Tag: thriller

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The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda- Book Review

This a summer suspense book that you definitely want to read. I was enveloped into the story from page one and read it in two sittings because I literally couldn’t put it down. I really liked the main character Avery and was intrigued with her story and her friendship with Sadie. I loved all the secrets and twist and turns that this story took me on. I don’t like to compare previous books from Authors because it’s not a series but I had trouble really getting into All the Missing Girls more because of the way the story was told from backward to forward but this book was easy to read and hard to put down. I give the book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I have already bought The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda and I can’t wait to read that one in the future. Thank you too Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Synopsis:

Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her.

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The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas- Book Review

I’m a sucker when it comes to a good thriller and this book was absolutely what I love about thrillers. I was on the edge of my seat during this whole story. I couldn’t put this down because I just had to know what happened to all the cheerleaders. While this book is definitely a suspense/thrillers I think it also brought a lot of emotion as well. The main character Monica, is trying to put all the missing pieces together to solve to murder of two cheerleaders, a car crash that killed another two cheerleader and the suicide of her sister, who was also a cheerleader. I loved all the turns in this story and all the answered questions along the way. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book is a must so definitely read it now or add it to your tbr list.

Synopsis:

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. First there was the car accident–two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they’d lost. That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all. There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.


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The Mother in Law by Sally Hepworth- Book Review

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review. I really enjoyed this book. I felt like the characters were easy to like and the story was intriguing. I really enjoyed the main character Lucy, and felt like she was extremely easy to relate to. She seemed like an every day normal person that has felt like there was a little tension with her in-laws. It was fun to see this story take all the twist and turns and the endings was definitely a surprise which I did not see coming. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s a quick fast pace read that keeps you intrigued the whole time. I will definitely be reading more books by Sally Hepworth.

Synopsis:

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy. That was five years ago. Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. But the autopsy finds no cancer. It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides- Book Review

I’m jumping on the band wagon with this one. I have seen this book everywhere and have heard nothing but great things. I’ve had this book on my tbr list for months now and I can’t believe I hadn’t read it sooner. It was easy to get right into the story. It opens up with a murder of a famous photographer and his wife Alicia is standing over his body in complete shock and the remains completely silent. It takes you down so many twist and turns and keeps you guessing until the very end. Then you get to the end of the story and you are completely blown away. I absolutely loved this book and I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. If you are looking for a great psychological thriller then definitely read this one.

Synopsis:

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….

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Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger-Book Review

I love a good story about a female cop that knows how to get the job done when it comes to solving a murder case. This book was one of those books. I really enjoyed the main character Nell Flynn. She had a crazy past but I didn’t feel like that author allowed that to get in the way of the main story about solve two murders of locals girls that were connected. This is the first book I’ve read by Cristina Alger but definitely not the last. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. Thank you to Net Galley, Penguin Group and Putnam’s Sons Books for the ARC. This book will be published July 2nd so add it to your tbr list.

Synopsis:

FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn’t been home in ten years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven.  When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father’s ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father’s partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect–and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother’s murder–and her own role in exonerating her father in that case–Nell can’t help but ask questions about who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques and why. But she may not like the answers she finds–not just about those she loves, but about herself.

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Dead Girls Club by Damian Angelica Walters- Book Review

I first want to say thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Random House for the ARC of this book to read and review. This book was a lot of fun to read. I remember when I was younger and playing the game Bloody Mary in a dark bathroom waiting to see if I saw her in the window. This story is about four young teen girls who have a club where they tell scary stories and one of those is Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face. And of course something ends up going wrong. It took me a few chapters to get into, but once I did I was completely hooked. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. It brought some fun memories from when I was younger and had sleepovers with friends.

Synopsis:

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face…

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real–and she could prove it. That belief got Becca killed.It’s been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night–that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She’s done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn’t seen since the night Becca died.  The night Heather killed her.Now, someone else knows what she did…and they’re determined to make Heather pay.

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Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson- Book Review

I had high hopes for this book. I had seen many people who like this book and was hoping to love it as much as them, but I was a little disappointed. I think the story as a whole was intriguing, but I had a hard time really liking the characters. I also got a little bored with the story going back in the past so much. I understand that the author was wanting to give background into the characters, but I ended up getting bored and felt it took away from the main part of the story itself. I enjoyed the fact that the author wrote the story from the different perspectives of the characters. I would give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC. This book will be published June 25th.

Synopsis:

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him? Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

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The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager- Book Review

I think Riley Sager may be becoming one of my favorite authors. I just read the third Riley Sager book this month and once again I was not disappointed. If you are looking for great suspense books with a little thriller then his books are a must. While I really enjoyed this one, it wasn’t my favorite of his. I would still absolutely recommend reading this one though. I was guessing at the big secret the whole time I was reading this book and it was definitely a shocker at the end. What better place for suspense and thrill than at a summer camp? (Which it also makes a good read for this time of year since it’s summer time) I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. While it wasn’t my favorite of his three books it’s was still a great read with a great ending.

Synopsis:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips. Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. Seeing an opportunity to find out what really happened to her friends all those years ago, Emma agrees. Familiar faces, unchanged cabins, and the same dark lake haunt Nightingale, even though the camp is opening its doors for the first time since the disappearances. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, but soon discovers a security camera–the only one on the property–pointed directly at its door. Then cryptic clues that Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins begin surfacing. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing mysterious threats in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale and what really happened to those girls, the more she realizes that closure could come at a deadly price.

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The Good Sister by Gillian McAllister- Book Review

Thank you to Net Galley and Putnam Book for giving me the ARC of this book to read and review. Let me start by saying I could not put this book down. At the beginning I was little lost with the two sisters and who was who, but once I figured it out I couldn’t stop reading. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and loved this story. I can’t imagine being in Martha’s shoes and losing a baby, while also having my sister on trial for the murder of my baby. I don’t want to give too much away, but I ended up picking my chin off the floor because of what unfolded in this story. I give this book ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ only because I was little lost during the first few chapters.

Martha and Becky Blackwater are more than sisters–they’re each other’s lifelines. When Martha finds herself struggling to balance early motherhood and her growing business, Becky steps in to babysit her niece, Layla, without a second thought, bringing the two women closer than ever. But then the unthinkable happens, and Becky is charged with murder.  Nine months later, Becky is on trial and maintains her innocence–and so does Martha. Unable to shake the feeling that her sister couldn’t possibly be guilty, Martha sets out to uncover exactly what happened that night, and how things could have gone so wrong. As the trial progresses, fault lines between the sisters begin to show–revealing cracks deep in their relationship and threatening the family each has worked so hard to build. With incredible empathy and resounding emotional heft, The Good Sister is a powerhouse of a novel that will lead readers to question everything they know about motherhood, family, and the price of forgiveness.

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Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter-Book Review

Let me start by say that I love Karin Slaughter books. I love her writing and all the details she puts into her stories. She leaves nothing out (and sometimes that can be graphic) so this book is not for the faint of heart. But if you love thrillers, suspense and lots of twists and turns, then this book is perfect for you. I couldn’t put this book down and ended up reading it in two nights. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to find out what happened in the end and I was not disappointed. I loved both of the sisters in this book. They were completely different and I loved that. They both have secrets but at the end they are both wanting an answer regarding the disappearance of their oldest sister. This story has so many emotional moments that you feel as if it’s a part of you. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, and can definitely say it is now one of my all time favorite books.

Synopsis:

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that’s cruelly ripped open when Claire’s husband is killed.
The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.