Tropical Girl Reads

Nothing ruins an ocean view like a body on the beach!

Plum Lockhart went out on a limb when she ditched her corporate job in New York City and moved to the Caribbean island of Paraiso. Now the head of her own villa broker agency, Plum spends her days chasing down clients and lounging on white sand beaches.

But the sweet life turns sour when a publishing heiress is found dead at the mansion of an eccentric tycoon, Dieter Friedrich. Even worse, Plum’s old colleague cashes in a favor and asks her to investigate. It looks like she’ll need to fit a murder case into her already jam-packed schedule!

Friedrich is known for his shady dealings, but he’s not the only bad apple on the island—Plum will have to contend with a scheming millionaire, a sleazy rockstar, and devious B-list celebrities. And joining Plum once again is Juan Kevin Munoz, the distractingly gorgeous Director of Security. Despite the sparks between them, they’ll need to stay focused on the case—there’s a murderer hot on their heels!

Plum Lockhart is back with another adventure up in the paradise island!

Something’s Guava Give is the second book of the Trouble in Paradise and the third book I have read from the author. Having read It Takes Two to Mango, the first of the Trouble in Paradise series, I was determined to follow Plum Lockhart’s adventure.

When Plum’s frenemy Gabriel calls her that his boss’s daughter, Arielle is in the paradise island, she was asked to look after Arielle. Arielle is a snobby, kleptomaniac who only thinks about herself. While partying at the country’s German billionaire’s house, Arielle is found dead and the police say it’s murder.

Plum along with Juan and of course Gabriel who arrives to the island must get together to find the killer and they are in the crowd of billionaires, B-list celebrities with shady dealings.

Like the first book, I was hooked into the story and I couldn’t wait to see what is going to happen in the end. As usual, besides all the mystery and thrill of solving the murder, there were some funny parts in the story that will make you laugh out loud like crazy and the bickering between Plum and Gabriel was too funny to read. Nevertheless, the author has done a good job of drawing the reader into the story and yeah, I was immediately hooked and couldn’t put the book down!

That being said, I hope there’s a third book of the series and can’t wait to see the budding romance between Plum and Juan!

In the first book, I did’t like Plum Lockhart much as I did in this book. Here I found Plum a likable character.

If you like a funny mystery set in a tropical island then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

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

Charlotte waves at her mother across the crowded lawn. Little red boots on, cowboy hat crooked over her blonde pigtails, she’s been looking forward to this party for weeks. Moments later, she disappears without a trace…

Kathy Hamilton drives away from her sister-in-law’s pristine-white suburban house in Maple Falls certain she’s left her daughter in safe hands. On the hottest day of the year, a birthday is the perfect excuse to gather friends, family and neighbors around the pool for a barbecue. But when she returns hours later to find her little girl has vanished, her world shatters.

Nobody laughing and drinking in the garden that day saw anything unusual.

Kathy’s eldest daughter is anxious and hardly eating. Is she sick with worry for her sister, or hiding a terrible secret?

The phone rings and rings, but why can’t Kathy get hold of the babysitter?

And is she imagining it, or when her husband rushed from work to join the search, was he wearing a different shirt to the one she saw him leave the house in that morning?

As the temperature rises, and long-buried secrets begin to surface, it’s clear that even the most perfect families keep devastating secrets. But in a town as small as this, is there anyone you can trust?

A totally gripping and utterly addictive page-turner that will have you racing through and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Gone Girl and Teresa Driscoll, it will keep you up reading all night long!

Content Warning:- Rape, child abduction and murder

On a hot sunny day, Kathy Hamilton drops her daughter Charlotte known as “Charlie” at a birthday party hosted by her brother-in-law Scott and his wife Cindy. She leaves the party, not knowing that in a few hours, Charlie will disappear from the party without a trace. While many people are drunk and have no recollection of what really happened the hours before Charlie disappeared, the case was investigated by Kathy’s childhood lover, Chase. And as the investigations are ongoing, many of the dark secrets that have been buried start emerging…

This is the first time I have read a stand alone novel from this author. Wendy Dranfield had impressed me with Detective Madison Harper series and so I was determined to read all the novels written by this author. I have to say, from start to finish, this book had me hooked. The past timeline actually gave a glimpse of Kathy’s relationship with Chase which later on provided useful in the story, thus connecting the characters altogether. Along with the dark secret surfacing, there are so much unexpected twists and turns that you literally had no idea what is going to happen in the book! You think you got the suspect but towards the end, you realize that the author had fooled you and that the suspect is completely someone you didn’t expect. Story itself talk about toxic relationships between Kathy and her mother. The ending left me so breathless that I felt like I am on a roller coaster ride with this book! I like how the author had us guessing until the end!

This book is quite a page turning thriller–fast paced twisted, you would expect these things in a good psychological thriller. The book talks about toxic relationship between Kathy and her mother, who is determined to keep her name Hamilton reputation intact and not caring about her daughter’s feelings. This also talks about rape, murder of a child, which maybe disturbing to some of the readers.

If you like a thriller that is

• Fast paced
• page turner
• filled with twists and turns

I recommend this novel for you! Guranteed you will stay up all night reading this book, wanting to know what is going to happen in the end!

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

Have you heard about the couple on Maple Drive?

Isla barely leaves the house after her brutal mugging.

Her boyfriend Zach moved in with her after the attack. To look after her.

But something else has happened now. Right on their doorstep.

I don’t want to say that someone’s out to get her…

I just hope they find out the truth before it’s too late.

Or at least before the secrets they’re hiding from each other surface.

Because those could be even deadlier…

Content Warning:- Abuse, Brutal attack

After reading some of Sam Carrington’s book, I was glad I got this ARC from Avon. But my excitement is shortlived and I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this book.

Isla is on the bout of getting the promotion. Her friends hosted a party to celebrate Isla’s promotion. On the night of the party, Isla was brutally attacked causing her to suffer from retrograde amnesia as she has vague memories of what happened that night. As her memories come back to her, she starts suspecting her boyfriend Zach might have something to do with her attack, even though the police ruled out as mugging gone wrong.

This was a slow burn and I was bored at some parts that I actually skimmed through the book. The plot was OK but was far too predictable. This was not one of her best but nonetheless it was boring and flat and predictable. I don’t have anything else to say. However towards the end, the story got teeny weeny interesting though I knew the ending will happen in that way. I do however like the backdrop of Crime Podcast with one of the members of the podcast, Jase helping out Isla.

Isla and Zac seemed to be in a healthy relationship but through the story, we know that Zach actually controlled Isla’s movements which pinpoints to the fact that he can be controlling. So this kind of sums up domestic abuse scenario.

This was a slow burn and in my opinion, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did with her previous book. Worth only 3 stars.

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

When Megan discovers photographs of her estranged identical twin sister on her husband’s phone, she wants answers.

Leah already has everything Megan has ever wanted. Fame, fortune, freedom to do what she wants. And when Megan confronts Leah, an argument turns to murder.

The only way Megan can get away with killing her twin is to become her.

But then lockdown hits. How can she continue living two lives? And what happens if someone else knows her secret too?

HER PERFECT TWIN IS THE MOST ADDICTIVE, TWISTY THRILLER YOU’LL READ IN 2022. DON’T MISS THIS WILD RIDE OF A NOVEL.

Content Warning:- Domestic Abuse, Murder

This was actually surprisingly a good psychological thriller! I simply couldn’t put the book down and got so engrossed into the book from the beginning till the end!

Megan discovers a photo of her estranged identical twin sister Leah on her husband’s phone. Leah Patterson has everything–fame, money and she can get any man she wants. Then Megan kills Leah and is trying to live a double life…until COVID lockdown happens.

The story is told from the multiples of POVs–the first part of the story is told from Megan’s perspective, the second part by Chris, Megan’s psychotic husband, the third part by Leah and the fourth part by Chris’ lawyer Jeremy. So it’s a bit interesting to get into these characters’ heads and see what they are really thinking about and all these emotions, feelings and thoughts. The writing was intense and the author has done a tremendous job drawing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are a part of the story! I feel like I am watching a really a good psychological thriller movie as I was reading the book, wondering which of the characters should I trust, who is actually telling the truth and who is the actually victim and killer. I was surprised that this was actually the author’s debut book and she did a good job writing a damn good fast paced thriller.

Yeah, there were so many twists and turns that your mind get confused and the ending was unexpected with a slight cliffhanger in the end. I just felt like I am on a roller coaster ride while reading this book!

Megan is somewhat a sympathetic character in my opinion and she was always under the shadow of her twin sister Leah with whom she did not get along. She also has an abusive marriage with Chris, who seemed to be controlling her. The scenes where Chris is beating her up is a bit disturbing.

Here’s why you should read this book

• It’s intense and unputdownable
• Will keep you hooked into the story
• Full of unexpected twists and turns
• Fast paced thriller

Overall, this was a good psychological thriller that I was not disappointed at all! Worth five stars!

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