SALLY HEPWORTH: THE GOOD SISTER
Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.
I almost skipped this book because I didn’t like the cover or the title but I’m glad I didn’t because…this was so good! Chapters alternated between Fern in the present and Rose’s diary entries, which also include flashbacks to the twins troubled childhood. It started a bit slow and I was thinking where this will go but later it picked up. Even though I wouldn’t call it a thriller, it’s more like suspense and a family drama with the elements of crime. I won’t reveal anything else because I think you need to go into this book blindly so you can get surprised like I did. Even though I had my suspicions I didn’t expect such an amazing, twisty ending!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
SIMONE ST. JAMES: SUN DOWN MOTEL
The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls. Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden
I’m not really a fan of horror books but this one was so good that even before I finished it I ordered a new book by the same author. What makes this book stand out it’s the eerie atmosphere. I felt every spine-tingling scare that Carly felt. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. The story is brilliantly narrated in two timelines/perspectives – through Carly in 2017 and her aunt Vivian in 1982. Loved the pace and flow – it kept me curious and hungry to read “just one more chapter.” I will warn you that this novel is quite ghost-y. I am not one who is generally attracted to ghost type novels, however, this story simply felt so real and kept me fully immersed and invested that I never doubted the supernatural element. Highly recommend!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BETH O’LEARY: NO SHOW
Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon who used to be treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth. These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: They’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up–Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man.Once they’ve each forgiven him for standing them up, they let him back into their lives and are in serious danger of falling in love with a man who seems to have not just one or two but three women on the go….
This book was just wonderful! You may think that this is another predictable romance but it’s not. The story alternates between the three women, and I really liked all their characters and had fun trying to work out how everything linked together. The plot is really clever and I felt I need to take notes to keep up with the story. O’Leary really did a great job of binding everything together. I was confused halfway through the book, couldn’t see how is this even a romance, couldn’t picture the happy ending at all – and then comes the twist that I didn’t see it coming. Overall, this was a heartbreaking, sweet, and tragic story about three women finding themselves and the man who is part of their journey. It was a fun, enjoyable, and sometimes sad read. Highly recommend it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ELLE COSIMANO: FINLAY DONOVAN KNOCKS ‘EM DEAD
Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she’s dealt with lately is that of her daughter’s pet goldfish. On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven maybe, he’s a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she’d like.
This is part 2 and you definitely need to read part 1 before starting this one. I struggled to remember what happened in the first book, I had to go and read the summary beforehand. If you read the first one and you loved it, you will love this one too? It’s very much more of the same. There is some mystery, humour, romance and over the top shenanigans. I have to say, I loved the first one a little bit more but just because the pace was much slower and there was less laugh at loud moments. But overall, a good sequel. Finlay and Vero are still a pair I’m invested in and look forward to seeing what direction they take next!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
T.M. LOGAN: THE CURFEW
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight. When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever. Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything…
I always find T.M Logan’s books enjoyable and great page turners and this was no different. Even though it took me a few chapters to get into it, this was a fast paced read with interesting characters and an intriguing plot. I’ve read a few of his books before and I think this one is the best. This story is mostly narrated from the father’s POV (Andy) but we also get glimpses from other characters’ POVs, so I had to change my mind more than once about the outcome of this story. I liked how the author continue to build the tension, so towards the end I couldn’t read fast enough to see what will happen next. The twists were incredible, little parts of information given to set the story going in a whole new direction!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
wanderwithanita.com 