Tropical Girl Reads

The moon shines through the open window, bathing the woman in pale light. Blood-red wine from a shattered glass soaks into the cream blanket beside her, and her dull eyes stare vacantly at the framed photograph in her hand.

When beautiful wife and mother Alicia Gordon is found dead in a remote woodland cabin, Detective Amanda Steele is shocked to discover that she knows the husband. Amanda hasn’t spoken to Tony since she lost the love of her own life seven years ago, and seeing tragedy tearing her old friend’s family apart brings back so many painful memories.

Alicia was alone when she died, but she was so young, and Amanda can’t help feeling suspicious. Then she discovers that Alicia’s sleep medication had been tampered with, slowly poisoning her over several days. Amanda wants to trust that the sorrow on Tony’s face is real, but the more she digs into his marriage, the more it seems that he had opportunity, and motive…

Interviewing one of Alicia’s old colleagues, Amanda is shaken to her core when the woman suddenly collapses in her arms, dying in seconds from a lethal dose of the same poison that killed Alicia. But what could link this woman to Tony?

With her partner blaming Amanda for not arresting Tony immediately, she needs to prove that he isn’t the killer, or accept that the second woman’s death could be on her hands. She’s running out of time and leads when she discovers threatening messages sent to both victims. It’s the final clue to unmasking the most twisted killer Amanda has ever come up against, and to stop them she’ll have to risk everything

Detective Amanda Steele is back with another case!

Unlike her previous cases where she had to deal with a deranged serial killer, this was different. A devoted mother and businesswoman, Alicia Gordon was found dead in her cabin. While it looked like a suicide, later on it was found out that she was actually the wife of Tony, Amanda’s high school friend and classmate and who had been very close to each other. With evidences mounting against Tony, Amanda is having mixed feelings whether her friend is guilty or not.

This was a fast paced thriller, packed with twists and turns along the way. The writing was really great, the plot was great too and the author has done a good job of drawing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are part of the story. I do like how Amanda and her partner Trent are working together as well. This felt like a roller coaster ride and the ending was so unexpected–I did not expect that ending.

This book will keep you up all night and will guarateed that it will keep you at the edge of the seat–worth five stars!

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

A little girl in a white nightdress stands out in the snow, watching the large brick house burn before her eyes…

My name is Lucy Townsend.

I was born on Friday the thirteenth, and I was the thirteenth girl living in the big house. Unlucky for some.

But I was the fortunate one. I escaped. The only one who made it out alive.

And now, twenty years after that fateful night, the secrets of the past and what happened in that house are pulling me back.

I might not be so lucky this time…

A totally gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller with twists and turns you just won’t see coming. Perfect for fans of Girl A and The Family Upstairs.

This is the second book written by Sarah Goodwin.

The story starts with Lucy Townsend who finds herself pregnant. She wasn’t ready to become a mother after when her own mother had been terrible towards her but her husband, Marshal seems to be happy. Lucy seems to be leading a happy life with Marshal. But then, her tormented childhood past soon came to light–her mother was involved in some sort of cult that involved kidnapping and killing little girls. As both Marshall and his father are MPs and needed to save their faces, Lucy was sent to a cottage. Then one day, she goes off to the house where she stayed and her past buried many years ago.

I have to say, the story did start out really good. After reading Stranded by this very same author, I actually had high expectations with this book. Unfortunately this book did not really live up to my high expectations. I am not saying this was bad–it was good. The writing was good and the first part was engaging. But then soon, when the middle of the story took hold what with describing about the cult, it got…let’s just say unbelieavable. Not boring but unrealistic and unbelievable in my opinion. Nonetheless I did enjoy the story although I have to say, unlike her first book, this was not as good as stranded.

Overall, if you like cult based thriller, you can try out the Thirteenth girl. Worth 3.5 stars.

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

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.

Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can’t bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt’s Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.

To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila’s little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.

This is the second book of the Tita Rosie series. I think you would have to read the first book, Arsenic and Adobo before reading the second book.

Now in this book, Lila, the main protagonist is opening up a cafe with her best friend Adeena and Adeena’s girlfriend Elena. Detective Parks visits Lila and tells her about a letter that they received regarding the beauty pageant that is held in Shady Palms every year–in which Lila was also a part of the contest many years ago. Lila joins in the pagent as a judge. Then one of the judges, Rob Thompson was murdered and Lila is set to find out who is responsible for the murder.

This was not as good as the first book, though the descriptions of Filipino cuisne made my mouth water. There were some funny parts in the book which will make you laugh out loud and I do really like the plot and the setting of the story. The story is mainly told from Lila’s perspective. I do like how Lila works out to find out who the killer is and this time she was sort of helping Detective Park especially when her cousin, Bernadette was questioned about Rob Thompson. Overall, I actually enjoyed reading the book, though the mention of the food and the recipes at the back of the book made my mouth water.

With that said, I cannot wait to read the third book and couldn’t see what Lila’s next adventure will be.

One year ago, Leah’s twenty-one-year-old niece, Amy, mysteriously drowned near her family-owned luxury resort on the shores of Lake Garda.

Now, returning to Italy for the first time since Amy’s death, Leah is shocked to find her family seem to have erased all reminders of Amy. Despite the murky circumstances, they insist her death was an accident but Leah knows she must look deeper if she is to uncover the truth.

Meanwhile, in Derby, university counsellor Joanna is recovering from a surprising break-up when she is swept off her feet by a handsome bartender. But after she invites him into her home, Joanna is forced to accept that she doesn’t know him as well as she thought.

What follows is a propulsive game of cat-and mouse as both women begin to realise that appearances can be deceptive – and that the darkest secrets often lie closest to home.

Leah’s niece, Amy was drowned in the lake, near the villa in Italy where Amy’s parents own. Leah then moves to Italy and to the villa one year after her niece died. But to her surprise, Amy’s parents and Leah’s niece Olivia seemed to have erased off memories of Amy. The Leah meets Amy’s friend Francesca who gives her a SIM card, where she tells her that Amy before dying had called her. As Leah listened to the voice message, Leah realizes that there are some secrets that are lying in the villa.

Meanwhile in Derby, Joanna a university councillor is dealing with a student’s suicide. While at the bar she meets a handsome stranger who introduces himself as Callum. When Callum gets into the accident, and Joanna agrees to look after him. But soon, she realises that she doesn’t really know Callum much who might be running away from the past.

The story is told from the perspectives of three women–Leah, Joanne and Amy, hours before the sunset, the time when she drowned in the lake. From start to finish, I was engrossed into the book. In the beginning, you wonder what does Joanne got to do with Leah and Amy though towards the middle, you feel the connection between the three women through one man. The story is fast paced though not much twists and turns. Despite the lack of twists and turns, the story is unputdownable and a page turner in my opinion. However, the ending was a bit predictable but then overall, I actually enjoyed reading this thriller based in northern Italy. The descriptions of northern Italy made me feel like I was in Italy. I also like the slightly family drama mentioned in the book, Amy’s relationship with the bartender Nate and the mention of how Olivia may have been sexually abused by one of the guests all made a juicy unputdownable thriller.

If you like a thriller baded in a holiday villa, then this book is one for you. Looking forward to read more books from this author. Worth 4.5 stars.

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

In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning―it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

A thriller/mystery set inside a library? A dead body inside a library? Sign me up!

Winifred known as Freddie is an aspiring novelist trying to write her novel inside Boston Public Library. While in the library, she meets Cain, Marigold and Whit, three fellow novelists and while they were getting to know each other, they heard a woman screaming. Few minutes later, they find out that a woman was murdered and the woman’s name is Caroline. The police suspect Cain as the murderer as he had a prison record and that Caroline’s father was the judge at his hearing. Freddie who is in love with Cain is the only one who believes in innocence while the rest of them thinks Cain is capable of murder.

To my huge utter suprise–I actually enjoyed reading this book and this book is actually quite unputdownable! From start to finish, I actually was literally hooked into the story. The writing was spot on, with those twist and thrills that you wouldn’t even expect. And as the story progresses, you actually wonder–is Cain the real murderer or is someone framing him? Or is Freddie that naive? Really love the thrill concept of this novel!

I do like the setting and the plot of the story. I also like the fact that Freddie is an Australian and is getting used to the American accent–something which I can also relate with Freddie during my own stay in the United States (I had a British accent when I spoke in English that time). I really also think this was a unique sort of story which I actually enjoyed very much and I like how one meeting could really bring the people together, creating lifelong friend (or enemy)

I also wonder–maybe it’s just me the letters addressed to Hannah written by Leo at the end of each chapter–truly I am slightly confused but then towards the middle I kind of beginning to start those letters. Overall, I enjoyed this book so much that I couldn’t even put the book down!

If you like a book based inside a library with a thriller setting, this book is one for you–worth four stars!

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

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven’s family was murdered and only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.

Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.

As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Then a second woman is abducted. The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with a gift for knowing when people are lying.

Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them – and he and Evie know how the past can come back to haunt you . . .

This is the third book of the Cyrus Haven and the first time I am reading the series. And I have to say, I think I am going to be addictedto this series–it was really gripping and good!

In this book, we are going to get a small insight of Cyrus life when he almost experienced a near death incident–his older brother Elvis murdered their parents and their twin sisters brutally years ago and was sent to a mental asylum. Now years later, Elvis was found sane to be released into the environment and was taken under Cyrus’s care. Meanwhile, an elderly man was brutally killed and his daughter Maya Kirk goes missing. The police are clueless if Maya ran away or was being held hostage somewhere. Evie, a troubled teenager starts working in a bar and then she sees a woman named Daniela getting into a car and was never seen again. Daniela also has some ties with Maya. No one believes in Evie except Cyrus and…maybe the killer.

The story is told from Cyrus and Evie’s point of view, with Evie trying to make Cyrus meet someone and Cyrus was the only person that Evie seemed to trust. The book itself was fast paced, with twists and turns that will make you feel like you are on the edge of the seat. I was literally hooked into the book from start to finish and the author’s writing was really great! What got me more interested is towards the end of the book, when the climax starts to build with secrets of the women who were being abducted revealed. Overall, it was as if I was watching some action movie and that the ending was whopping mind blowing!

Overall, if you like a fast paced thriller and a page turner thriller, this book is one for you. Worth complete five stars!

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

The girl is sitting upright, her dark brown hair arranged over her shoulders and her blue, blue eyes staring into the distance. She looks almost peaceful. But her gaze is vacant, and her skin is cold…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called to the murder scene, she has to choke back tears. Missing teenager Chloe Smedley has finally been found – her body left in a cold back yard, carefully posed with her bright blue eyes still open. Jackie lays a protective hand on the baby in her belly, who seems to kick out in anguish, and vows to find the brutal monster who stole Chloe’s future.

Breaking the news to Chloe’s mother is heartbreaking, and Jackie is haunted by the woman’s cries. She knows too well the terrible pain of losing a loved one: her own brother went missing as a child, the case never solved. Determined to get justice for Chloe and her family, Jackie sets to work, finding footage of the girl waving at someone the day she disappeared. Did Chloe know her killer?

But then a second body is found on the side of a busy motorway, lit up by passing cars. The only link with Chloe is the shocking way the victim has been posed, and the mutilated body convinces Jackie she is searching for a disturbed and dangerous predator. Someone has been hunting missing and vulnerable people for decades, and only Jackie seems to see that they were never lost. They were taken.

Jackie’s boss refuses to believe a serial killer is on the loose and threatens to take her off the case. But then Jackie returns home to find a brightly coloured bracelet on her kitchen counter and her blood turns to ice. It’s the same one her brother was wearing when he vanished. Could his disappearance be connected to the murders? Jackie will stop at nothing to catch her killer… unless he finds her first…

This is the first book of the Detective Jackie Cooke series.

The story starts with the discovery of a body of a girl named Chloe who was mutilated. Chloe was suffering from Down’s Syndrome and when Chloe’s mother cried over the death of her daughter, Jackie was determined to bring justice. But then a second body was found, murdered in the similar fashion and Jackie thinks she is dealing with a serial killer. Meanwhile, her boss threatens to cut her off from the case as she refused to believe that there’s a killer on loose.

The writing was spot on! The author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are a part of the story. The story is fast paced though in my opinion not much of twists and turns that I would like to see in a psychological thriller. Nonetheless, what I really liked about this book is the diverse cast of characters–Jackie’s partners Dave who is I supposed is Chinese and Shazia who is a Muslim so I do like the diversity in the book. Besides solving the crimes, I do like the personal life of Jackie–how her husband left her for another woman and how she was dealing with her pregnancy while solving and chasing after a killer. It was, in my opinion a unique thing in the book. Overall, though the ending was predictable, I liked the ending.

If you are looking for a start of a detective series, then I will recommend this series–worth four stars!

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

Monster?                    Murderer?
 
Child?                         Victim?
 
Michelle Cameron’s name is associated with the most abhorrent of crimes. A child who lured a younger child away from her parents and to her death, she is known as the black girl who murdered a little white girl; evil incarnate according to the media. As the book opens, she has done her time, and has been released as a young woman with a new identity to start her life again. 
 
When another shocking death occurs, Michelle is the first in the frame. Brought into the police station to answer questions around a suspicious death, it is only a matter of time until the press find out who she is now and where she lives and set about destroying her all over again.
 
Natalie Tyler is the officer brought in to investigate the murder. A black detective constable, she has been ostracised from her family and often feels she is in the wrong job. But when she meets Michelle, she feels a complicated need to protect her, whatever she might have done.
 
The Gosling Girl is a moving, powerful account of systemic, institutional and internalised racism, and of how the marginalised fight back. It delves into the psychological after-effects of a crime committed in childhood, exploring intersections between race and class as Michelle’s story is co-opted and controlled by those around her. Jacqueline writes with a cool restraint and The Gosling Girl is a raw and powerful novel that will stay with the reader long after they have turned the last page.

I listened to this as an audiobook. The story somewhat left some thoughts that greatly upset me.

In the story, we were first introduced to a character named Michelle Cameron, who was released from the prison. She was in prison for the murder of a four year old Carrie Gosling, which she committed when she was just ten years old. Now an adult, Michelle is living under the name Samantha and is friends with a girl named Lucy, whom she met while they were both in prison. Then Lucy was found murdered and Michelle was the prime suspect and her past came back haunting her.

What I like about the book is how realistic this book. Though it’s a work of fiction, you can see the reality of the whole story. Michelle was half-white half Black and throughout her entire life, she will be known as the “black” girl who lured the “white” girl and murdered her. The story basically focuses on Michelle’s life after prison, and how she still had to live under the shadows. In this book, we question about racism in the society and how the society is able to quickly judge and pinpoint the blame on the minority instead of blaming on the majority “white” population. We also learn in the story through Michelle’s account that a “white” girl named Jessie was also present when Carrie was murdered and that she too had a role in the murder, though Jessie was never charged, which brings us question as to how fair the justice system actually works. In real life, this is really true as we see how many black or minority people were sent to prison and blamed easily for the crimes they would have or wouldn’t have committed.

Here along with Michelle we were introduced two more characters–Natalie Tyler a cop and a black cop who is assigned to be Michelle’s parole officer and Zoe, a white woman who wants to write a book about Michelle, hearing her side of the story. We see Natalie’s struggle as a black cop, adjusting to the justice system. Overtime, towards the end, we see some development of friendship between Michelle and Natalie. Zoe, in my opinion was a mistrusting character–though we see that she was adamant that she wanted to write Michelle’s side of the opinion, we wouldn’t know what her true intentions were.

As for Lucy’s murder, I am not sure if it was solved–I am not sure if I actually missed that part. We see how Michelle slowly try to adjust a normal life but every time someone gets to know her past, Michelle was forced to move from place to place. You could actually see all the emotional struggles Michelle was going through as she actually had no real or trustworty friends she could turn to, even after her boyfriend, Ryan betrayed her by telling about her past to one of his friends Amber.

The writing was spot on–excellent as the writer manages to take the reader into the story. All the character, particularly Michelle Cameron is a very complex character that despite the crime she committed, as a reader you actually feel sorry for her. Overall, if you like heartbreaking and emotional thrillers, The Gosling Girl might be for you. Overall, worth four stars.