Audio: The Night Visitors -

Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer

Length: 8 hrs

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 03-26-19

Language: English

Publisher: HarperAudio

Thriller, suspense

For review

My Thoughts

A thriller with supernatural elements. I enjoyed this one. It felt easy to listen too and I liked the twists and turns.

Alice is escaping an abusive relationship, she takes Oren with her. But she has secrets she is not telling, and Oren has secrets too.

Mattie who is running an underground railroad for women and kids in needs is supposed to drive them to a safe place. But a storm is coming so she takes them home. And she has secrets too.

They have to spend time together while it snows. Mattie tries to figure out things without asking, as one should not. Alice is resentful since Mattie is a social worker, and Oren, well he is strange.

The secrets are building up and then the suspense starts too. Oh and the strange things happening adds to the atmosphere. 

I enjoyed it. I liked how she put things together. Some things I did guess, but I could not be totally sure so it worked.

Narrator

ALice and Mattie both narrated, but they had the same voice when narrating so that could have been better. But she was still a good narrator. She kept up the suspense and otherness. I would listen to more by her

Alice gets off a bus in the middle of a snowstorm in Delphi, NY. She is fleeing an abusive relationship and desperate to protect Oren, 10 years old, a major Star Wars fan and wise beyond his years. Though Alice is wary, Oren bonds nearly instantly with Mattie, a social worker in her 50s who lives in an enormous, rundown house in the middle of the woods. 
Mattie lives alone and is always available, and so she is the person the hotline always calls when they need a late-night pickup. And although according to protocol, Mattie should take Alice and Oren to a local shelter, instead, she brings them home for the night. She has plenty of room, she says. What she doesn't say is that Oren reminds her of her little brother, who died 30 years ago at the age of 10.
But Mattie isn't the only one withholding elements of the truth. Alice is keeping her own secrets. And as the snowstorm worsens around them, each woman's past will prove itself unburied, stirring up threats both within and without.

Audio: If you're out there - Katy Loutzenhiser

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 03-05-19

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

YA fiction

Thank you harper for this review copy!

My Thoughts

Ehm, didn't I start this one yesterday!? Ha, I sure listened fast! I really got into it and wanted to know wtf was wrong with Priya.

Zan had the best BFF. And then she got ghosted. All while Priya shows sunny pics on instagram and talks to everyone else.

So I had a hundred ideas. Priya was a bitch. Priya and Zan had a lover's quarrel. Priya was taken? This one was the darkest. I needed to know. And no one believed Zan, they just said that besties grow apart.

Logan was the best! Everyone should have a Logan, someone who just believe you, no questions asked!. And yes of course I hoped this budding friendship would turn into more too.

Final thoughts

A fast read that has you clamoring for more. What is up with Priya is the thought on every page and I rushed to the end to find out more.

Narrator

Kate Rudd had a nice range of voices and everyone was distinct. She kept the doubt and suspense coming. It flowed well.

'Blurb

Part whip-smart suspense tale, part touching story of friendship, this is an extraordinary debut about a determined teen trying to solve a mystery no one else believes in.

After Zan's best friend moves to California, she is baffled and crushed when Priya suddenly ghosts. Worse, Priya's social media has turned into a stream of ungrammatical posts chronicling a sunny, vapid new life that doesn't sound like her at all.

Everyone tells Zan not to be an idiot: Let Priya do her reinvention thing and move on. But until Zan hears Priya say it, she won't be able to admit that their friendship is finished.

It's only when she meets Logan, the compelling new guy in Spanish class, that Zan begins to open up about her sadness, her insecurity, her sense of total betrayal. And he's just as willing as she is to throw himself into the investigation when everyone else thinks her suspicions are crazy.

Then a clue hidden in Priya's latest selfie introduces a new, deeply disturbing possibility:

Maybe Priya isn't just not answering Zan's emails.

Maybe she can't.

The Liar's Girl - Catherine Ryan Howard

Paperback, 304 pages

Published Jan 3 2019 by Corvus

Thriller

Than you Atlantic Books for this copy!

My Thoughts

Ohhhhh secrets! I did not know what to believe to be honest.

The books takes place in the present and flashes of Alison 10 years ago. How she has a toxic relationship with her bestie (but can not see it), how she falls in love for the first time with the greatest guy ever, Will!

And the present, how she fled to Holland and built a new life and now she has to go back. There are new girls found in the canal. Copycat? Was Will innocent? Was he part of something? I did not know what to believe. I mean he confessed 10 years ago! But then new things come into light. He was young, the questions were directed in a certain way. But why not claim he was innocent and shout it out? Oh the questions.

Alison starts to wonder too and together with a detective they try to get to the bottom of things and see to that no more girls are murdered. It gets intense there at the end and of course I had to put it down just as I was about to bite down my nails. Chilling!

It is not that long, and it does pack a nice punch at the end. You do not know what to think of Will. I sure went through all the stages.

Conclusion:

Suspense, and secrets. What more does one want

Synopsis

Will Hurley was an attractive, charming, and impressive student at Dublin's elite St. John's College-and Ireland's most prolific serial killer. Having stalked his four young victims, he drowned them in the muddy waters of the Grand Canal. Sentenced to life imprisonment when he was just nineteen, Will is locked away in the city's Central Psychiatric Hospital.

Freshman Alison Smith moved to the Big Smoke to enrol in St. John's and soon fell hard for Will Hurley. Her world bloomed ... and then imploded when Liz, her best friend, became the latest victim of the Canal Killer-and the Canal Killer turned out to be the boy who'd been sleeping in her bed. Alison fled to the Netherlands and, in ten years, has never once looked back.

When a young woman's body is found in the Grand Canal, Garda detectives visit Will to see if he can assist them in solving what looks like a copycat killing. Instead, Will tells them he has something new to confess-but there's only one person he's prepared to confess it to. The last thing Alison wants is to be pulled back into the past she's worked so hard to leave behind. Reluctantly, she returns to the city she hasn't set foot in for more than a decade to face the man who murdered the woman she was supposed to become.

Only to discover that, until now, Will has left out the worst part of all ... 

Graphic Novel: Haunted - Cemetery Girl

Paperback, 120 pages

Published August 9th 2018 by Jo Fletcher Books

The Cemetery Girl Trilogy #3

Thriller /Paranormal 

for review

My thoughts:

I do not read many graphic novels a year so I am not sure, but at least here I have never come across the format of this one. It was like a trade paperback size? And I loved it! It was the perfect size for reading, much better than those bigger ones.

I also came in at book 3, but they had done it really well and I did not feel like I had missed much other than the obvious. Calexa being killed and dumped in the cemetery. Her living there. 2 people dying and going into her (well that sounds freaky)! And it seems meeting some old man and his son and that son getting hurt (and there are obvi feelings between Calexa and the son).

And with that the story began. Someone still wants her dead, but why?

A PI is asking questions and wanting to find her, but can he be trusted?

Winter is coming! Which is bad since she lives in a cemetery ;)

Last thoughts:

A nice conclusion to a series (yes yes I did not read them all), but I am glad a conclusion came. I wanted answers too and now I can not say more cos spoilers.

Great artwork too. That is all that counts for me.

Blurb

Calexa Rose Dunhill died once, just for a moment - but now someone wants her dead permanently

The shocking conclusion to Cemetery Girl by Charlaine Harris, no. 1 bestselling creator of Sookie Stackhouse, and Christopher Golden, bestselling co-creator of Baltimore.

They call her the Ghost of Dunhill Cemetery, but most people think 'the Cemetery Girl' is just a story. In some ways, that's true. Her chosen name is Calexa Rose Dunhill, but she doesn't know her real name. When she first arrived here, all she knew was that someone had tried to murder her: they'd dumped her body and left her for dead. Calexa has been hiding out here, afraid to seek out her true identity for fear that her would-be murderer would find her and finish the job. And someone is searching for her . . . a man named Salazar, who holds the key that will unlock the secrets of Calexa's past.

Calexa has new secrets as well, including the fact that she was murdered: she did die, if only for a moment - but in that moment, something changed inside her. Now, if someone dies near her, their spirit is drawn to Calexa, drawn into her. It has happened twice before, but now, as her worst fears come true and the killers have found her trail, the third ghost to take up residence in Calexa's soul will change everything.

The Cemetery Girl's story is about to reach a shocking conclusion! 

Carole's Sunday Review: Her perfect mate

Author: Paige Tyler

Title: Her Perfect Mate (X-Ops #1)

Genre: Paranormal Romance & Fantasy

Pages: ebook

Published: May 2014

Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon Freebie)

Their attraction is more dangerous than any weapon of mass destruction 

When Special Forces Captain Landon Donovan is chosen for an assignment with the Department of Covert Operations, he's stunned to find his new partner is a beautiful woman who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly, much less take down a terrorist.

Ivy Halliwell isn't your average covert op. Her feline DNA means she can literally bring out the claws when things get dicey. She isn't thrilled to be paired with yet another military grunt, but Landon is different. He doesn't think she's a freak-and he's smokin' hot. Soon they're facing a threat even greater than anyone imagines... and an animal magnetism impossible to ignore.

Uggghhhh I wanted to like this. I did. I swear I did. But nooooooppppe. 

It started off alright. Nothing to write home to mom about. The two characters come together because she needs a partner and I guess he got a promotion. The government, in this world, has a special division with people who are shifters, of sorts, and they do not trust two shifters to be partners (god knows why), so they are paired with a human (god knows why). Poor girl has had some shitty partners in the past, so she is wary of this new hunk. He is in insta-lust the moment he sees her, but he respects her since she is his partner. 

But yes, started out okay. I was curious and then *yawn*. I wanted it to end. I kept going though...because I am insane. I got about 75% done and I could not do it. She annoyed me and he annoyed me. The whole world annoyed me. Nothing really made sense. What finished me off was the one mission near the end. Something happens and I just turned off my kindle and never went back. Can't say what, but I was annoyed. Also, another scene between her, him, and a male shifter who is in love with her annoyed me too. He should be fired. They should be fired. FIRE THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the end, this was a DNF. Nearly made it to the end, but two scenes annoyed me. Not for me sadly. Maybe for someone else.  

Girl unknown - Karen Perry

When first-year student Zoë Barry walks into Professor David Connolly's office and tentatively says these words, he is left reeling. But it is the lives of his family - particularly his wife Caroline - which are turned upside down by the arrival of this stranger.

A daughter, a sister, a friend . . . an enemy?

Though no one knows quite who Zoë is, she is soon entangled in their lives. Yet her stories don't ring true and Caroline is determined to learn if the girl is the unlucky innocent she claims to be or someone with a far darker agenda.

A deadly cuckoo in the nest . . .Because by letting Zoë in, David and Caroline aren't just leaving themselves vulnerable. They're risking the most precious thing in the world - the lives of their children . . .

Hardcover, 304 pages
Expected publication: February 6th 2018 by Henry Holt and Co. (first published January 16th 2016)
Fiction

My thoughts:

There was this calm and chilling feeling to this book. I really felt for Caroline.

Caroline and David are married and have two kids. Yes they have had their issues and worked through them. Now they are both focused on their careers and then things start to unravel.

Zoe shows up. Hey you're my dad! But who is she really? Yes she has the perfect story, but what does she want. I sure did not trust her, and neither did Caroline. While David was all "It will all work out". And the two kids, one trusted her, one did not. And Zoe was just so messed up, did she herself know what she even wanted?

Suddenly she is everywhere and their lives will never be the same.

The ending threw in a good twist. I can not say more.

A good book that had me wondering what would happen. Because secrets come out, and still there is trust.... A psychological family drama.

Carole's Sunday Review: Survive Camp Terror

Author: Kenny Abdo

Title: Survive Camp Terror

Genre: Fiction, Suspense, and YA

Pages: 115

Published: September 2017

I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

After decades closed, the doors to Camp Dream Haven have reopened to the next generation of kids looking for the best summer of their lives. After a rafting trip goes horribly wrong, two polar-opposite campers, Maddy and TJ, are forced to team up in order to survive the night in the forest and make their way back to camp. But the deeper they go into the woods, the more a terrifying “local legend” seems like it might be reality

What a fun, quick story! It was short and easy to read, but it was good. 

The story follows a couple of teens who are both about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. TJ is the bad boy who gets his kicks off of being mean to those weak. Maddy is TJ's new victim who just wanted to come to this camp and be a normal kid and make some friends. Things happen and TJ and Maddy are separated from the rest of the rafters and are forced to try and survive the wilderness. 

Of course, this story is about them growing to know themselves and be more understanding of each other. However, they also have to learn to trust each other especially when something scarier and more unstable then nature shows up. 

I was shocked at the big twist. I honestly did NOT expect that at all. Very good and it worked well.

The Native American lore was an excellent addition. It added a little something. 

TJ needed a kick in the pants. Sure, I felt bad for him in a way, but he needed someone to set him straight...little jerk. I liked Maddy. She reminded me a little of myself at that age. Poor girl. 

This was scary in a way, but more suspenseful. What was going to happen? Who is that? Why? When? Where? 

The dialogue was a little sketchy at some points. Sometimes it didn't feel natural and what people would say especially the young. Maddy is an exception because she is a nerdy girl who would have a better vocabulary.

There were some grammar errors here and there, but it was minimal. 

In the end, this was a fun read. A good Halloween story for every age group. It may be a YA, but it does work for everyone. A good twist, some scary moments, some suspenseful moments, but there were a couple grammar issues and the dialogue didn't flow naturally here and there. I shall give this 4 stars. 

Don't close your eyes - Holly Seddon

Twin sisters Robin and Sarah haven’t spoken in years.

Robin can’t leave her house. A complete shut-in, she spends her days spying on her neighbors, subtly meddling in their lives. But she can’t keep her demons out forever. Someone from her past has returned, and is desperate to get inside.

Sarah can’t go home. Her husband has kicked her out, forcibly denying her access to their toddler. Sarah will do anything to get her daughter back, but she’s unraveling under the mounting pressure of concealing the dark secrets of her past. And her lies are catching up to her.

The novel takes readers back in time to witness the complex family dynamics that formed Robin and Sarah into the emotionally damaged, estranged young women they’ve become. As the gripping and intricate layers of their shared past are slowly peeled away, the shocks and twists will keep readers breathless long after the final page. 

My thoughts:

I did not know what to expect. I kept waiting for that something, and it came, and I was all damn! But I can not say more, just, I did not see that coming! ;)

The book starts with Sarah getting kicked out by her husband and a lot of allegations are laid against her. So did she really do those things? What is going on? He seems so ruled by his parents.

Then there is Robin who does not leave her house and spies on her neighbors. What happened to make her have such a break down?

The book alternates between seeing them growing up. There is family drama. Sarah is the good girl, Robin is the one who follows along. Like all families there are issues but those are just issues. Slowly the tale does unravel.

I really liked the ending. I so wish I could say more, but oh you know, spoilers darling, spoilers.

Conclusion.
It's a good book that keeps building up to something and you just do not know what that something is. If that is her style then I would certainly read more by her, I like twists and surprises. A book that had me guessing and never getting it right.

Cover
meh

Hardcover, 336 pages
Expected publication: July 6th 2017 by Corvus
Fiction / Suspense
For review

Dark Matter - Blake Crouch

“Are you happy with your life?” 

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” 

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

My thoughts:

It was not amazing, but at the same time I could not put it down. I started reading it, and then I finished it. It was just impossible to put down, I needed to know what would happen.

It's about Jason who gets knocked out and wakes up in a strange place. And I was all wtf happened? A parallel universe? Cos here he is not married, he has no son, and he spent his life following his passion in science.

And that is the whole deal, wtf happened? What is this? And when he tries to find out, well then it got even more impossible to put down. And then it got real crazy.

Conclusion:
So there was something in the story that just pulls you in. I can still not say it's amazing. BUT it's amazing in the fact how it makes you unable to stop reading....strange really.

Cover
meh

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published August 11th 2016 by Macmillan
Fiction / sci-fi /suspense
Library

Where I lost her - T.Greenwood

Eight years ago, Tess and Jake were considered a power couple of the New York publishing world— happy, in love, planning a family. Failed fertility treatments and a heartbreaking attempt at adoption have fractured their marriage and left Tess edgy and adrift. A visit to friends in rural Vermont throws Tess’s world into further chaos when she sees a young, half-dressed child in the middle of the road, who then runs into the woods like a frightened deer. 

The entire town begins searching for the little girl. But there are no sightings, no other witnesses, no reports of missing children. As local police and Jake point out, Tess’s imagination has played her false before. And yet Tess is compelled to keep looking, not only to save the little girl she can’t forget but to salvage her broken heart as well.  

Blending her trademark lyrical prose with a superbly crafted and suspenseful narrative, Where I Lost Her is a gripping, haunting novel from a remarkable storyteller. 

My thoughts:

I wanted to try more thriller/mysteries, so I started with a fairly easy one. A mix of fiction and thriller.

It's about a marriage that is falling apart. They tried so long for a baby and everything just failed, and now, they seem to be failing. In all of this Tess sees a child on the road. But is she really a reliable narrator? First, she was drunk. Second, we get to see her whole past slowly emerge, how they wanted to have a baby, how they then tried to adopt. All to make the reader feel like she can not really be trusted. Because others sure seem to think she made it up. But at the same time, she saw the girl! She saw something. Still, there is no trace of a missing child. And that is where the mystery comes in. Is there really a child? And what happened to that child? Where is she? What is going on in those woods? Or did she just make  it up?

I did like how Tess never gave up, she kept searching even though some thought her just in want of attention. I did like the support she got from her bestie, she never thought for a moment it was not real.

And as the book moved on the mystery got more suspenseful.

Conclusion:
It was a good mystery, nice bit of suspense thrown in too. I also liked the whole doubt thing, because I will not tell you what is real or not. You have to read and see for yourself

Cover
Good

Paperback, 292 pages
Expected publication: March 2nd 2017 by Corvus (first published February 23rd 2016)
Fiction/Thriller/Mystery
For review

NOS 4R2 - Joe Hill

Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.

Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”

Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son. 

My thoughts:

Ok so I know I usually do not read and review books like this, but I since I read almost every other genre I decided to spread my wings a bit, and good thing I did.

For 700 pages it sure went by fast. But then it did have me at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen. What was it called now again, Horror Thriller Suspense? Well you get the idea. It will keep you interested.

The plot then. Vic can with her bike travel across a bridge and end up wherever she wants to. A bit how she does this is explained later, some have this power to do things. Some use it for good, some use it for bad. Vic grows up and falls in with the wrong crowd. Sex, drugs, life is shit. And then she meets Manx and is more messed up for life. Years later, he wants her son...

Oh yes, through out the book we meet Manx. A creepy guy who travels in a car and steals children to Christmasland where they get creepier than him. The mothers are killed too by his psychotic side-kick. Manx is silently creepy, like if you just looked at him you'd freak out and run. Seriously, ugh. While like I said his side-kick is a psycho and shows it.

Poor Vic, she really thinks she is crazy, and who could blame her. Who would be able to bike across a bridge and end up miles away? But she has some strength left and I liked to see her fight for her revenge.

Conclusion:

I liked the book. Enough creepy people (you do NOT want to go to Xmas land). Characters to root for (even when they f up their lives.) If you like suspense read it, horror read it, thriller read it. Or if you are like me and wants to try something new, give it a chance :) And get a bit freaked out. 

Cover

eh

Paperback: 704 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (6 Nov 2014)
Thriller /Suspense /Horror
For review

Horns - Joe Hill

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more - he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone - raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances - with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty.

Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power - with just a touch he can see peoples' darkest desires - to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge; it's time the devil had his due. 

My thoughts:

This was kind of depressing in a way, not always, just that, that poor poor guy! For  Ig has been shunned, everyone, well almost everyone think he raped and killed his girlfriend. And that his rich family got him free. Just move Ig, move. That town is horrible.

But as this is horror (among other things) then things will get spooky. He gets horns, people start telling him their secrets, desires. And they tell him f:ed up things. Disturbing things, things he sure does not want to hear. Especially not from people he cares about.

Though I must say, it's not straight out scary horror. It's a mix of horror, thriller, paranormal and suspense.

With this new found ability the most obvious route is of course to try to find the real killer. The road there will give flashbacks about their love story, his friends, family and what led up to that dark night.

And it will get freaky too! I will not spoil things, but wtf? Some seriously weird things going on at the end.

Conclusion:

I liked his journey, and story. I never knew where I had everyone, and I so wanted to real killer to pay in the end. And the end, well it was fitting for horror. 

Cover

The movie tie-in one

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (23 Oct 2014)
Horror Thriller
For review

Early Review: The Splendour Falls - Susanna Kearsley

1205 - the town of Chinon is beseiged by enemies of King John, and his young Queen calls upon a trusted servant to conceal her treasured jewels.

Emily Braden is intrigued by the medieval story of Queen Isabelle, and cannot resist when her cousin Harry, a historian, suggests a trip to the white-walled town of Chinon, nestling in France's Loire Valley. But when Harry vanishes and Emily begins to search for him, she stumbles across another intriguing mystery -- a second Isabelle, a chambermaid during the Second World War, who had her own tragedy, and her own treasure to hide.

As Emily explores the ancient town of labyrinthine tunnels, old enmities, and new loves, she finds herself drawn ever closer to the mysterious Isabelles and their long-kept secrets.

My thoughts:

This was my favorite Kearsley book to date, there was just something over it. The atmosphere, the French city of Chinon, the mystery, it all fell into place.

As often with Kearsley books there are more than 1 story. Though the the 2 other stories only get a few pages here and there. First we have Isabelle, the wife of King John, and during the siege of the Castle of Chinon she hides a treasure. During WWII a second Isabelle has her own share of tragedy.

The main story is about Emily who comes to Chinon because her cousin Henry is set on finding the missing treasure. And there we have the perfect setting of Chinon, and the guests of the hotel she is staying at. Lots of strange and fun people. And there might also be a chance of romance, but that is not the focus. That is on the mystery around the two Isabelle's and things are getting dangerous at the end.

Conclusion:

I liked all the characters and the mystery. And well all the revelations we get. It was well written and it kept me reading and reading.

cover

eh

Paperback, 384 pages
Expected publication: January 14th 2014 by "Sourcebooks Landmark" (first published December 7th 1995)
Fiction / Historical Fiction / mystery
For review

Review: Banquet of Lies - Michelle Diener

LONDON, 1812: Giselle Barrington is living a double life, juggling the duties of chef with those of spy catcher. She must identify her father’s savage killer before the shadowy man finds her and uncovers the explosive political document her father entrusted to her safekeeping.

Posing as a French cook in the home of Lord Aldridge, Giselle is surrounded by unlikely allies and vicious enemies. In the streets where she once walked freely among polite society, she now hides in plain sight, learning the hard lessons of class distinction and negotiating the delicate balance between servant and master.

Lord Aldridge’s insatiable curiosity about his mysterious new chef blurs the line between civic duty and outright desire. Carefully watching Giselle’s every move, he undertakes a mission to figure out who she really is—and, in the process, plunges her straight into the heart of danger when her only hope for survival is to remain invisible.

My thoughts:

I finished the book in a day, I just read and read, and then I read some more. I almost did it in one sitting too if I had not had to go grocery shopping ;)

There is a lightness over the writing that makes the pages fly by. And then there is the suspense/mystery/drama that just makes it impossible to put it down. Here it's cos the heroine, Giselle is hiding from the man who killed her father and she has important information too. It's a cat and mouse game, and it's thrilling.

If I compare it to the other regency book she has written then yes I did love The Emperor's Secret a bit more. But that was cos of the heroine's past and the heartache it left me in. Still this book was awesome and it was not as dark when it came to certain things. It also made me want so much more, and I already know someone she totally should write about. But then that is how ES left me too. Wanting so much more, so please, write more :D

Honestly I had the best sentence in my head, it would have made the review. Alas now it's gone but that is how a good book usually leaves me unable to write a coherent review.

Giselle was great, brave and even if she said she was a mouse, then she certainly was a courageous mouse. Jonathan was in a way a sort of beta hero, dunno why I say that really. But in the best possible way. She was the heroine in the book after all.

Conclusion;

A cat and mouse game in a rich setting. Danger and romance is promised. And it makes Michelle Diener the go to woman for these sort of books. A good book makes you want more, but a great book makes you crave more. And this one was great.

Paperback, 352 pages
Published October 22nd 2013 by Gallery Books
Historical fiction / romantic fiction /suspense /spy games
For review

Review: Life After Death - Lillie J.Roberts

Chelsea Karmikel has led a pretty uneventful life…until she finds herself electrocuted. Now, she’s discovered her family’s secret heritage. She’s a seer of the dead, lending her sight to help those in need. Ghosts are her new reality.

Her mission is to encourage those who have lost their way to follow the Watchman, the crazed guide for the Inbetween…a way station where souls move from one existence to the next. But, there’s something deeper and darker than the ghosts who come to her for help. If Chelsea’s not careful, those eager to swallow her soul’s light may devour her alive… if she allows herself be drawn into the Nevernever.

When Brad Rearden, a darkly handsome, insufferable private detective and walks into her life, he touches off a wild-fire of desire that entraps them both, scorching them with need. Together, they work to solve the mystery of his Aunt Deloris’s death, because Chelsea’s next on the murderer’s list. But who will catch whom—the murderer or Chelsea?

My thoughts:

I confess that I do know the author so I wondered first and hoped it would be good ;) Well it was. Lillie Roberts has a wonderful voice, there was this warmth in the book (even when death and danger was near). There was also an easiness to the book, which was short, but good at getting it's point through.

To the book then. Chelsea, the heroine sees dead people, well not at first as it has a taken a while for her gift to emerge. And like any sane person she thinks she is loosing it. But she does her best, and she is scared. Which I also liked cos she felt very human, crying in her PJs.

Right that was Chelsea, dealing with her new life. In comes the book's love interest and there is distrust and anger at once. A little drama to overcome is always nice. And Brad is a good guy when we get to know him. Sweet and protective. So there is romance growing and plenty of passion.

What to call this book? Well there is the passion, suspense and mystery so just mix all those things. There is danger and creepy ghosts and secrets to find out.

Conclusion:

A good book that kept me hooked. All sweetness and suspense.

Cover
I like the hair

Published March 18th 2013 by Crimson Romance
Ebook, under 200 pages
Paranormal romance /suspense mystery
For review

Review: Up Close - Henriette Gyland

How close is too close? Dr Lia Thompson has swapped her native Norfolk for a life in America, but returns to sort out legal matters after her grandmother's death. Unprepared for the viciousness of village gossip, she's vulnerable to insinuations that her grandmother knew something about the recent bomb threats against a nearby army base. Even so the longer she stays, the more she realises this is where she belongs.

Wounded ex-navy man and artist Aidan Morrell has accepted his physical scars, but is still bitter over the army's treatment of his older brother, which had a devastating effect. He expresses himself in his sometimes disturbing paintings and through scuba-diving, and sees Lia with her fear of water as a challenge. The attraction between them is undeniable. Should they dare to let the other get close?

My thoughts:

I kept wondering and wondering, yes this book brought me quite the mystery to solve.

Lia is a doctor who comes to Norfolk to settle her grandmother's estate as her mother refuses too. Yes drama at the beginning. Lia is smart, sensible, but with a few issues from her past.

Norfolk is painted as harsh, those who live there, well live there, they know the land. But it fits well with the story, because something is going on. Someone was watching Lia's grandmother, and did someone kill her? That is the mystery. Because strange things keep on happening while Lia stays there.

There is also a friendship that slowly builds, a friendship that might or might not lead to romance. Aidan has his own issues from the war, and there is secrets he is keeping too. Those I did figure out..after a while. I also liked how their story was built, there was friendship and something that could be more. It was real.

The mystery was good, so many questions and so many different roads to take.

Conclusion:

A good suspense novel, with a hint of romance.

Genre: Women's fiction, suspense, mystery
Pages: 369
Published: Dec 7th 2012 by Choc Lit

US Kindle / UK 

Review: The English Monster - Lloyd Sheperd

Review of The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd

In the east end of Regency London, two families lie butchered. Residents of the notorious Ratcliffe Highway, the victims bear the mark of unprecedented brutality. Panic sweeps the country as its public cries for justice. But these murders stem from an older horror, its source a sea voyage two centuries old. In a ship owned by Queen Elizabeth herself, a young man embarks on England's first venture into a new trade: human souls. As a nation's sins ripen and bloom, to be harvested in a bloody frenzy on the twisted streets of Regency Wapping, an English Monster is born.

My thoughts:

I am a bit torn since I liked one part of the book better than the other part. The other part was still good, but not for me. Let me explain:

In 1811 Charles Horton investigates the slaughter of two families. This was the part that was not for me. It's a good old detective story as he tries his best to find the murderer. The chase is on and he has new ideas that he tries. The Ratcliffe Highway murders are real but the authors takes his own twist to them. It's the beginning of real detective work. 

The story jumps from the "present" to the past back and forth and we see the birth of the monster in question. Billy Ablass who in 1564 sails away to make his fortune to support his wife. But something happens along the way. It's a story about  slave trade, pirates and all the horrible things going on as people fought to be on top. This was the story I liked the most as it was horrible, fascinating and interesting. It was darkness as he slowly loses a part of himself. It was adventure mixed with thriller and horror.

There you have it, some parts I just liked more then the rest as Billy's story was good. The detective part, well maybe I am just not that kind of reader. But I would love love to watch it on tv (of course then the Billy parts would be scary while now they are just the brutality of life then).

Conclusion:

If you want a good detective story with a "paranormal" theme in it then this might be the book for you.

Cover:

Eh

Genre: Historical fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 432
Published: September 2012 by Simon and Schuster UK
Source: For review

Review: Fish & Chips and Divide & Conquer

Fish & Chips by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

Blurb

There’s a certain challenge in reviewing novels of a book series back to back. How do I say the same things and still keep the review fresh and interesting to read? Because obviously, the problems I had in the first two book of the Cut & Run series about FBI special agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett, still exist in the third instalment. 

The repetition, it’s still there. Not as strong as in the beginning or even in the second book, mind you, but it exists. In the third book, however, it focuses more on catching up the reader after a longer pause between published books than rehashing the same thoughts, themes and events within the book. Although, that does happen too. 

The adverbs and everything that reminds me of bad fanfiction writing, are still there. The fact that I occasionally laughed or snorted at funny lines or incidents, doesn’t change the fact that dialogue tags include unnecessary words ending with -ly. This infection isn’t limited to dialogue tags either, but it fades better within the body text. 

Plot advancement continues to happen in short paragraphs used to tell the reader (more like recap) what has happened. Apart from a handful of discussions and scenes that unsurprisingly also centre around the two main characters and their assumed character and relationship development, majority of this book is spent in scenes mirroring Ty’s and Zane’s behaviour around each other.  

As for the hairline thin plot thread holding this book together that was marginally better done here than in the first book, and significantly improved upon the second—which is hardly a surprise considering that Sticks & Stones had no plot at all.

So what do I talk about, after that quick refresher? 

About the reason why I keep reading, of course—the characters of course.

That however will prove to be a challenge. I already listed a number of reasons on a Goodreads comment for my earlier review and it’s difficult to talk about the subject without repeating myself. 

I shall try.

From the start, Ty and Zane had that not unique kind of chemistry and banter interaction that I find appealing. They’re not mushy, but snarky and rather caustic. They don’t get along in the very beginning, but like the men they are, they only connect after having bruised and maimed each other—as if having others to do that them wasn’t enough. Trust is earned.

Then there’s a disconnect. 

Between books one and two something happens and the characterisations are altered significantly. Where Zane was the one more in touch with his feelings in Cut & Run, in Sticks & Stones it’s suddenly Ty. Ty also has his momentary relapse to childhood behaviour patterns, which should be familiar to every adult ever visited his or her parents after a long absence. In Fish & Chips Zane very clearly regresses to a state more fitting his history revealed in the first book, whereas Ty ends up embracing his submissive side. 

It’s almost like the authors started writing two different characters, went back and changed few history details, and only after having submitted the first manuscript for publication realised they needed to change how the characters acted too. The altered details matter very little if the motivations springing from them don’t ring true. I read Fish & Chips as an desperate attempt to correct the course away from those rocky shores laid out in the first book and towards deeper, safer waters.

I only wish Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux had skipped publishing their practice run and waited for their first actual sailing trip.

As things stand now, between books three and four, I have a very hazy picture of the characterisations the authors are trying to convey. I suspect it would be easier to accept what I’m told, had I skipped the first book and started the series from Sticks & Stones. However, with the absence of actual plot I can’t recommend this option for anyone else either.

Three stars for the sheer grace of not annoying me as much as the previous two.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Series: Cut & Run #3

Pages: 314 (paperback)

Publisher:    Dreamspinner Press

ISBN: 9781615812271

Published:         December 6th 2010

Source: NetGalley

Divide & Conquer

Blurb

No. I’m not going to go through with the list again. Let’s just say that I have issues with the quality and style of writing Urban & Roux produce and leave it at that. 

Or let’s not. 

I must mention the utter lack of medical research. It’s like they didn’t even try. Admittedly I’m not a medical professional, but there are characters in this book that are supposed to be and they’re not acting like they are. There’s a very serious situation where Zane loses his sight. No one knows whether the loss is temporary or permanent, but the doctors just shrug: 

“You don’t want to stay in the hospital do you?”

They just discharge him without providing him with the information or contact numbers for people who help newly blinded people to cope with their situation. There’s not a phone call or a quick talk, there’s nothing. You’d think the doctor or a nurse would at least put Zane in touch with someone regardless how resistant he might be. 

Also, the family. Where is Zane’s family? The doctor asks. Texas, Ty answers, but no one contacts them. Oh, Zane doesn’t want to talk to his family?  Okay then. These people, the hospital staff or the FBI, don’t know that Ty and Zane are a couple. They act like it’s normal for work partners to stay at each other’s homes for prolonged periods of times instead of making tentative plans for the day after tomorrow when Zane’s home and his partner at work like he’s supposed to be. 

Except Ty’s not at work. He’s conveniently sent home to not be a target. A target in a federal building, which you would think has better security measures than just letting random bombers walk in through the front door. 

As for the so called mystery, it’s getting annoying being thrown at these clues in such a casual manner. I do understand that the authors are trying to foreshadow things to come, but the problem with this is that they are relying on clues very much entwined with the characterisations. And those clues, aspects of these characters, aren’t necessarily in line with what has been told about them in the previous books. Like Ty’s latent OCD. Ty’s always been observant but Zane was the detail orientated. Except when it fits the plot. 

This is where you ask ”what plot?” and I nod knowingly. The one where the whole point was to provide convenient circumstances for Zane to finally say the I love you, to Ty. As opposed to the serial killer hellbent on their destruction. 

Whatever. Two stars and the book is hanging on to that second star by tooth and nail. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Series: Cut & Run #4

Pages: 320 (paperback)

Publisher:        Dreamspinner Press

ISBN: 9781615817160

Published:        October 14th 2011

Source: NetGalley