Tropical Girl Reads

When Mel is set up on a blind date by her best friends Chris and Simon, she’s as anxious as any woman would be. Her divorce came as such a shock and she’d been feeling lost and lonely, but that didn’t mean she was desperate to date again. It was a terrible day at work that made her say yes: it could be a bit of fun, a distraction at least. What did she have to lose?

When Mel meets Malik, she knows instantly that they could have more than just a fling. She tells him her deepest, darkest secrets and it doesn’t make him run away. He makes her feel wanted for the first time in years, and when she wakes up in his bed in the early hours she feels completely content.

Until she notices that he’s no longer lying beside her.

She’s tangled up in his sheets alone in his bedroom and she can’t remember how she got there.

And then she hears the metallic scrape of a key in the door and realises that Malik has locked her in. Is her dream man going to turn into her worst nightmare?

Thrilling and gripping until the final page, Blind Date is a dark and unsettling story about deception and how much we can trust the people we love. For fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and anything by Lisa Jewell.

Even though I see some low ratings in this book, I actually thought this book was great!

Plot:- Melanie Abbot used to work in the Breakfast show with her closest friends, Simon and Chris. But Melanie’s life seems to go down the drain–she was transferred to a late night radio show, she is facing divorce and she is asked to leave the house. Then her friend sets her up with a blind date and she meets Malik, a handsome man and instantly she feels attracted to him. But then soon she receives phone calls, and Malik locks her up in his room…is Malik her dream man or her worst nightmare?

Writing:-The story is told from Melanie’s perspective. Literally the writing was great and the author did a good job drawing the reader into the story. However, even though the thriller is fast paced, there were not much twists and turns but despite that, I was hooked into the book. However, towards the end of the book, it was a bit predictable and also I didn’t like how the ending turned out. I mean come on, if your own friends betrayed you, you wouldn’t really want to talk with them right? Anyway I didn’t like the ending much but maybe it was just me.

Characters:- Melanie seems to be a bit of a naive character and I do like Chris and Simon’s friendship with Melanie. But then I didn’thave any likable characters in the book.

Overall:- Overall, this was actually a good thriller that will keep you hooked into the story. Worth four stars!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

She’ll do anything to save her son. But what if telling the truth means losing him for ever?

On a crisp winter’s evening, Beverly is cooking for her son. Eight-year-old Riley is climbing a tree in the garden, and Beverly smiles as she watches him. Nothing makes her happier than her precious child having fun – she never thought they’d be happy again.

The water on the stove is boiling, and Beverly slides in a handful of spaghetti. When she glances out of the window again, Riley is not there.

She races outside, her heart thumping. Riley is nowhere to be found.

Instinctively, Beverly knows that her son has not just run away. She knows this because of her secret – the one she has kept for eight years. The one that means she has no choice but to keep neighbours at a distance, that stops her sleeping at night.

She thought she’d made the right decision, that she was protecting her son. But now he’s gone. Could this be all her fault?

She’ll do anything to save him. Yet if she tells the truth, she could lose him for ever…

So this is the second book I have read from Nicole Trope and after reading the Family Across the Street, I was excited to read this book.

Plot:- Beverly and Rylie are mother and son. Beverly had recently broken up with her boyfriend Ethan. Soon someone starts sending expensive gifts to Rylie and Beverly thinks that it was Ethan. Meanwhile, at Rylie’s school, there’s a new teacher named Mr. Benton. Then there’s a woman, who is stalking Beverly and Rylie, determined to get Rylie.

Writing:- The story is told from the perspectives of Rylie, Beverly and the woman who had dark history and is stalking Beverly, believing that Rylie is her own son and out to seek revenge on Beverly. The start was a bit slow but slowly, by the middle of the book, it gained momentum and soon became fast paced with twists and turns. Though it was slightly predictable, the slight twist at the end was completely unexpected.

Characters:- Beverly seems to be a devoted who seemed to be hiding secret. Rylie adores his mother and is a feist kid–he is one of my favorite characters in the book.

Overall:- This was a good thriller–will keep you hooked into the story and unputdownable, making you want to read more. Worth five stars!

Today will be a book review, One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus. This book has been in my want to read book list and when I finally got the book, I was super excited. I am not sure if this book will be turned into a movie or not but if it did, definitely cannot wait to see it! This is the first book of the series, One of Us Is Lying series

The internationally bestselling YA thriller by acclaimed author, Karen M. McManus, soon to be a major new TV series!

Five students go to detention. Only four leave alive.

Yale hopeful Bronwyn has never publicly broken a rule.

Sports star Cooper only knows what he’s doing in the baseball diamond.

Bad boy Nate is one misstep away from a life of crime.

Prom queen Addy is holding together the cracks in her perfect life.

And outsider Simon, creator of the notorious gossip app at Bayview High, won’t ever talk about any of them again.

He dies 24 hours before he could post their deepest secrets online. Investigators conclude it’s no accident. All of them are suspects.

Everyone has secrets, right?
What really matters is how far you’ll go to protect them.

Plot:- The story starts with five students–Bronwyn who is set to Yale, Addy the prom queen, Cooper the baseball star, Nate, the bad boy and Simon an outsider though he runs this vicious gossip app called About That are all sent off to the detention after finding phones in their bags in one of the class. But during the detention, Simon drinks some water from the water fountain…and then gets a fit. He dies on the way to the hospital. Later on, it was found out that there were traces of peanut oil in the water and Simon is allergic to peanuts and no Epi pens were found. And, the remaining four were all suspects, as soon, the police realize that each of these four students hold a secret that Simon had found out and threatened to post them online.

Which one of the students kill Simon?

Writing:- The story is told from the perspectives of Bronwyn, Nate, Cooper and Addy. At first, the four of them, though they studied together were not very close but this incident brought all of them closer–Nate and Bronwyn’s budding romance, Addy and Bronwyn’ friendship and Cooper’s friendship with Addy. Each four of them did have sort of an agenda against Simon. There were some twists and turns and the story is fast paced and the author did a good job, keeping the reader hooked into story. I was literally hooked that I wanted to know which one of them actually did it. The ending was so shocking and unexpected that I literally did not expect that end!! So from start to finish, I have to say, this was good.

Characters:- All four main characters grow into me. Bronwyn who is a Yale hopeful has a good relationship with her younger sister Maeve and would do anything to protect her. She even would do anything to protect her friends and loved ones. I like the fact that Bronwyn plays the piano–a plus sign for me as I am also a pianist! Nate also grew into me–I like how he can be distrustful towards everyone except Bronwyn. He has strained relationship with his father and mother and is leading a double life as a drug dealer. Addy would be someone I wouldn’t really like and would call her a scatter brain but towards the middle of the book, I actually liked her. So did Cooper.

Overall:- It was a twisty, brilliant fast paced thriller that will keep you up all night!

For Your Own Good is Samantha Downing’s third book. But this is the first book I have read from this author and still yet to read her debut book, My Lovely Wife. This book is going to be turned into HBO series by Robert Downey Jr. so probably looking forward to the movie as well. Let’s see what I think about this book.

SOMETIMES THE MOST UNLIKELY PEOPLE HAVE THE DARKEST SECRETS

Teddy Crutcher is a successful teacher at a top school. He’s a pillar of the community.
Only you know the truth.

He’s married to a beautiful wife – the best thing that ever happened to him.
But no-one has seen her in a while.

He’s so dedicated that even the tragic death of a school parent doesn’t distract him.
Even when the rumours start, saying it was murder.

You’re sure Teddy is hiding something about what happened.

You’re sure you can prove it.

But you didn’t stop to think that when it comes to catching a killer, there’s no place more dangerous than just one step behind . . .

Plot:- This is actually a mysterious and interesting plot with a suspense in the air. Consider the setting–a rich private school where the children end up in Ivy Leagues, a teacher working hard to maintain his position that he gets the Teacher of the Year award, another teacher who is dedicated towards her students and then the story starts with the death of a parent. The school then suddenly find itself in a turmoil and soon, with the death of another teacher, then the things started getting steamy. But the unusual part of the book is, we already know who the killer is. Teddy Crutcher, the man who got the Teacher of Year award who proudly put the plaque up in his classroom. If you are in his good side, you are safe, if not, well then don’t expect him to be nice to you. The story initially started a bit slow but soon, things started getting interesting when one of the parents dies and a student is suspected of the murder. Despite the fact that we know who the killer is, the author did a good job, confusing us reader by adding more viable suspects–like Frank Maxwell. Overall, the story became fast paced, intriguing and twisted turns that towards the end, it became quite unputdownable as you would want to know what is going to happen next. Is Teddy Crutcher going to get caught…or will he escape?

Characters:- Some of the characters are OK some are likable. Teddy Crutcher is a sort of creepy and weird teacher in my opinion that you wouldn’t really want to get the bad side of him. He also has a mysterious life and pretends that he is happily married, even though his wife had left him many years ago. Sonia Benjamin seemed to be a dedicated teacher though at times she sounds slightly snobby and self centered. Zach Ward is a dedicated and loyal friend who would do anything to save his friend, even if it involves jail time. I like Zach Ward better. Frank Maxwell seemed to be a disturbed soul and Fallon Knight is someone who lived a bad life and wants to take revenge on the person who ruined her–Crutcher.

Writing:– Downing’s writing was really good and overall, she did a good job hooking the reader into the story.

Overall:- Overall, this is actually an entertaining and fast paced thriller that will keep you up all night. I don’t remember reading lot of books based on schools in the psychological thriller genre but this book was great. I rate this book as four stars!

Trigger warning:- murder, death of parent, abuse

The death of a look-alike stranger leads a grieving woman down a troubling path in this riveting novel by A. J. Banner, bestselling author of The Poison Garden.

Three years ago mortuary cosmetologist Phoebe Glassman lost her husband in a tragic accident. No longer the hopeful wife and mother she once was, Phoebe is disappearing into her grief and into the quietude of her job—restoring to the dead the illusion of life. Then the body of a woman named Pauline Steele arrives in the mortuary, and for Phoebe, everything changes.

Pauline is unmistakably Phoebe’s mirror image and bears an alarmingly familiar tattoo. Even more startling is that among Pauline’s effects is a faded photograph of Phoebe. Aided by an eccentric colleague, her curiosity sparked, Phoebe investigates her doppelgänger’s life and death—and uncovers surprising clues to a shared past.

Phoebe’s emotional journey soon leads to shocking revelations about those closest to her…and even herself. When she’s driven to the brink, how much of what she discovers can she trust?

No. of pages:- 251 pages

Date published:- will be published on October 5th 2021

Publisher:- Lake Union

Genre:- Thriller/ Women’s Fiction

Rating:- 4/5 stars

This book was actually surprisingly good!

Phoebe was a former mortuary cosmetologist and lost both her husband and child in a car accident. Now years later, she comes back to the mortuary and finds the dead corpse a mirror image of her own. The dead woman’s name was Pauline and soon Phoebe becomes embroiled in finding deeper secrets as she finds a picture of herself in the dead woman’s purse.

This was actually interesting from start to finish. You could totally understand the series of emotions and frustrations the main protagonist, Phoebe is going through and how when each of the secrets are revealed she was determined to find more truth. There was some sort of an air of suspense in the book as well, particularly, the story gets interesting when Phoebe finds a child who looks exactly like a carbon copy of her deceased daughter Ava. She learns some dark secrets about her husband and so as a reader, you are literally hooked into the story, wanting to know what has really happened? Are her husband and daughter still alive? Or is it just Phoebe is imagining this whole scenario? What is Pauline doing with her picture in her purse? So in other words, the author did a good job keeping the reader at the edge of the seat.

The characters are somewhat likable–as I mentioned earlier, I could feel Phoebe wanting to know the answers. The writing was really great and this is my first time reading a book from this author and I am looking forward to read more books form this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her estranged mother, a county prosecutor she barely knows. From the start, Frankie senses something uneasy going on in the small town. The locals whisper about The Game, and her mother warns her to stay out of the woods and away from adults.

When a bullying gang of girls invites Frankie to The Game, she accepts, determined to find out what’s really going on in Litani. She’s not the only one becoming paranoid. Hysteria burns through the community. Dark secrets emerge. And Frankie fears that, even in the bright light of day, she might be living among monsters.

Date published:- will be published on October 19th 2021

Publisher:- Thomas and Mercer

Rating:- 4/5 4 cupcake stars

Based on true events that happened in the 1980’s in a small town called Litani in Minnesota…and having read Bloodline by Jess Lourey, I was excited that I got this ARC.

Francesca Jubilee known as Frankie moves to Litani when she was fourteen years old, after living in California with her father for six years with her father dying recently. She is sort of having a strained relationship with her workaholic mother. Frankie was visiting Litani after a very long time–the last time she visited Litani, she was seven years old and things didn’t go well with her mother. As she adjusts to the life in the small town, she meets some girls, who bullied her and asks her to play the Game with them. She meets a standoffish boy named Crane. And as she gets slowly adjusts to the life in Litani, she finds some secrets that have been buried, from the time when her parents were teenagers.

The story is told mainly in Frankie’s point of view. This kind of had a creepy sense in it, like I felt like I was watching a horror movie. People living in the town of Litani believe in a cult which is Satanic and Frankie’s mother is determined to save the little girls who went missing. As a result, I actually enjoyed the plot–the plot was interesting and intriguing that I was hooked into the book from the beginning to the end. Since it is based on a true story, it piqued my interest more. Frankie is somewhat a likable character and I like how her relationship with her mother seemed to improve towards the end of the book. Though the ending was OK, the story was a bit emotional.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only