The Housewarming

by S.E. Lynes 

Ava and Matt married, living happily with their 2-year-old daughter Abi. Until one day their whole life went upside down.

   One day Abi went missing from their home after the front door was accidentally left open. After an immense search by the police and the locals, they could not find her. With no leads, the case went cold very quickly. A year went passed by and Ava & Matt spent their life full of heartache, guilt, despair, and loss, until one day one of their neighbors throws a housewarming party, showing off the results of their renovation.

Little that Ava knows that this party will change the whole truth and Ava learns something new about the day she has relived a thousand times. A throwaway comment which could change everything….

 This was a slow-burning and slow-paced thriller full of emotions, guilt, and grieves. The story was from the  POV of Ava, Matt, and their neighbors/Friends.

What I like most about this book is how the author describes the emotions of each character and paint them on readers mind. Also, the plot twists that happen in the book captured my attention from time to time. 

But on the other hand, I found it far too wordy. I also found the writing style repetitive, at one point I felt was reading the same paragraphs/sentences and words over and over again, making the whole story less thriller and flat. The real action starts from the second half of the book.

As a thriller book reader, after seeing the cover and reading the description, I was ready for more mystery and suspense, but I found this book to be more of a dark family drama and it was nothing like what I had expected.

That been said, I'm satisfied with the overall reading and recommend to anyone who is looking for a good Thriller/mystery book.

Thank you to the Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

My Ratings:

 

The Worst Best Man

by Mia Sosa

Carolina Santos, (also called Lina)is a wedding planner who lives in DC. Unfortunately, she was abandoned on her wedding day and her Fiance Andrew left her leaving his brother, Max(who apparently said some things while the brothers were drinking the night before that led Andrew to cancel the wedding) to broke the news. 

Devasted Lina, left her past behind and now focusing on her career until she was offered an amazing opportunity that could change her life and career. But there is just one hitch to the job - she's forced to work with no other than the worst best man ever, Max himself.

This story is all about the classic enemies to lovers' romance trope. I enjoyed the first half of the book very much. It was funny, Hillarious and I laughed out loud a few times. I got this whole wedding planning vibe while reading the story and craved so much for a delicious cake. This plot might be a good setting for a rom-com movie.  I loved the characters and the diversity and relationship between them.

That been said, there are few flops as well.

First, comparing to the first half, the second half of the book was slow-burning and boring.

The intimate scenes were very awkward. They were just so.... cringe. 

some scenes are too steamy and the whole romance is based on only physical attraction.

Overall this is not a bad romance book. I pretty much enjoyed most of the story and some parts made me laugh and giggle and worth giving a shot!

My Ratings:

Jar of Hearts

 Jar of Hearts

by Jennifer Hillier 

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .
At age of 16 Angela Wong―one of the most popular girls in school―disappeared without a trace. But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Angela’s best friend Georgina’s home. Now Georgina is under arrest for helping her then-boyfriend Calvin also known as the famous serial killer “sweetbay strangler” cover it up. And it's one of her other close friends from high school, Kaiser Brody, who arrests her.

While Geo is sent to prison for her part, Calvin escapes from custody and is on the run. Geo, now thirty-five, is about to be released from prison to try and start over. But someone has started killing people and dumping their bodies in her old neighborhood, with some of the markers of the missing Sweetbay Strangler—her old boyfriend Calvin. Are these killings some kind of message from Calvin? Are they some of revenge? Is she herself now in danger?

Wow. This is story is amazing. I could not stop listening to the audiobook and I was hooked from the beginning. it also has some really uncomfortable scenes like prison rape/Abuse and gruesome murders..and those who are sensitive to this type of topic might find this book a step too far.

The writing style, character development, and the whole plot were well executed. The author has created the entire story more enjoyable adding thriller &mystery perfectly by adding lots of twists and turns. Just when I thought I had this book figured out, a new twist and a new turn, let me know I was nowhere near to knowing what the heck was going on in this book.

I highly recommend this novel for anyone who is into the Thriller/Mystery Genre and  I’ll definitely be picking up more books from this Author!

My Ratings:

 

Little Secrets

by Jennifer Hillier

 

Marin is a successful hair salon owner, Married her college sweetheart Derek and had a perfect life., she owns a chain of upscale hair salons and Derek runs his own company. They're admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their son Sebastian is taken.

  A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She's lost her son; she's not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix. Permanently....

This book is my first reading from Jennifer Hillier and this is one of the best Thriller books I have read in the year 2020.

 This book filled with secrets, deception and a ton of plot twists and turns, and hooked me up till the end.

 I loved the character development and overall story. I thought it was very well written. The whole story is from Marin and Kenzie's points of view and I like how the author develops the character.

 Overall, An emotionally-driven suspense novel about child abduction, cheating, secrets, lies, hope, revenge, and more…

 

I highly recommend this novel for anyone who is into the Thriller/Mystery Genre.

My Ratings:

 

One Family Christmas

by Bella Osborne

 

Lottie is living with her grandmother (Nana), “Bernard” an elderly Great Uncle, a cat called Duchess, and a dog called Dave in an old mansion located in a small English town.

Every Christmas nana is hosting a big family Christmas reunion, where all the family members get together and celebrate Christmas.

Unfortunately, Nana has passed away before celebrating this year's Christmas, leaving everything in Lottie's hand.

Lottie finding a hard time to gather her family at Henbourne Manor before it is sold and to have one last big family Christmas at the home she grew up in – just like her Nana would have wanted.

Having plenty on her plate while missing her favorite person, will Lottie be able to host the Christmas party? Can Lottie make their last family Christmas one to remember… for the right reasons?

   This story is one fun reading and I enjoyed the story. After seeing the beautiful cover and reading the prologue, I was immediately drawn to the book. This story will remind you of that hallmark Christmas movie with lots of family drama, chaos, fun, laughter, and the Christmas vibes.

Also, I liked the plot, twists and turns, the ending, and how Lottie handle the family reunion.

Overall, this is a quick fun holiday read and I recommend to anyone who is into the holiday spirit!

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read One Family Christmas.

My Ratings:

We Met in December

 

                                                                                                 We Met in December

   by Rosie Curtis  

Two people. One house. A year that changes everything.

         Jess is a 29 years old girl, moving to London to follow her dream in December. she was able to find a residency at one of her friend’s houses, Notting Hill house-share with four virtual strangers. On her first night, Jess met Alex, the guy sharing her floor, at a Christmas dinner hosted by her friend and the house owner Becky.

Been love, at first sight, Jess is sure she found her dream man and started planning how to knock down the wall between them…

We Met in December is my first reading from this author, and I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I was immediately drawn to the book after seeing the beautiful cover and had high hopes after reading the prologue. But Unfortunately had to DNF after reading the first two chapters.

This book is one of the prime examples of the saying “don’t judge the book by its cover”.

The book is so boring and much focused on description rather than actions at one point I felt it was too much. Also, the chapters are so lengthy and having nearly 400 pages, I could not make my mind to read the entire book.



This was one of those books that pick up purely because of its holidays and you watch so many Hallmark Christmas movies and want to feel a romantic Christmas around you.



Unfortunately, this book does not hold my attention and All in all, a pretty disappointing read. 

My Ratings:

 

Keep Your Friends Close

by Janelle Harris

Darcy Hogan is a successful businesswoman, an expecting mother lives in Ireland married to her high school sweetheart, Luke. They have a perfect life everyone dreams of.

But behind the walls, their life is far more perfect. Her difficult pregnancy and out-of-control debt threaten to ruin everything they have worked so hard for.

 Despite struggling to keep up with all the problems they have, she was invited to have an interview with the Ireland popular TV show. Little that Darcy knows, that one call comes in from a voice of the past during the TV show, will change her whole life….

“Keep Your Friends Close” is my first reading from Janelle Harris and I really loved the storyline. It was an easy reading with an interesting Irish vocabulary and I love the writing style and I appreciate how the author keeps the chapter relatively short making reading so much easier.

The whole story is from the POV of Darcy and two other main characters in two different timelines. The suspense builds throughout the book, kept me guessing at what might happen next.

But there are a few things that I thought were far-fetched, where overall rating landed an on 3 stars.

Nothing serious happens in the first half of the book except telling how Darcy and Luke struggle in their financials, Luke always comforting darcy to go to bed and rest, cooking for her, etc...But the third part of the book to be the most engaging and action-packed.

There is a lackluster in character development. I felt the main character “Darcy” seems to be weak, where she is supposed to be a strong woman. Also “Luke” chooses to willful ignorance all the red flags flying around them. There were times where I struggled to connect to some events and the characters.

Also, the plot twist happens at the end was quite predictable.

Overall, I found this book to be well written, enjoyable, and had me turning pages and it was one fun ride. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre!

The author has so much potential to write a great mystery/thriller and I’m excited to check out more books by the author!

 Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read Keep Your Friends Close.

My Ratings:

 

The Silent Patient

by Alex Michaelides

“ Perhaps some of us are simply born evil, and despite our best efforts we remain that way.”

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. She is A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, living in a grand in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

 She tied her husband to a chair.

 She shot him multiple times.

 She slit her wrists. 

 She waited for the police to arrive.

At least, that's what they say she did. but she isn't saying anything.

 with Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns her into a silent patient at a secure grove of the forensic unit in North London.

 

 Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and help Alicia to be a normal person once again. 

Will he able to unravel the mystery? Is she going to speak and tell the world what exactly happens?

I've been seeing this book everywhere lately so I finally decided to pick it up and give it a chance to read.

This book is a Sinister, shocking, and a great thriller/Mystery, You won't be able to put this book down. 

It will absolutely keep you on the edge of your seat and the type of Thriller that I really enjoy sinking my teeth into. The whole story is from the point of view of Theo Faber. He is determined to help her and attempts many different approaches to do so including reinvestigating the murder himself. Building the background of the characters as well as learning about Alicia by way of excerpts from her diary and meeting her relatives/friends personally.

Overall, The title of this book is a fitting representation of the storyline and catch my eyes and I enjoyed the writing style and it definitely spoke to me. The story was suspenseful, interesting, complex, fast-paced, and highly entertaining.

A surprising and twist ending that definitely should shock you.

Holly Molly the twist at the end. I did not see that is coming.

I highly recommend this book and it's worth picking and read if this genre is your alley.!

I will be looking forward to reading more books by the author in the future! 

My Ratings:

 

My Lovely Wife

by Samantha Downing

“Hello, my name is Tobias”,

And I’m deaf”

Millicent and her husband are a successful couple, where Millicent is one of the top real estate agents and her husband is a tennis pro at the country club teaching tennis to rich people in their suburbs. They have two children Rory and Jenna. Just like others, they seem to be a normal family like everyone else in the neighborhood. 
Except they have very interesting extra “extracurricular activities”….
This is my first Samantha Downing’s reading and this story is one good crazy thriller. This book blows my mind I could not put this book down. The whole story is told from the POV of the husband and the writing style was right up my alley. This book grabbed me from page one and kept me turning the page until the very end. It was a great story and captivating. Main Characters are twisted psychologically including children.

 

The character build and the relationship between them were perfect and I felt engaged in this story.

This book lived up to all of the hype in my opinion and the plot twist at the end was remarkable! 

On the other hand, the Majority of the story in this book is just about ordinary routine life… about how to take care of their kids, tennis lessons, grabbing coffee, went to the dentist, cooking dinner, watching movies... all those daily stuff, at one point I felt kind of boring thinking the whole story can be ended around 300 pages.

Highly recommend reading this one, especially if you are Thriller/mystery fan and I would definitely pick up this author’s next book!

My Ratings:

 

The House that Fell from the Sky

by 

Patrick R. Delaney

First, I wanted to love this book so much, and it has a lot of positive things going for it in the first chapters. This was my first title from this author, and I was immediately intrigued by the book’s cover and description. I like the idea /Premises/theme behind, and this storyline is kind of unique from typical horror stories. Also, the cover is very eye-catching, creative illustration work and the author has great imagination and creativity. An Adventure tour in a gothic mysterious creepy mansion is right up my alley.

That being said, there are few Minuses that make me land on 3 Stars.
For the entire story, I could not connect with the characters and felt the first half of the story is boring without a plot twist. There is too much description rather than actions, at one point I felt too much time spent describing things that aren’t that important. The main characters are almost adults but their dialogs and actions make me feel that I’m with a bunch of teenagers. But I like their friendship and the bond they have with each other.
This is more like a Fantasy Horror story where you feel you are in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with a spooky vibe rather than going inside Haunted Hill house or Winchester mystery house.

That being said, I may not have been the perfect audience for this book. But I Still looking forward to reading more books from this author and recommend this book to anyone who loves to have an adventure in a spooky mansion.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read The House that Fell from the Sky. 

My Ratings:

Brother

 

Brother by 

Ania Ahlborn

“You’re a goddamn psycho,” he said.

“You and me both, brother.”

From the bestselling horror author of Within These Walls and The Bird Eater comes a brand-new novel of terror that follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions.

Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse mile from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard.

But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place…

But I'm telling y'all this book is fuckedup on so many levels !!!

This is a Gore/slasher/Thriller book with brutal, disturbing, and sinister scenes where you gasp and hold your breath so many times.

If you like to watch movies like Friday the 13th, the Hills have eyes, or the wrong turn this will be your comfort zone.

This story is about a family of serial killers who resides in an old farmhouse in a wood. But There not just serial killers they are cannibals.

Big brother "Ray"( also called Rebel) with his younger brother "Michael" (also who has been kidnapped from the front of his own house and adopted by morrow family) are abducting girls from the highway to quench mama's thirst for blood. ("Claudine" who rules and dominates the family with a disturbing past where she got raped by her father and neglected by her mother).

Brothers are always on a mission to find the perfect victim (who should have strawberry blond hair, just like mama prefer) and plotting the abduction to leave no trace nor evidence behind.

The younger brother "Michael" always wants to protect his sister "Misty" from their evil mom, so she would not kill her daughter.

When Michael is twenty he meets a girl named “Alice” from a local shop and fell in love with her, where he wants to have a normal life with her and wanted to escape from his family and his own hell.

Reb finds out Michael's plan and from there he wants nothing but makes his own brother's life as miserable as possible and he has other plans for his little brother !!!

This book essence with carnage, cannibalism, hate, rage, revenge, despair, and pure evil, and I'm glad this is just a fiction book and I hope and pray this does not exist in our real world.

My Ratings

Halloween Carnival Volume 1

 

Halloween Carnival Volume 1

by 

Brian James Freeman,

Robert R. McCammon,

 

Kevin Lucia

John A. Little,

 

Lisa Morton 

This book contains five different short horror stories that I had such high hopes for and was perfect for Halloween reading. But failed my hopes big times.
This is one of those books "I wish I liked it, but I didn't".

the first two stories were okay but hadn't much to do with Halloween. I could not connect with the characters nor the story and I have to read twice to understand what’s going on there.
Story three just made zero sense without an ending.

I skipped The fourth story after reading a few pages.
The fifth story had a good beginning and then went downfall.


Personally, I don’t think I'm the right audience for this book.

My Ratings

The Girls in the Snow

(Nikki Hunt #1) by 

Stacy Green

Nikki is an FBI agent who was born and raised in Stillwater, Minnesota. After her parent's tragic death she left the hometown and became an office in Law enforcement.
Despite her desire to return to her home tome, she was assigned to a case to help solve the case of two dead teenage girls left in the snow that eventually bring her back to home town with the unsettling memories of her past. Home for the first time in twenty years, Nikki sees that the whole town had been frantically waiting for justice and when she finds out who one of the girl’s step-father “John”, who happens to be her ex-boyfriend during her high School time where her parents get murdered. He was the person who stood by and supports Nikkie to identify the Killer, “Mark Todd”.

After arrival, she was confronted by a group of protesters and a reporter “Caitlyn” eager to see Mark freed saying he is an innocent man behind the bars. With the new evidence that could clear his name, Mark has appealed his conviction and his brother “Rory” begs Nikki to take a look at what they’ve found.
Are victim’s deaths connected to her parents’ murders? is she able to catch a killer? Will the truth ever be known? And who can be trusted?

As a girl who resides in Minnesota, I loved reading about the towns that I know felt close to my heart.
I was attracted to this book because of its cover and once the description and when I dive into the story, it was hands down one of the best detective stories I have read in 2020.” The Girl in the snow” is my first Stacy Green’s book I have read and she knocked out of my socks off. This was a very hard book to put down. The whole story was very action-packed full of mystery with a very interesting cast of characters and the story was executed very well from the beginning to the end.

A few of my favorite things about this book are the cover, writing style, characters, mystery, and of course the big twist at the end. As soon as read the main coon cat I knew this whole time I was looking in the wrong direction and I did not see that is coming.

The romance between Nikki and Rory was not good that much and I felt the character “Caitlyn” was so annoying throughout the story.

Overall this is a great Mystery/Thriller detective story and I highly recommend to anyone who likes to read a great detective novel. I will be looking forward to reading book 2 in the Nikki Hunt series!

Thank you to the Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read The girl in the snow book 1.

My Ratings:

 

The Honey-Don't List

by 

Christina Lauren 

Carey Douglas working as assistance for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp since she was 16 years old. James McCann is an MIT graduate and engineering was originally hired as a structural engineer but ended up working as an assistant to Rusty Tripp. Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. With a new show and a book about to launch, they both must go on a book tour with the Tripp’s and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.

This book was very meh, unfortunately.

I was enjoying it in the beginning, but I lost interest in the midway. The overall, whole story is about babysitting two adults who could not stand each other and cannot put together themselves. So many marital problems, abusive employers, and acting like children tick me off the entire time, that one point I was thinking to DNF this book.

Mellissa Tripp reminds me of that snarky supervisor we all have in our office, who is doing nothing much but taking all the credits for their subordinate’s work. This book is more focused on Mellisa's and Rusty’s marital issues rather than on the romance between the two main characters. The chapters were long and to be honest I felt confused as to who was talking. I also felt like the end was rushed and the relationship progressed too quickly.

But I'm telling y’all this book has some good pieces of advice to take note of.

“Make plans and make backup plans. Network, and meet people, and don’t be afraid to try something new and fail at it—experience is everything. I want to tell them, more than anything, not to settle down in the first job they get.”

I love to read books from Christina Lauren, but unfortunately, The Honey Don't List was not one of them. I wanted to love this book, but it just didn't do it for me.

My Ratings: