May 2018

    Under My Skin by Lisa Unger

      I don’t recall reading much of Lisa Unger’s work, but I am somewhat of a sucker for the plucky heroine in danger genre, so I was happy to get a copy of Under My Skin from Harlequin-Hanover Square Press and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I did read this book pretty much …

    Believe Me by J.P. Delaney

    Years ago, an author wrote a book called The Decoy…it was published but nothing really happened. Later, after that author published a best-seller (The Girl Before), they re-wrote The Decoy and thanks to Random House-Ballantine and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for my honest review. So, we meet Claire, a young British woman …

    Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

    With thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of Tara Isabella Burton’s Social Creature in exchange for honest review, I have to say I don’t get what the hype is about. Maybe I’m not the target demographic for this? But really, I found little to like, although I do think the look …

    An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

    I’m still not sure what “women’s fiction” actually means…but I am a fan of psychological thrillers, so when I read that Shari Lapena, author of The Couple Next Door (which I enjoyed), had a new book entitles An Unwanted Guest that was labeled under “women’s fiction” and mysteries/thrillers,”  I was eager to accept a copy from Penguin …

    Murder in My Hometown by Rebecca Morris

    The true crime genre is my guilty pleasure! I have read dozens of TC books, tend to gravitate to the 364.1523 shelf in the public library, and in my local used bookstore, I head straight for the back wall, lowest shelf. Thanks to Wild Blue Press and NetGalley, I got a copy of Murder in …

    A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

    I first “met” Seattle Homicide Detective Tracy Crosswhite in Robert Dugoni’s My Sister’s Grave and loved her, so I then eagerly read Her Final Breath. Following along in short order (he definitely can crank out books at a fast clip) were In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, and Close to Home (all of which I …

    Alter Ego by Brian Freeman

    When I started reading Alter Ego, Brian Freeman’s latest, I kept thinking “wait, I KNOW this Jonathan Stride, a cop from Duluth, I recognize his house…” But then I thought maybe I was getting him mixed up with a character in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport/Virgil Flowers series – or maybe it was in one of …

    Love and Ruin by Paula McLain

    I really really really wanted to love this book but had some trepidation because of my aversion to Hemingway. (As an English major in college, I nearly delayed graduation because of the requirement to have a course focused on a major author and the only two choices that quarter were Hemingway and Henry James – …

    The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

    With the incredible amount of hype surrounding Meg Wolitzer’s new book, The Female Persuasion, I was tempted to grab it…then remembered how I felt about the last book of hers that I read. That was the widely praised The Interestings, but in my opinion, they weren’t. But, FOMO took over and after reading things like …

    The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper

       Jake Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington Correspondent, has written The Hellfire Club, a political thriller set in Washington, D.C. the 1950s.The main character, Charlie Marder, has been appointed (thanks to his father’s political connections) to fill out the term of a Congressman representing a district in New York. Once there, Charlie dives in to his …