The Weekend Away – Book Review

Title:- The Weekend Away

Author:- Sarah Alderson

No. of pages:- 332 pages

Date published:- July 23rd 2020

Publisher:- Avon

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 4.5/5 stars

***Now a Netflix Original movie, starring Leighton Meester, streaming globally.***

Miles from home. Trust no one. Suspect everyone.

Orla and Kate have been best friends forever. Together they’ve faced it all – be it Orla’s struggles as a new mother or Kate’s messy divorce. And whatever else happens in their lives, they can always look forward to their annual weekend away.

This year, they’re off to Lisbon: the perfect flat, the perfect view, the perfect itinerary. And what better way to kick things off in style than with the perfect night out?

But when Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is gone. Brushed off by the police and with only a fuzzy memory of the night’s events, Orla is her friend’s only hope. As she frantically retraces their steps, Orla makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home…

A twisty holiday read for fans of The Holiday and Date Night.

After reading Sarah Alderson’s The Stalker, I was curious to read The Weekend Away which was recently made into a Netflix movie. So hence, I just finished with this book.

Kate and Orla goes to Portugal for a girls’ night out. They have a wild night with Kate inviting two male escorts which angered Orla. The next day, when Orla wakes up she finds that Kate is missing. And as she tries to find out what really happened to Kate, she soon became a suspect for her friend’s disappearance.

It was really good! Fast paced thriller packed with twists and turns you wouldn’t expect and I was drawn into the book. The story is told mainly from Orla’s point of view as she tries to find out what really happened to her friend that night. The author’s writing style was good and the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. However, the ending I felt was a bit predictable but nonetheless, it was like, I felt like I was watching an action packed movie and I was put at the edge of the seat as I was reading the book, thirsting to know what really happened to Kate!

Overall, this book will keep you up all night–worth 4.5 stars!

Sarah is a British born, LA based screenwriter and author.

Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and toddler daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home.

She finished her first novel, HUNTING LILA, just before they left the UK, wrote the sequel on the beach in India, and had signed a two book deal with Simon & Schuster by the time they reached Bali. After living there for five years, during which time she wrote another ten books, she and her family made the move to California.

Her first non-fiction book, CAN WE LIVE HERE, based on her family’s travels around the world to find a new home, was published in 2015.

While now writing predominantly for TV and film, Sarah remains a prolific author, writing women’s fiction under the name Mila Gray. Her novels in this genre include the #1 bestselling COME BACK TO ME, STAY WITH ME and RUN AWAY WITH ME.

Her adult psychological thrillers include: FRIENDS LIKE THESE, IN HER EYES and THE WEEKEND AWAY, which is soon to be a Netflix movie.

Her books have appeared in translation in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Poland.

The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare

Author:- Kimberly Brock

No. of pages:- 416 pages

Date published:- will be published on 12th April 2022

Publisher:- Harper Collins

Genre:- Historical Fiction

Rating:- 4/5

The fate of the world is often driven by the curiosity of a girl.

What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known that the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured commonplace book. Brought from England on Eleanor’s fateful voyage to the New World, her book was passed down through the fifteen generations of daughters who followed as they came of age. Thirteen-year-old Alice had been next in line to receive it, but her mother’s tragic death fractured the unbroken legacy and the Dare Stone and the shadowy history recorded in the book faded into memory. Or so Alice hoped.

In the waning days of World War II, Alice is a young widow and a mother herself when she is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home and the history she thought forgotten. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, in tow. But when Penn’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets from beneath every stone and bone and shell of the old house and Eleanor’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.

In this sweeping tale from award-winning author Kimberly Brock, the answers to a real-life mystery may be found in the pages of a story that was always waiting to be written.

This was actually an enjoyable historical fiction that shifts between two timelines–between 1500’s to the WWII era in Georgia. Eleanor Dare has brought a book from England back in 1500’s and was passed from generation to generation through the daughters. When thirteen year old Alice was going to inherit the book, the tragic death of her mother changed everything and the book got lost. Now an adult and a widow, Alice returns back to the town to inherit the house and the will. But her own daughter, Penn is curious about her lineage…

Though the first part of the book was slightly boring, it got interesting towards the middle. There were multiple perspectives–Alice, Penn in the present day WWII time and Eleanor during the 1500’s. I actually like the author’s style of writing as she does a good job of taking the reader through different periods of times. Her writing style is almost poetic. The ending was unexpected but I actually enjoyed reading this story in the end! Worth four stars!

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

The Girl Before Me – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Girl Before Me

Author:- Laura Wolfe

No. of pages:- 305 pages

Date published:- will be published on 28th April 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

I’m so worried. You aren’t safe in that apartment! You have to get out. Before it’s too late…

When Rachel moves into a new apartment with her young daughter, Lily, it’s with a huge sense of relief. After escaping an abusive marriage, this perfect downtown fourth floor rental, within minutes from the lake, feels like the new beginning the two of them deserve.

It’s a place to call home. A place for them to grow together. A place for them to heal. And, as Lily starts at a nearby elementary school, and Rachel begins to develop feelings for her neighbor, Alex, who lives just down the hall, she dares to hope that their life is looking up.

But soon handwritten letters begin to arrive for someone called Annie. Alex says she was just the tenant who lived there before, who moved out one day without a word. Tentatively Rachel opens the first letter, intending to return it to the sender.

But the note says ‘Annie. I’m so worried. You aren’t safe in that apartment! You have to get out. Before it’s too late.’

Something happened to Annie. And Rachel is not nearly as safe as she thinks she is…

A totally unputdownable gripping thriller, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena and Gillian Flynn.

WOW….This is simply wow for me.

Rachel Gleason moves into an apartment with her daughter, Lily who is about to start at en elite school. She is freshly divorced after having an abusive relationship with her husband Keith. When she moved into the apartment and checking the new mail box, she finds a letter from Julia in Australia addressing to her sister, Annie who used to live in the same apartment as Rachel right now. In the letter Julia has asked Annie to leave the apartment. When Rachel tries to dig in, Annie had left the apartment suddenly, taking away her furniture and everything. No one in the building knows what happened to Annie. But Rachel is determined to know more about her previous occupant.

To me, this was actually a fast paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of the seat. This was quite unputdownable and there were some twists and turns in nearly every chapter. What I liked about this book was there are so many suspects who may have been involved with Annie’s disappearance–the principal at the school Rachel’s daughter Lily is attending to, Rachel’s new lover Alex, Rachel new friend Bridget…the list goes on and on. The ending was unexpected. The author’s writing was really good and did a good job of hooking the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are a part of the story. Overall, I actually enjoyed reading this thriller!

If you like an unputdownable, fast paced thriller with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge, then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

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

Laura Wolfe is an Amazon charts bestselling author who writes fast-paced and twisty psychological thrillers and suspense novels. Her recent titles published by Bookouture include WE LIVE NEXT DOOR, HER BEST FRIEND’S LIE, SHE LIES ALONE, and TWO WIDOWS. Laura’s YA mystery series and adult suspense novel, TOP PRODUCER, have been shortlisted for multiple indie book awards. Laura is a lover of animals and nature. When she is not writing, she can be found hanging out with her husband and two kids, growing vegetables in her garden, or spoiling her rescue dog. She enjoys living in Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Widow’s Husband – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Widow’s Husband

Author:- Lesley Sanderson

No. of pages:- 277 pages

Date published:- will be published on 21st April 2022

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 3/5 stars

For seven years I believed my husband was dead – until the note arrived this morning…

The day her husband Tom disappeared, Rachel’s life fell apart. Childhood sweethearts with two young children, they’d done everything together. And then, suddenly, Tom was gone. Without a word, without a note, without a single sign of where he might be, leaving Rachel to survive alone.

Now, nearly seven years later, Rachel has come to terms with life as a single mother, caring for their children who still secretly long for their father’s miraculous return.

But in his absence, Tom’s hidden life started to emerge, and Rachel has discovered things a wife should never have to. A secret life that betrayed everything Rachel thought she knew. Not knowing where he’d gone was no longer the main worry keeping her awake at night – it seemed much more likely he’d been silenced. Forever.

Until today, when – with just one month until Tom is to be declared legally dead – Rachel receives a note in handwriting she recognises with dread:

My darling, I’ve missed you so much. Give me a chance to explain. I’m coming home.

The husband she’d lost is alive.

And so are all his secrets…

Rachel’s husband, Tom went missing seven years ago. Before he disappeared he was having an extra marital affair with a woman named Heidi. Now after seven years, Rachel was ready to declare legally that her husband is dead until she starts receiving notes from her missing husband…after all these years.

The plot of the story is great but I feel like this was more a slow burn thriller. Not much twists and turns you would expect in a thriller. The story started out slightly boring though when Rachel started receiving the notes things began to get a little bit interesting. However, I felt the story was direct–knew who was going to be the mysterious person who was sending the notes and I kind of predicted the ending as well, so it wasn’t that exciting thriller to me. Nevertheless, the author’s writing was good.

This is a short review so I would say, this is an OK thriller. Worth three stars

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

XOXO – Book Review

Title:- XOXO

Author:- Axie Oh

Date published:- July 13th 2021

Publisher:- Harper Collins

No. of pages:- 352 pages

Genre:- YA/ Romance

Rating:-

Jenny’s never had much time for boys, K-pop, or really anything besides her dream of being a professional cellist. But when she finds herself falling for a K-pop idol, she has to decide whether their love is worth the risk. A modern forbidden romance wrapped in the glamorous and exclusive world of K-pop, XOXO is perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Maurene Goo.

Jenny didn’t get to be an award-winning, classically trained cellist without choosing practice over fun. That is, until the night she meets Jaewoo. Mysterious, handsome, and just a little bit tormented, Jaewoo is exactly the kind of distraction Jenny would normally avoid. And yet, she finds herself pulled into spending an unforgettable evening wandering Los Angeles with him on the night before his flight home to South Korea.

With Jaewoo an ocean away, there’s no use in dreaming of what could have been. But when Jenny and her mother move to Seoul to take care of her ailing grandmother, who does she meet at the elite arts academy she’s just been accepted to? Jaewoo.

Finding the dreamy stranger who swept you off your feet in your homeroom is one thing, but Jaewoo isn’t just any student. Turns out, Jaewoo is a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world. And like most K-pop idols, Jaewoo is strictly forbidden from dating anyone.

When a relationship means not only jeopardizing her place at her dream music school but also endangering everything Jaewoo’s worked for, Jenny has to decide once and for all just how much she’s willing to risk for love. XOXO is a new romance that proves chasing your dreams doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your heart, from acclaimed author Axie Oh. 

OK if you love a story of a normal ordinary girl falling in love with one of the popular K pop band members then this book is definitely one for you! Oh, and if you love watching K dramas (which I do) with sugar coated love stories, then this book will be perfect one for you.

Jenny is a cellist and her only ambition is to enter into one of the elite music schools in the country, the Manhattan Music School. She works part time at her uncle’s karaoke bar and meets a boy name Jaewoo. That night she and Jaewoo hang out and become friends and exchange numbers. Jenny tries contacting Jaewoo but he never replied to any of her messages.

Then Jenny’s grandmother who lives in South Korea becomes sick and she and her mother move to South Korea temporarily. She enrolls into an art academy in Seoul and then meets…Jaewoo. But she soon realizes that Jaewoo is a popula K pop idol and belongs to a popular band called XOXO. Then begins the love story of a forbidden relationship.

OK, as a fan of Korean dramas, this actually did remind me of Boys Over Flowers a little bit and You’re Beautiful, if you have watched those two Korean dramas. I was listening to the audio book so the narrator did a great job with the book. Nearly all the characters in the story are likable–I do like how Jenny made friends at the academy and even became best friends with her roommate Sol Hee who also had a romantic relationship with one of the members of the band Nathaniel. The story itself is engaging and I found the love story between Jenny and Jaewoo really cute and adorable! Though I felt like I was watching a cheesy romantic Korean drama, I actually enjoyed reading this book. The author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story and getting to experience what the life of a student is really like in Korea.

For ones who love a good YA romance with a Korean drama setting, then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

Axie Oh is a first-generation Korean American, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey. She studied Korean history and creative writing as an undergrad at the University of California San Diego and holds an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. Her passions include K-pop, anime, stationery supplies, and milk tea, and she currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her dog, Toro (named after Totoro). Axie is the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, XOXO, and the Rebel Seoul series.

Nanny Needed- ARC Book Review

Title:- Nanny Needed

Author:- Georgina Cross

Date published:- will be published on April 28th 2022

Publisher:- Avon

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

When Sarah Larsen answers the Bird family’s advertisement, her life changes overnight.

The job seems like a dream come true: nannying in a glamorous penthouse apartment with a salary that adds several zeroes to her current income.

Sarah signs the contract binding her to complete secrecy without a second thought. These are important people, after all – they can’t be too careful about who they let into their home.

All is well until events in Sarah’s life begin to take a sinister turn and the trail leads back to the Birds. She soon realises there’s something very strange about the family.

But by then, is it too late for her?

A completely gripping psychological thriller from the author of the number one bestseller The Stepdaughter. Perfect for fans of The Nanny, The Couple Next Door and The Family Upstairs.

I have read two books from this author and I actually enjoyed reading her books. So I was super excited when I got my hands on this book. And yes, Georgina Cross did not disappoint.

Sarah Larsen is in heaps of debts. So when she sees an ad about a nanny wanted for an elite family in Upper West Side, it was too good to be true and was hoping to solve the financial issues that she and her fiance Jonathan are facing. The family is none other than Birds family and Collette gets acquanited with Sarah. But soon, Sarah find a disturbing secret about the Birds family that might threaten her new career and…her life.

I have to say wow! I was literally hooked into the story from start to finish! The story is intense, told mainly from Sarah’s perspectives. This was actually a fast paced thriller, quite unputdownable with twists and thrills along the way. Though I expected that type of ending to happen, nonetheless, the story kept me hooked and I was literally thrown to the edge of the seat! The writing was really great as the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story.

This is such a roller coaster ride–a fast paced thriller with twists and turns and quite unputdownable–worth five stars!

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

Georgina Cross is the author of NANNY NEEDED with Bantam, Penguin Random House, and THE STEPDAUGHTER and THE MISSING WOMAN with Bookouture, Hachette Publishing. Three more books will publish in 2022 and 2023. All works are psychological suspense/thriller.

She is represented by Rachel Beck with Liza Dawson Associates with her books 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 & printed pages 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 scary movies and basketball tournaments and is thrilled to be a full-time author.

The Breakdown – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Breakdown

Author:- Arianne Richmonde

Date published:- will be published on 11th April 2022

No. of pages:- 327 pages

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 4/5 stars

My family keep telling me I’m safe. But why don’t I believe them?

I stand at the very edge of the cliff face, looking at the roaring ocean below my feet. I’m in no danger, in fact my husband and his sister talk just feet away from me, watching my every move. They’re worried I’m losing my mind, and I sense their nerves as they watch me looking down on the jagged rocks below.

Behind them sits our summer house. Apparently it’s my favourite place in the world, not that I can remember. Since the car accident, I’ve struggled to recall a lot of important things in my life, like giving birth to my daughter, Violet, just days after the crash. Or my supposedly perfect marriage…

As I stare at the huge expanse of blue below, I have a flashback to the day of the crash—an argument, my husband’s face red with anger. Why is it so different to what everyone else is telling me about my life? Beads of sweat gather on my neck.

If my memory is true, my life and my children’s lives are in danger. What really happened the day of the accident? And is there anyone I can trust?

An absolutely gripping psychological thriller for fans of Gone Girl, The Wife Between Us and Mark Edwards’s Here to Stay. The Breakdown will have you hooked!

This was actually a good psychological thriller book!

Celeste has lost part of her memory due to a car accident. She lost her infant child Violet. Meanwhile, Celeste’s husband Maz hires a British au pair, Jayne Smith. Then one day, Celester’s four year old daughter Lizzie goes missing.

The first part of the chapter was slightly boring to me in my opinion. The story is told from Celeste’s. Jayne’s and Stephen who is Celeste’s doctor’s perspectives. But when Lizzie goes missing, then things start getting interesting as the police gets involved. From the middle part of the book onewards, the story gets intense and fast paced with thrills and twists along the way. The ending is what actually blew me off and I did not expect that kind of ending at all.

The author’s writing style was great and the author did a good job of at least drawing the reader into the story by the middle of the book. The characters in the story are nearly unlikable yet that did not deter me from reading the story. Overall, if you like an unputdownable thriller, then this book will be the one for you. Worth four stars!

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

Arianne Richmonde is s the USA TODAY bestselling author of the psychological thrillers, THE WIFE’S HOUSE and THE NEWLYWEDS (published by Bookouture, Hachette UK). Her Pearl series has sold more than half a million copies worldwide. Her stories are always character-driven and full of unexpected twists and turns.

When not writing about the passions and fragilities of human nature, she loves to spend time with her husband and their animals, including a femme fatale Husky with one blue eye and one golden eye. Arianne’s a chocaholic and sometimes sneaks off to sunny, exotic locations, all in the name of research.

For updates on new releases, sales and giveaways please sign up for her Newsletter by going to: https://bit.ly/2ZoRQVx (copy and paste to your browser). Or join her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorArianneRichmonde/ or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arianne_richmonde/or send her an email ariannerichmonde@gmail.com – she loves hearing from readers and will always reply.

The Cafe at Marigold Marina – ARC Book review

Title:- The Cafe at Marigold Marina

Author:- Tilly Tennant

No. of pages:- 371 pages

Date published:- will be published on 8th April 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Romance

Rating:- 4/5 stars

Welcome to the café on Marigold Marina, where the smell of freshly baked cakes fills the air and the boats bob merrily in the mellow evening sun. But will an unexpected meeting mean the chance to love again or a broken heart?

When Rosie inherits the café on Marigold Marina after her husband’s tragic death, she is determined to pour her heart into his dream. Nine months later, as she serves coffee and cakes to customers, she is all smiles and laughter. But when the sunshine-yellow doors of the café are closed, she allows her heart to break all over again.

Rosie doesn’t have much room in her life for anything but the café. But when Kit, the mysterious owner of a bookshop barge, starts to come by regularly for lunch, she finds it difficult to ignore his dark eyes, dishevelled curls and the fact that he has his own sorrows. Rosie finds it easy to talk to Kit and as they swim together in the sparkling marina waters she hopes she can help Kit the way he has helped her.

But just as she is letting herself open her heart, she learns the shocking secret that the husband she loved for so many years kept hidden from her. And when she discovers that Kit is hiding things too, she fears she has been foolish to trust again. Should she close her café and move away from the marina? Or take a risk and give love another chance?

An absolutely gorgeous and heartwarming read about what can happen when you leave your comfort zone and listen to your heart. Fans of Shari Low, Heidi Swain and Nicola May will fall in love with The Café at Marigold Marina.

Most of Tilly Tennant’s books have a backdrop of romance setting with a cute cover and title. The Cafe at Marigold Marina is one such book.

Rosie inherits the cafe in Marigold Marina after her husband Fergus dies. Across the cafe is Kit who owned a bookshop and another shop owned by her friend Nicole. Rosie makes friends in the neighborhood and the whole neighborhood would go bar hopping to learning swimming. But then Rosie discovers some secret about her husband.

This is a cheesy romance novel and compared to her last book which I reviewed, this was a good romance book. Quite engaging and I do like this whole camaraderie setting mentioned in the book and the slow-developing romance between Kit and Rosie. Nevertheless the ending was predictable but other than that, the writing was engaging that the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story.

Overall this is an all too good romance that will make you laugh and cry. Worth four stars.

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

The Love Hypothesis – Book Review

Title:- The Love Hypothesis

Author:- Ali Hazelwood

No. of pages:- 383 pages

Date published:- September 14th 2021

Publisher:- Berkley

Genre:- Romance

Rating:- 3.5/5 stars

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding…six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Last year, this book, The Love Hypothesis is the most talked and hyped books. I just wondered why there is so much hype about this book that I bought this book on Amazon.

OK, I know I am not really a romance novel fan though I have read good romance novels before. But honestly, I didn’t find much hype on this book (PS for those who have read and enjoyed this book–don’t hate me)

Olive Smith is a graduate student at Stanford University. By chance, in order to prove her friend that she can date, she kisses a man. That man was no other than Dr. Adam Carlsen who was one of the “well known” ass, who criticize his students’ works. Soon, the two embark on a fake dating scene.

Let’s start with the good things about this book

  • I do like the whole science setting in this book–this reminded me of my undergraduate days as a biomedical student (a bit similar to Olive and Adam) and it was very rare I have read a book in such a setting–which made it more unique. The fact that Olive is in STEM program also made me reminice my days as a biomedical student.
  • There were some funny parts in the story that will make you laugh out loud particularly the scenes between Olive and Adam and between Olive and her friends, Malcolm and Ahn.
  • The writing was in my opinion good. The plot was OK.
  • The fact about Olive’s mother dying from cancer and that she wanted to research about pancreatic cancer was touching and sensitive issue

Now before I begin the bad points, let’s be warned

Trigger warning:- sexual assault, death from cancer.

Now the bad points

  • Overall as a story this was lame. I felt like I was watching an unrealistic cheesy rom com on the TV which I didn’t enjoy much.
  • In my opinion, covering the sex scene in whole one chapter was cringe worthy. I mean, i skipped the whole chapter of the sex scene because I felt it was so explicit. That lowered my rating as a whole. Honestly, if the sex scene wasn’t there, this book would have been great.
  • The fact that this was based on a fan fiction of Star Trek made my rating a little lower.
  • The sunscreen situation, sitting on Adam’s lap during the conference…all seemed too unrealistic to me in my opinion.
  • The only description of Adam was “tall”, “big” and “dark hair” and Olive was “skinny” and “short”. The personalities of both the main characters are bland in my opinion particularly Adam. I know Adam is supposed to be broody and all but his personality was not described properly in the book.
  • Olive accidentally kissing the professor in the first part of the book–that scene was so unexpected and unrealistic.
  • The story as a whole was predictable.

Nonetheless, I don’t mind reading Ali Hazelwood’s book but in my opinion, The Love Hypothesis is just an OK romance book. Maybe it was just me, but it was OK in my opinion. But for ones who love fake dating theme in books with unrealistic settings that is more like Hallmark movie, this book is one for you. Worth 3.5 stars!

Ali Hazelwood is a multi-published author—alas, of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, crocheting, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband).

Gone To Her Grave (Detective Madison Harper series Part 4) – ARC Book Review

Title:- Gone To Her Grave

Author:- Wendy Dranfield

Date published:- will be published on 13th April 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

No. of pages:- 364 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

In the golden morning light, a beautiful young woman lies diagonally across the bed, dressed for a night out, her long lashes pressed against her cheeks as if she’s sleeping. But the crimson that creeps across the sheets tells the story of an innocent woman who has drawn her last breath…

Detective Madison Harper is pulled away from Thanksgiving preparations when a local care worker, Terri Summers, is found dead in her home on the outskirts of Lost Creek, Colorado. Terri’s inconsolable mother can’t understand who would hurt such a kind soul who had dedicated her life to helping others. But analysis of the blood spatter at the scene indicates Terri knew her attacker, that she looked them right in the eye before her life was taken.

The awkward way Terri’s body is positioned catches Madison’s attention. Carefully moving her, she finds a bracelet—possibly a child’s—with a single red bead clenched in the woman’s fist, as if she was hiding it. It’s the lead Madison so desperately needs, but the sudden death of one of her own team sends the investigation into a tailspin.

With her coworkers crumbling around her, Madison must work day and night to trace the bracelet and crack the case. But when she’s dragged back into the disappearance of a woman and child from years ago, and finds a link to someone in her own family, can Madison stop this twisted killer before another precious life is taken? And at what cost?

Detective Madison Harper is back with another case!! This is the fourth book of the Detective Madison Harper series.

Terri Summers was found dead with a single gun shot wound on her head. The initial suspect was her boyfriend, Troy but Detective Madison Harper soon finds out that Troy may not be responsible for the murder. Then she finds out that her colleague, Detective Douglas had committed suicide but eventually, when doing further autopsies, there was no gun powder residue on his fingers, which implied that he may have been murdered as well. Meanwhile, Nate was given to solve the cold missing case of Vince’s wife, Ruby and the grandson Oliver who disappeared few years ago. But when Nate was rundown my a vehicle, Madison realize that Ruby’s disappearance is connected to the murders of Terri and Douglas. Madison must find the killer before it’s too late.

I have so much good points about this book. Wendy Dranfield is a talented psychological thriller author–I read her standalone novel The Birthday Party which had me hooked into the story from the beginning to the end. Same goes to this as well. A page turner, unexpected twists and thrills along followed by an unexpected twisted end! I was literally kept at the edge of my seat as I was reading this book and almost stayed up all night reading the book!

If you haven’t read Madison Harper series yet, I suggest you read from the first book as some past revealations are mentioned in the book, so as a reader you would not be completely lost.

Overall, a page turner that will keep you up all night–worth five stars!

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