2016 Book #114 – My Girl by Jack Jordan

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: My Girl
Author: Jack Jordan
Date finished: 11/28/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: JJP
Publication Date: July 4, 2016
Pages in book: 226
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man. She has nothing left to live for… until she finds her husband’s handgun hidden in their house. Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter’s death? Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband’s secrets. But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn’t hers to gamble – she belongs to me. From the bestselling author of Anything for Her, Jack Jordan’s My Girl is the new chilling thriller that you won’t want to miss.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about Paige Dawson, a woman who has been broken by the hands life has dealt her: her only child murdered and her husband’s suicide. Paige spends all her time in a drug and alcohol induced fog, not wanting to face reality in any way. She has multiple people who care for her though and who want her to get better, including her father, brother, and her husband’s parents. Paige starts having odd things happen to her, little things that at first she blamed on her drinking. But when every picture of her family has her husband’s face cut out of it, she starts to wonder if someone else has been in her house or if she’s truly just going mad. After the police have to get involved on two of her more recent drinking stints (including her driving into her husband’s gravestone and trying to kidnap a young girl in the department store), Paige is forced to get better or go to jail. Its around this time that Paige discovers she has alcoholic hepatitis, and if going to jail wasn’t enough of a motivation then keeping herself from dying is and Paige moves in with her brother for a few days while she transitions into being sober. And its there that Paige discovers a long held family secret that could destroy her.
Overall I really did like this book. Once I started it was impossible to put down, so it was good that it ended up being a quick read. Paige reminded me a lot of the main protagonist in The Girl on the Train, though the story lines weren’t exactly similar. This book did get pretty dark and scary so I’d just like to forewarn the reader of that. There is a great twist in the story though that I didn’t see coming and while it was definitely creepy enough to turn my stomach it was also surprising enough that I gasped. This is a great thriller/scary read and I would definitely recommend reading it!

The bottom line: This was an awesome psychological suspense read, the only reason it didn’t get a higher score is it was just a little too dark/creepy/scary for me. There is some sick stuff that goes on in here. If you’re looking for a good thriller though I would most definitely recommend.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

8Oct2016

2016 Book #95 – Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, For the love of books, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: Behind Closed Doors
Author: B.A. Paris
Date finished: 10/7/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: August 9, 2016
Pages in book: 304
Stand alone or series: Stand-alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.
But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.
Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.
Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about Grace Angel, who is married to Jack Angel while she’s in her thirties. Grace’s sister Millie has Down Syndrome and after Millie graduates from her current school Grace will be responsible for her care and Millie will live with her. This is one of the main reasons why Grace hasn’t married yet, her previous boyfriends did not want to be responsible for Millie’s care. But Jack is different than all the other men, he really wants Millie to be a part of their lives. As the story unfolds, we are told parts alternating between the past and present, and towards the end of the book the past and present sort of overlap. Even from the first chapter the reader realizes there is something not quite right with the idyllic scene presented to us, though it takes a few minutes for us to put a finger on what’s wrong. As the chapters unfold though, our horror grows at what has happened to Grace’s life, and what may soon happen to Millie’s life as well.
Overall I really liked this book. I have to warn readers though, this book will turn your stomach. The abuse that Grace endures is not for the light of heart. This is definitely a book you will not be able to put down, and the ending will have you jumping and screaming at the suspense. Your mind may need a shower after this one though, the villain of the story is devious and undeniably evil. I was utterly terrified at the end, and because I was finishing it at 12:30am, I was afraid to close my eyes for the next half hour after I finished it. This is a terrifying book but it was a great read with an awesome ending. I would definitely recommend!

The bottom line: I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to get some parts of the story because of the abuse but the ending really knocked my socks off. I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

29Sep2016

2016 Book #89 – My Husband’s Son by Deborah O’Connor

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: My Husband’s Son
Author: Deborah O’Connor
Date finished: 9/28/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: twenty7
Publication Date: June 16, 2016
Pages in book: 280
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Heidi and Jason aren’t like other couples. Six years ago, Heidi’s daughter was murdered. A year later, Jason’s son Barney disappeared. Their shared loss brought them together.
By chance, Heidi meets a boy she’s certain is her husband’s long-missing son – but Jason is equally convinced it’s not him.
Is Heidi mad? Or is Jason hiding something? And can their fragile marriage survive Heidi’s search for the truth . . .

My rating: 1.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about Heidi and her husband Jason. Heidi and Jason met because they have one very large thing in common, they’ve both lost their children in traumatic ways. Heidi’s daughter was killed while she was still a little girl and Jason’s son disappeared when he was three. But then one day Heidi thinks she sees Barney, Jason’s son who would be eight years old now. Jason doesn’t think its him but Heidi is convinced and tries to think of ways to convince Jason that this boy is Barney. Along the way though she learns some things about her husband, and herself too, that she never knew.
This story and I just did not click. Heidi’s character was utterly infuriating to me, she was just plain bat shit crazy. She’s climbing on top of dumpsters trying to get a picture of a young boy through a window, then skulking around that same boy’s house in the middle of the night, and she doesn’t think people will think anything of this. And then when her and her husband are at his ex-wife’s house and they’re in his missing son’s bedroom and Heidi randomly decides she wants to have sex with Jason? Like what the shit is that? And what the hell was her deal with that Tommy guy? She’s just like oh I’ll go meet him at an abandoned motel and hope that if I spend time with him I’ll get the chance to be around his neighbor’s nephew more? And then when Tommy starts hitting on her in an extremely forward way she doesn’t really seem to resist that much which the whole thing was screwed up. AND THAT ENDING OMG WHAT THE SHIT WAS THAT Who does something like that, like that is probably the most screwed up thing I can imagine a human being doing to another human being. Ok sorry, rant over. Suffice it to say that I didn’t care for the book.

The bottom line: This book just did not click with me, I found the main character of the book entirely frustrating and completely insance. I thought the story line had a lot of potential but I couldn’t get past certain issues that I had with the plot.

Link to author website

Click here to go to the book’s Amazon page

23Sep2016

2016 Book #87 – Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Posted in Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, Terryville - Fiction Lovers, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: Before I Go To Sleep
Author: S.J. Watson
Date finished: 9/21/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: June 14, 2011
Pages in book: 358
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Terryville Public Library

Blurb from the cover:

“As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I’m still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me. . . .”
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.
Welcome to Christine’s life.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (September). We haven’t read any thrillers really in book club this year so I was excited to read this one, especially since I haven’t read it before and its a pretty popular book/movie (movie starring Nicole Kidman). This book tells the story of Christine Lucas, who wakes up each day not realizing where or even sometimes who she is. Sometimes she wakes up thinking she’s a child, and other times she thinks she’s someone in her young twenties, but she’s really in her late forties. Christine has been living every day anew after a tragic accident leaves her with amnesia. Every time she goes to sleep the slate (her memory) is wiped clean and she can’t remember pretty much anything. Her husband, Ben, patiently guides her through this process each and every day, selflessly putting Chris’s happiness before his own. But then Chris starts seeing Dr. Nash, who is trying to help her recover her memory. And one of his methods involves her keeping a journal. This concept allows her to read events from precious days and commit those events to memory during the current day instead of losing them when she foes to sleep. But that is when Chris starts to notice that Ben’s stories don’t add up from day to day. And with her memory loss putting her in such a vulnerable position, how much can she really trust her husband? Or how can she really afford not to?
Overall I ended up really liking this book. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish before the meeting (it was this past Monday) so I read over half the book already knowing what the ending was going to be and who the bad guy was. Somehow though that didn’t ruin the book at all for me. This book grabbed me right from the first page and I thought the author did a great job of drawing in the reader with the way the book was set up. I also thought the author did a great job of building tension in the story. I was completely freaking out towards the end of the book, screaming at Christine to RUN! While the thought that Chris missed so much of her life because of the amnesia is sad, I thought her character had a great amount of strength. I really liked this one and I would definitely recommend!

The bottom line: I liked this book a lot, it had me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what was going to happen! A great thriller, I would recommend.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

21Aug2016

2016 Book #79 – All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Posted in 2016, ARC August 2016, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: All the Missing Girls
Author: Megan Miranda
Date finished: 8/20/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller/suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: June 28, 2016
Pages in book: 384
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women—a decade apart—told in reverse.
It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.
The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.
Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.
Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

My rating: 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book will count towards my ARC August 2016 Reading Challenge. This book tells the story of Nicolette Farrell, who returns home after her brother calls and asks for her help in selling their family’s house. The other, larger reason she’s decided to come home though is that she received a letter from her father (who has dementia) mentioning the girl that’s been missing for the past 10 years, Nicolette’s best friend Corrine. Corrine’s disappearance and the other events of that night 10 years ago changed the course of Nicolette’s life, separating her from her home town of Cooley Ridge. She has a life in Philadelphia now and a wonderful fiance, Everett. But coming home opens old wounds, and with another girl who turns up missing that is also connected to Nicolette, Nic is determined to get to the bottom of things.
Overall I loved this book. I thought that the way it was told was extremely creative. It starts with an introduction to the story and then all of a sudden the story picks up 2 weeks later (Day 15) and back-tracks from there to reveal everything discovered during that time. It was creative and engaging and really well done. And the publishing company was right in the intro, it makes me want to read the book all over again. As a warning though some people might find this presentation a tad frustrating as it makes it harder to keep the timeline in order on what was discovered when. This story line had some great plot twists that I did not see coming and overall was a great thriller. I didn’t want to put it down and I couldn’t stop thinking about the puzzle and how it would all fit together in the end. This was a great read and I would most definitely recommend.

The bottom line: I thought this book ROCKED! I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I couldn’t stand having to put it down. This was a great suspenseful read and I found the presentation of the story really interesting and creative. Great book, I would definitely recommend!!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

13Jul2016

2016 Book #69 – The Witness by Sandra Brown

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: The Witness
Author: Sandra Brown
Date finished: 7/12/16
Genre: Fiction, romantic suspense
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (Reprint)
Publication Date: Originally 1996, Reprint March 29, 2016
Pages in book: 418
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Target – purchased

Blurb from the cover:

Kendall Deaton pulls herself and her baby out of a wrecked car, and a mixture of courage and fear gets her to the top of a ravine, where she flags down help. But she doesn’t dare reveal her true identity to the authorities. Instead, she plans her immediate escape. Her perilous flight begins.
The best public defender in Prosper, South Carolina, Kendall had stumbled upon the town’s chilling secret, turning her marriage to one of the town’s most powerful men into a living hell. Now Kendall is a terrified mother trying to save her child’s life…a reluctant witness who knows too much about an insidious evil…and a woman surrounded by forces that will stop at nothing to protect what is “theirs.”

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: So if you read my blog you know that overall I am definitely a fan of Sandra Brown. I’m slowly trying to make my way through her backlist and since I’ve been so good at avoiding my ARC’s lately I decided to pick up. However, I have a tip for my future self: Never pick up a Sandra Brown book on a Sunday night unless you are (1) on vacation that week or (2) have somehow discovered in the future that sleep is no longer needed. Once I start reading a Sandra Brown book it is so hard for me to put it down. I was up until midnight last night finishing it. This book was about Kendall Deaton, a defense attorney in Prosper, South Carolina, who stumbles on a horrible crime out in the woods one night. In order to survive she runs away without leaving any trace, hoping to escape the clutches of a dangerous and deadly adversary. I don’t want to go too much into the plot line because of the twists and turns, I don’t want to give anything away! Even though some of the plot twists were somewhat predictable, they were all great and the story line kept me on my toes throughout. The only plot twist that didn’t really fit for me was the one at the end, I almost felt like it was added as an afterthought. It didn’t fit well for me with the rest of the story, but that’s just me!
Overall I really liked this book. It was definitely a page-turner, and my heart was pounding throughout the book. I must warn you readers, some parts of this book were downright gruesome, but it only adds to the evil character of the villains. I really liked this book overall and I would definitely recommend it, especially to Sandra Brown fans!!

The bottom line: This was a great read. The plot line definitely had my heart pounding and I was interested in the story right through to the end. There were a couple somewhat slow parts for me but overall was definitely a great book.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

22Jun2016

2016 Book #63 – I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge 2016, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Author: Iain Reid
Date finished: 6/21/16
Genre: Fiction, suspense, horror
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: June 14, 2016
Pages in book: 224
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE:I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.
Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.”
And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here.
In this smart, suspenseful, and intense literary thriller, debut novelist Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Reminiscent of Jose Saramago’s early work, Michel Faber’s cult classic Under the Skin, and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an edgy, haunting debut. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, this novel pulls you in from the very first page…and never lets you go.

My rating: 2.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Also, this book will count towards my Book Riot 2016 Read Harder reading challenge, marking off the “read a horror book” box since I think this book was pretty horror-ific. I spent a lot of time thinking to myself “don’t go into that abandoned (blank)!” which I feel like is how people normally react during regular horror movies. This book is interesting because we are not formally introduced to our narrator for the first few chapters, I think we learn more about who the narrator is at the end but I don’t know if I quite understand what happened at the end. Anyway, the book starts out with a girl going home with her boyfriend Jake to meet his parents. They have some conversations about philosophy and psychology on the way there, and we as the reader learn about the beginning of their relationship and that the girl is getting mysterious phone calls from her own phone number with cryptic voice mails. The girlfriend is also thinking about ending things with Jake. So once they get to Jake’s parents’ house, Jake starts acting really weird and his parents are especially odd. The tension starts to really build here and the reader starts to become concerned for this poor girl who will be caught unawares and who knows what will happen.
Overall I did enjoy this book somewhat up until the ending. The last chapter was confusing for me to say the least. I didn’t really understand what happened. I think it was just a “my brain didn’t follow what happened there” sort of thing though since other people who left reviews for the book on Amazon seemed to understand what transpired at the end. There was also just a lot of dialogue, which I’m sure was necessary for this particular story line but wasn’t something I normally enjoy in a book. So overall this one wasn’t a hit for me but there were things I liked about it. The author did a great job of building tension and really making the reader feel almost frightened. I kept looking over my shoulder and I was afraid to turn the lights off! Even though this book wasn’t one of my favorites, I would still recommend trying it. It is a short and fairly quick read and hopefully you’ll understand the ending better than me!

The bottom line: This was a confusing book for me, I still don’t really understand how the book ended. I think its worth a try, maybe someone can figure out what happened and explain it to me.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

16Jun2016

2016 Book #62 – The Girl Who Came Back by Susan Lewis

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: The Girl Who Came Back
Author: Susan Lewis
Date finished: 6/13/16
Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Pages in book: 400
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE:I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

When Jules Bright hears a knock on the door, the last person she expects to find is a detective bringing her the news she’s feared for the last three years.
Amelia Quentin is being released from prison.
Jules’s life now is very different from the one she knew before Amelia shattered it completely. Knowing the girl is coming back, Jules must decide what to do. Friends and family gather around, fearing for Jules’s safety. They know that justice was never served; each of them wants to make the Quentin girl pay.
The question is: What will Jules do?
And which of them—she or Amelia—has the most to fear?

My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Jules Bright. When we are first introduced to her there are many subtle hints to the reader that she is still recovering from a traumatic event, though we don’t find out for quite a while into the book what actually happened. This was one of the things that frustrated me as I thought it was a little too far into the story but at the same time this is a good tactic to increase the reader’s tension. After we’re first introduced to Jules, the book alternated between the present day and Jules’ memories of her past that led up to the present point. I have to be honest in that these transitions between memories and present day were not always 100% clear to me and I didn’t always know how much time had passed since the last memory, so it was hard to coordinate a timeline in my head. It was confusing at first but it did seem to get better/easier as the book went on. So anyways, the book is (for the most part) about Jules Bright and her husband, Kian, and their family. Other characters are mentioned early in the book, before the reader is even properly introduced to them, and this also added to the confusion I felt at first. I pieced it together eventually though.
Overall I liked this book ok. It was hard for me to get into the story, I felt like the beginning confused me enough that I almost wanted to give up. But once I got into the meat of the story it was much easier to get through. There is a murder in the book (I won’t tell you who because that would ruin a great plot point) and while it didn’t make me dislike the book, the description of the murder is pretty grisly. Definitely not for the faint of heart! Other than those things I already mentioned, I thought the book was quite good. Once I was about midway through the book, I didn’t want to put it down. And the author was able to evoke a lot of emotion from me, especially anger at Amelia. The ending was left a little bit open in my consideration but I like to think that justice was served. I would recommend this one for summer reading.

The bottom line: This was an ok book for me. It had some points with great amounts of tension but overall this one just wasn’t my favorite. I would still recommend it for summer reading with the warning that it has a grisly murder and is a tad confusing at first.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

11Jun2016

2016 Book #61 – The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: The Girls in the Garden
Author: Lisa Jewell
Date finished: 6/11/16
Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE:I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Imagine that you live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbors for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really?
On a midsummer night, as a festive neighborhood party is taking place, preteen Pip discovers her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner of a lush rose garden. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?
Dark secrets, a devastating mystery, and the games both children and adults play all swirl together in this gripping novel, packed with utterly believable characters and page-turning suspense. Fans of Liane Moriarty and Jojo Moyes will be captivated by The Girls in the Garden, the next unforgettable novel by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of a number of families living in a complex in Central London, with the complex surrounding a three acre communal park. No one has their own “back yard” all residents share one very large and well groomed garden for a back yard. Clare has just moved into a small apartment with her two daughters, Grace and Pip (whose real name is Lola). Clare is trying to hide from a recent traumatic situation with her husband, the girls’ father. She finds comfort at first in the friendship that comes with sharing the communal back yard. Her girls seem to be adapting well, especially Grace who is spending a lot of time with another set of sisters who live across the way. Once Grace is found unconscious and bloody though, Clare learns about what her daughter has really been doing when she’s not at home and that the other girls are not exactly as innocent as they seem.
Overall I really liked this book. The story line was interesting and I thought the author did a great job with how she made the story flow. The story begins with Pip finding her sister after Grace had been attacked. Then the story back tracks to the six months leading up to the attack and then continues past the attack to what happened after Grace was found. The story was also told from Pip’s point of view as well as Clare’s and Adele’s (the other set of sisters’ mother) with two more points of view added in the last few chapters. The ending didn’t turn out quite as I expected but I really liked the plot and it was a fairly quick, fast-paced read. The author really did a great job with creating tension in the story, the drama and tension was coming off the book in waves and we kept finding out more scandalous tidbits the more the characters delved into the mystery. I think this will be a great read for this summer, I would definitely recommend trying this one!

The bottom line: I found this book very interesting and at the same time slightly disturbing. Not disturbing in a bad way, more in a suspenseful way. The author creates a real world for the reader inside the communal garden and the separate points of view added a lot of different pieces to the story line. I would definitely recommend this one!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

10May2016

2016 Book #44 – Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman

Posted in 2016, Bout of Books 16, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: Wilde Lake
Author: Laura Lippman
Date finished: 5/10/16
Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Pages in book: 368
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Edelweiss NOTE: I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed standalones After I’m Gone, I’d Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in this evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.
Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.
As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?
The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This is my first book that I’ve finished during the Bout of Books 16 read-a-thon and was the first one on my goals list. I haven’t read anything by Lippman yet but I have heard good things about her books and they have sounded interesting as well, so when I saw her new release was available on Edelweiss I decided to give it a try! This book is about Luisa Brant, who followed in her father’s footsteps and became the state attorney for Howard County, Maryland. While settling into her new job, she is given reason to re-examine something that happened to her brother in his senior year of high school, when she was only ten. Since she was so young, her memories of the events have many holes and once she starts filling them in, she begins to realize that things may not have happened as she always had been told.
Overall I thought this was a good book. There were a number of good plot twists and the story line held my interest through the whole book. While I thought it was an interesting book, I wouldn’t say that it thrilled me but it did keep me in suspense. There are some questions that don’t get answered by the end of the book due to unforeseen circumstances, and while I would have been ok with getting the questions answered it didn’t detract from the book for me that they were left unanswered. Lu isn’t an easy character to connect with, but I think that was in line with her character to be honest. She was raised by a widower with her older brother, who was 8 years her senior. There wasn’t an over abundance of affection in their house, Lu as a character is slightly cold and calculation, but she loves her family fiercely and will do whatever it takes to protect them. This was a good book; I especially thought it was interesting to see the court process that was included as part of the story line. I would give this one a try!

The bottom line: I liked this book. It held my interest and had a number of good plot twists. I didn’t feel a real connection to the characters and the ending left some questions for the reader but other than that I enjoyed the book. I would recommend it, it was a good read.

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