2017 Book #3 – Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: Two Days Gone
Author: Randall Silvis
Date finished: 1/9/17
Genre: Fiction, suspense/thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 10, 2017
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:

The perfect family. The perfect house. The perfect life. All gone now.
What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect.
DeMarco knows―or thinks he knows―that Huston couldn’t have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family’s killer?
A masterful new thriller by acclaimed author Randall Silvis, Two Days Gone is a taut, suspenseful story that will will break your heart as much as it will haunt your dreams.

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. I also am participating in the Blog Tour for this book, you can see my post with an excerpt from the book and other information here. This book is about the murder of Claire Huston and her three children: Thomas Jr, Alyssa, and little David Ryan. The small town is shocked and grieving, and Detective Ryan DeMarco is determined to find out what happened to the family. Ryan doesn’t believe his new friend Thomas, Claire’s husband and the children’s father, could really be responsible, but since he disappeared from the house the same night as the murders it’s hard not to consider him as a suspect. Thomas was a local college professor and a best-selling author, the pride of the local community and by all appearances a committed husband and father and part of a happy family. But as Ryan starts digging into the events that led up to the tragic event, he realizes there was darkness in Thomas’s life that no one knew about. And unless Ryan can find Thomas quickly, there is a chance that more will die.
Overall I really liked this book. The book is told through two alternating points of view, Thomas and Ryan’s. I think the author did a great job of creating a well layered story line and an intriguing mystery. The story itself was so very tragic, even two days later I feel bad for everyone involved and I am still struck with sadness over the pain that these characters endured. The ending overall was very fitting for the story, just very sad. The only part that felt a little off to me was the additional party’s involvement at the end (I can’t really be more specific without giving away parts of the end). That part still doesn’t feel like it fit with the rest of the story line for me personally. Other than that though I really liked this book and I would recommend it, especially for anyone who likes a good thriller/suspense.

The bottom line: This was definitely a good book. I’m still recovering from how tragically sad it was but it definitely had an interesting/thrilling story line. I would recommend it, especially for readers who enjoy suspenseful novels. Just be forewarned, your heart will hurt.

Link to author website

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

7Jan2017

2017 Book #2 – Ready Set Rogue by Manda Collins

Posted in Blog tour, Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Studies in Scandal by rebeccabook17

Title: Ready Set Rogue
Author: Manda Collins
Date finished: 1/6/17
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: January 3, 2017
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Studies in Scandal series
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:

WHO WILL WRITE THE BOOK OF LOVE?
When scholarly Miss Ivy Wareham receives word that she’s one of four young ladies who have inherited Lady Celeste Beauchamp’s estate with a magnificent private library, she packs her trunks straightaway. Unfortunately, Lady Celeste’s nephew, the rakish Quill Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, is determined to interrupt her studies one way or another…
Bequeathing Beauchamp House to four bluestockings―no matter how lovely they are to look at―is a travesty, and Quill simply won’t have it. But Lady Celeste’s death is not quite as straightforward as it first seemed…and if Quill hopes to solve the mystery behind her demise, he’ll need Ivy’s help. Along the way, he is surprised to learn that bookish Ivy stirs a passion and longing that he has never known. This rogue believes he’s finally met his match―but can Quill convince clever, skeptical Ivy that his love is no fiction?
Don’t miss Ready Set Rogue, the first in Manda Collins’ new series set in Regency England!

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. I was lucky enough to do an author interview with Manda, you can see my post with that, an excerpt from the book, and other information here. This book was about Ivy Wareham, the daughter of a professor and an extremely talented linguist/translator who has recently been granted a partial inheritance from someone she’s never met. Lady Celeste Beauchamp has left her estate to 4 intelligent young women, all of whom are extremely eager to use Lady Celeste’s extensive library and other resources to continue expanding their knowledge and the body of their own work in their separate fields of study. But Celeste’s nephew (Quill) is determined to fight this as he is not happy about his aunt giving away his childhood refuge to four strangers. Then Ivy and Quill discover Celeste was murdered and they must join together to solve the mystery of who murdered her and why. And as they spend more and more time together trying to solve this particular mystery, they realize that fate may have brought them together for a reason: true love.
Overall I really liked this book. I loved that the heroines in this series are all extremely intelligent young ladies, and after being introduced to them all in the first book I can already see how different and interesting each of their characters will be. Ivy was fierce and intelligent and I just loved her as a character. And the relationship that developed between her and Quill was passionate but it was more than that too, it was full of real emotion and love. This book did have a lot of characters to keep track of but I think that will only add more depth to the other girl’s stories when they each get told. I think this was a good read and a great start to a new series. I would definitely recommend.

The bottom line: This was a great book! I loved that the author chose to portray such intelligent heroines, they were all very interesting. The plot was creative and kept me interested. And the tension between the hero and heroine was emotional and heart-warming. Loved it!

Link to author website

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

2Jan2017

2016 Book #122 – Burning September by Melissa Simonson

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Burning September
Author: Melissa Simonson
Date finished: 12/31/16
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: September 8, 2017
Pages in book: 222
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Author/Publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher 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:

Kat’s life is going exactly the way her sister has planned it, until a detective shows up at their front door early one morning and arrests Caroline for murder. Suddenly and utterly alone, Kat doesn’t know how to navigate a world without Caroline, the woman who raised her. During the aftermath of the crime, Kat tries to figure out who she is without her sister, but unlocking those doors only leads to more troubling questions. Kat realizes the one person she thought would never lie to her had, and quite frequently. Sorting through the skeletons and secrets might be more than she can handle, but it’s a necessary evil if she ever wants to see her sister acquitted.

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 book is about Katya (Kat) and her sister Caroline, and both their lives during Caroline’s murder trial for killing her ex-boyfriend in a house fire. Kat told the police that her sister was at the condo all day but the police aren’t listening and arrest Caroline anyway. Caroline is confident that she won’t be stuck there for very long but that confidence is apparently misplaced as after she’s transported to a mental facility for trying to cut her wrists, she’s stuck there for the next few months until trial. And while Caroline is there, Kat starts to realize that her sister has been hiding things from her. Like the fact that she somehow has a very expensive attorney representing her. And that they have a lot of money in their checking account when Caroline mostly just does freelance work. So how much can Kat really trust her sister? And what, if anything, can she believe is the truth?
Overall I really liked this book, it was a really interesting story line and held my attention throughout the book. Kat was a really interesting character, and Caroline also had a lot of interesting layers to her. I liked the way that the author built a lot tension between Kat and Kyle, Caroline’s lawyer. There was a great build up of suspense in this novel, it was almost like a cross between a thriller and a contemporary romance. This was a really good read and I would definitely recommend!

The bottom line: I really enjoyed this book, there was some great tension between the main characters and I loved Kat’s character overall as well. Great read, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

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

30Dec2016

2016 Book #121 – The Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fiction, Historical fiction, Mistresses of Versailles by rebeccabook17

Title: The Enemies of Versailles
Author: Sally Christie
Date finished: 12/27/16
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 21, 2017
Pages in book: 399
Stand alone or series: #3 in the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy
Where I got the book from: Author/Publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher 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:

In the final installment of Sally Christie’s “tantalizing” (New York Daily News) Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, Jeanne Becu, a woman of astounding beauty but humble birth, works her way from the grimy back streets of Paris to the palace of Versailles, where the aging King Louis XV has become a jaded and bitter old philanderer. Jeanne bursts into his life and, as the Comtesse du Barry, quickly becomes his official mistress.
“That beastly bourgeois Pompadour was one thing; a common prostitute is quite another kettle of fish.”
After decades of suffering the King’s endless stream of Royal Favorites, the princesses of the Court have reached a breaking point. Horrified that he would bring the lowborn Comtesse du Barry into the hallowed halls of Versailles, Louis XV’s daughters, led by the indomitable Madame Adelaide, vow eternal enmity and enlist the young dauphiness Marie Antoinette in their fight against the new mistress. But as tensions rise and the French Revolution draws closer, a prostitute in the palace soon becomes the least of the nobility’s concerns.
Told in Christie’s witty and engaging style, the final book in The Mistresses of Versailles trilogy will delight and entrance fans as it once again brings to life the sumptuous and cruel world of eighteenth century Versailles, and France as it approaches irrevocable change.

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 France and its history really, told through two separate points of view. The chapters alternate between the point of view of Jeanne, the Comtesse du Barry and King Louis XV’s most recent mistress, and Adelaide, King Louis XV’s eldest daughter (unmarried). Jeanne’s story begins in her childhood and tells of her rise in status from the streets of Paris to being the King’s formal mistress. Jeanne is not what I would call an ambitious woman, and her good fortune comes mainly from her good looks, pure luck and the greed of those that surround her. Things seem to work out ok for her in the end though and she does genuinely care for the King. The King’s daughter Adelaide though, is genuinely shocked that her father would even consider bringing Jeanne (to be fair she was actually a prostitute) to Versailles and having her presented at Court. Adelaide’s chapters are heart-wrenching, as she so desperately wants her father’s approval and love, but unfortunately she is very judgmental due to her upbringing and so her interactions with her father never seem to go well. After King Louis XV’s death though, the political unrest in France falls into a downward spiral. And as the French Revolution begins, neither Adelaide (a princess) nor Jeanne (a prostitute) are safe from the Reign of Terror.
Overall I really liked this book. I love this whole series really, because while not everything that happens is factual there is a lot based on real fact, and to be honest a lot of this I haven’t learned about before. So I’m learning as I read and it is just riveting stuff. The ending of this one especially was captivating since I could tell that the whole Revolution business was not going to end well for any of the main characters. I found this novel to be really thought provoking as well. There were a lot of subtopics to this story that I could delve deeper into and think about, especially ones that would apply to this day and age as well as the time period discussed in the book. I thought it was especially interesting to see the characters’ progressions through the novel. This book covers a time period ranging from 1750 to 1800, so many of the characters grow old within the span of this one novel, and there are many changes to each characters’ personality. I liked this novel a lot, it probably ended up being my favorite in the series. I can’t wait to see what this author writes in the future, I really enjoyed the Mistresses of Versailles series!

The bottom line: This was a great conclusion to the trilogy! I thought the different points of view in this novel were especially interesting and I really enjoyed the author’s take on a bloody time in history, the Reign of Terror. Great read though, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

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

23Dec2016

2016 Book #120 – The Trouble With Dukes by Grace Burrowes

Posted in Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

Title: The Trouble with Dukes
Author: Grace Burrowes
Date finished: 12/21/16
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: December 20, 2016
Pages in book: 339
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Windham Brides series
Where I got the book from: Publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the publisher 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:

THEY CALL HIM THE DUKE OF MURDER…

The gossips whisper that the new Duke of Murdoch is a brute, a murderer, and even worse–a Scot. They say he should never be trusted alone with a woman. But Megan Windham sees in Hamish something different, someone different.

No one was fiercer at war than Hamish MacHugh, though now the soldier faces a whole new battlefield: a London Season. To make his sisters happy, he’ll take on any challenge–even letting their friend Miss Windham teach him to waltz. Megan isn’t the least bit intimidated by his dark reputation, but Hamish senses that she’s fighting battles of her own. For her, he’ll become the warrior once more, and for her, he might just lose his heart.

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. Also make sure to check out my Blog Tour post for this book, you can find it here! This book tells the story of Megan Windham, niece to the Duke of Moreland. Her cousins featured in books in a related series by this author (Windham series) but I hadn’t read any of them. So although this book can be read as a stand alone, there are other books connected to this novel and many of the characters from those other books are mentioned in this one. So Megan is being courted by the despicable Sir Fletcher, who is basically blackmailing her into marrying him because he needs more money. Megan has come to accept this awful fate, that is until she meets Hamish MacHugh, the newly titled Duke of Murdoch. A Scottish soldier who recently served in the war, he has been nicknamed the “Duke of Murder” for his sheer size and alleged brutality on the battlefield. Despite the rumors though, Megan gets to know Hamish better and all she can see is the kind and generous heart that lies underneath his intimidating size. But is there really any way that Megan and Hamish can fix their situation and overcome all the obstacles in their way so that they can be together forever?
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was an emotionally romantic read with poetic language and some nice sentiments about the healing powers of love. I loved how well the hero and heroine communicated with each other and how comfortable they were with one another while also being obviously attracted to each other. Megan’s family was also a great cast of characters and I’d be very interested to read some of their stories, especially the next book in this series about Anwen (Megan’s sister) and Colin (Hamish’s brother). This was a sweet and touching read and I would recommend reading it for those who enjoy historical romance.

The bottom line: This was a sweet read. Lots of poetic/flowery language so if you’re looking for swoon-worthy romance I would definitely recommend this one.

Link to author website

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

17Dec2016

2016 Book #119 – The Twilight Wife by A.J. Banner

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by rebeccabook17

Title: The Twilight Wife
Author: A.J. Banner
Date finished: 12/17/16
Genre: Fiction, suspense
Publisher: Touchstone
Publication Date: December 27, 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:

From bestselling author A.J. Banner comes a dazzling new novel of psychological suspense in the vein of S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep and Mary Kubica’s The Good Girl that questions just how much we can trust the people around us.
Thirty-four-year-old marine biologist Kyra Winthrop remembers nothing about the diving accident that left her with a complex form of memory loss. With only brief flashes of the last few years of her life, her world has narrowed to a few close friendships on the island where she lives with her devoted husband, Jacob.
But all is not what it seems. Kyra begins to have visions—or are they memories?—of a rocky marriage, broken promises, and cryptic relationships with the island residents, whom she believes to be her friends.
As Kyra races to uncover her past, the truth becomes a terrifying nightmare. A twisty, immersive thriller, The Twilight Wife will keep readers enthralled through the final, shocking twist.

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 tells the story of Kyra, a woman who was in a diving accident recently and now suffers from short term memory loss. Not only that but she can’t remember anything from the past 4 years. Thankfully (ha) her husband Jacob is there to help her and take care of her. During her recovery they’ve relocated to a remote island where Jacob’s parents had a house. There Kyra starts to recover snippets of her memories from the past four years, and some of her memories are dark and don’t make sense with what her husband Jacob has been telling her about their life. Kyra starts trying to remember more so maybe she can piece together what her strange but realistic dreams are about. Jacob doesn’t seem to want Kyra to recover anymore memories, he says he wants to start fresh but what is he hiding from her?
Overall I really liked this book! It was a great thriller and there were a couple surprise twists at the end that I didn’t see coming. This book reminded me a lot of a book I read recently for book club, Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson, but it was a little less repetitive since Kyra could retain her memories from day to day. I didn’t want to put the book down, I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened to Kyra before the accident and what Jacob was hiding from her. I was distrustful of him from the beginning, he seemed too good to be true from the start and I knew he couldn’t be as perfect as he was making himself out to be. This was a great suspense so if you’re looking for a book to keep you guessing this is a great one to read!

The bottom line: This was a great thriller, I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened to Kyra and what her real story was. There were some great plot twists that I didn’t see coming, I would recommend!

Link to author website

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

16Dec2016

2016 Book # 118 – Love Connection by Camilla Isley

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance, For the love of books by rebeccabook17

Title: Love Connection
Author: Camilla Isley
Date finished: 12/15/16
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: September 23, 2016
Pages in book: 240
Stand alone or series: #1 in the First Comes Love series
Where I got the book from: Author/publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher 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:

Have you ever wondered what might have been?

Gemma Dawson is at the airport, staring at two plane tickets to two different cities. Two different weddings. Two possible futures. She’s at a crossroads.

Be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding or crash her ex’s?

Gemma’s decision, unknown to her, hinges on a delayed flight and a chance meeting. Now her life is about to go down two parallel tracks–will Gemma fly toward a life with her first love or a future with a man she’s not even met yet?

In concurrent storylines, Gemma lives out the consequences of each journey. Different stories unravel with unpredictable outcomes for Gemma and her loved ones. As the alternative realities run their course, humor and romance intertwine raising questions about fate and chance. Will these parallel universes converge? Is true love meant to be? Is everyone destined to have a soul mate? Or are one’s cards just a choice away from reshuffling?

Love Connection is a romantic comedy about one woman, life’s infinite possibilities, and the destiny that lies beyond two different choices. First Comes Love is a series of interconnected romantic novels. However, each book in the series can be read as a standalone novel.

My rating: 4.5 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 Gemma Dawson, who we first meet at the airport when she’s trying to decide whether she should fly home for her best friend’s wedding, in which she’s supposed to be the maid of honor, or crash her ex-boyfriends wedding to tell him that she still loves him. It is from this first decision that the story forks into two different paths, each one following Gemma after that first choice. In each life Gemma is faced with crises and both love and heart break. The two story lines overlap in some interesting ways and we meet up with many of the same characters in both lives, just at different times. Through it all though, can Gemma find her happily ever after in both worlds?
Overall I just loved this book. The idea behind the plot line was so interesting and while it reminded me a lot of another book I read last year (Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid) I actually liked the way that this one ended better. And I loved all the characters in this book. I have to say I especially loved the fortune teller detail in the story (I’m not going to spoil it for you readers) it was so creative to add that piece and I thought it really did a great job of tying both stories together. I couldn’t put this book down once I started it, I think I finished it in less than 24 hours. It was a great read and I would most definitely recommend! And I can’t wait to see what else the next book in the series will bring!

The bottom line: I just loved this book, the story line was so different and unique. And I loved the way the story lines intertwined and how much fate ended up being involved. And what a great ending!! Just loved this book, I would definitely recommend.

Link to author website

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

16Dec2016

2016 Book # 117 – Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

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

Title: Vinegar Girl
Author: Anne Tyler
Date finished: 12/14/16
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: Hogarth
Publication Date: June 1, 2016
Pages in book: 240
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:

Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.
Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost.
When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

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 Kate Battista, a 29 year old woman who has gotten herself into something of a rut. After getting expelled from college, she moves back home with her father and her much younger sister Bunny. Kate ends up getting a job at a local preschool as an assistant and between that, taking care of her father’s household, and basically parenting Bunny, all of a sudden she realizes she’s 29 and has been stuck in the same routine for years. Really what wakes her up is a ridiculous idea that her father comes up with – for Kate to marry his research assistant, Pyotr, to keep him in the country. Pyotr’s visa is about to expire and Kate’ father is desperate to find a way to keep him so they can finish an important research project. At first Kate rejects this idea, thinking she deserves better, but as she spends more time considering Pyotr’s offer and the freedom it would afford her, Kate realizes this might be just the change she needs in her life.
Overall I liked this book. It was interesting how the book turned out, it didn’t end how I expected but I really enjoyed the ending. This book is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and since I haven’t read that one previously, I’d really love to read it now especially to see how parallel the story lines are. I did find Kate to be a hard character to connect with, I didn’t really understand why she put up with a lot of the things that she puts up with in the book but everything seems to work out ok in the end for her. Her cast of supporting characters (her father, Bunny, her aunt, etc) all seemed very self-absorbed and were only interested in what Kate was able to provide for them. It made for an interesting story though and I can feel Shakespeare’s influence in it even if I haven’t read this exact comedy of his before. This was an interesting book and was a fairly quick read, I would recommend it!

The bottom line: This was an interesting read, it was definitely different than my normal book choice. I think it would have been better if I had already read The Taming of the Shrew and could connect the stories. It was still a good read though, I would recommend!

Link to author website

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

6Dec2016

2016 Book #115 – Thirty Days to Thirty by Courtney Psak

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

Title: Thirty Days to Thirty
Author: Courtney Psak
Date finished: 12/3/16
Genre: Fiction, women’s fiction
Publisher: CAMP Publishing
Publication Date: October 19, 2015
Pages in book: 228
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:

What if you were on the cusp of marrying the guy of your dreams and reaching that career goal you set for yourself, only for all of it to be taken away in one fell swoop?
What if this all happened a month before you turned 30?
This is the story of Jill Stevens, who after moving back home, finds a list she made in high school of thirty things she wanted to accomplish before her thirtieth birthday.
With a month left and hardly anything crossed off her list, she teams up with old friends to accomplish as much as she can before the big 3-0. Along the way, she discovers her true self and realizes it’snot about the material successes in life but the journey.

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 book tells the story of Jill Stevens, a woman who loses her job and finds out her boyfriend (of 6 years) is cheating on her in the same night just about a month before her thirtieth birthday. Suddenly single, homeless, and jobless, she’s forced to move back in with her parents while she figures out what her next step is. While at home she finds an old high school writing assignment, 30 things to accomplish before she turns 30. She hasn’t accomplished more than a couple items from that list, and while re-establishing old relationships she decides that she will use the next month before her birthday to do as many of the additional items as she can. Along the way she finds out things about herself that she never knew and she decides that maybe losing her job and her boyfriend were two of the best things that could have happened to her.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. The story line was interesting and sweet. I liked seeing Jill’s character evolve during the book and her cast of supportive characters was hilarious. This book made me (literally) laugh out loud multiple times, you can’t help but laugh at how ridiculously awful Jill’s life is at certain points. She is surrounded by people who love her though and for that she realizes she is extremely lucky. This was a heart-warming story about one woman’s journey to self-discovery and happiness. I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a good read!

The bottom line: This was a great, uplifting read. It was heart-warming and it was a quick read. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Link to author website

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

29Nov2016

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