everything to Jodie, not him. But when a stranger begins to follow her around their little town, and a deadly fire breaks out in her home, it’s clear someone will do anything to stop Jodie finding the truth about Ben’s disappearance. Has Jodie unknowingly put her own son in terrible danger?

Jodie’s boyfriend Ben went missing when Jodie was sixteen years old. But while cleaning out her father’s attic, Jodie finds the old T-shirt that belonged to Ben. Did her father do something to Ben?

This book was a bit slow burn but soon it got interested by the middle of the book. There were some twists and turns along the well that will leave the reader intrigued and put the reader at the edge of the seat. The quest to find the truth with Jodie discovering more about her father’s secrets was a nail biting twist. The plot was interesting and by the middle of the book, it became unputdownable. The ending was what was unexpected but at the same time it was a bit sad as well. The characters in this book seemed to be secretive and mysterious which actually made this book more interesting and intriguing as well. Nonetheless, this was the first book I have read from this author and I will look forward to read more books from this author.

If you like a slow burn thriller, then this one is for you–worth four stars.

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