(pub date October 2018) OK, here is what I expected to get (publisher’s blurb): “Jessie Sloane is on the path to rebuilding her life after years of caring for her ailing mother. She rents a new apartment and applies for college. But when the college informs her that her social security number has raised a …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 – …
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 …
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 …
! I LOVE a good road trip. Actually, I love all road trips! The best are on roads I have never taken, to interesting and sometimes beautiful places. I appreciate receiving a copy of Rick Quinn’s Road Trip America Arizona and New Mexico from Imbriflex Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. My …
Intriguing premise, 5 women on a reality show called Goal Diggers – right? Although I can’t bear to watch shows like Real Housewives or KUWTK, the fact that this was described as “Big Little Lies meets Real Housewives” made me somewhat optimistic that it might be a guilty pleasure kind of read – sort of …
I love “unputdownable psychological thrillers,” and because I was a huge fan of B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors (2016), I was happy to receive a copy of her latest book, Bring Me Back, from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my honest review. Similar to Behind Closed Doors, this story revolves …
I admit I wasn’t very familiar with Alyssa Mastromonaco prior to 2017. After Obama left office, I began to hear her on one of my two favorite podcasts, Pod Save America, from time to time. I loved hearing her stories about her time working for Barack Obama and her commentary about the current state of …
Back in 2009, Brad Parks introduced his Carter Ross series…and somehow I totally missed them all. Then, in 2017, his standalone thriller Say Nothing came out. Somehow I stumbled on it and it was TERRIFIC. So I was happy to have the chance to write an honest review of his latest standalone novel, Closer Than …
For some reason, I’d stopped reading Lisa Scottoline. As I recall, the last one I read seemed formulaic and just didn’t grab me. But, when I read about After Anna, a standalone “domestic thriller,” I was looking forward to digging into the copy I received from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my …
My book club selected Amy Bloom’s White Houses, and I was looking forward to reading it. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for my honest review. I generally enjoy historical fiction, I am not bothered by “faction,” and I truly enjoy a good roman a clef. So why did …
With One Shot, by Dorothy Marcic, is a well-written look at injustice in a small Wisconsin town. The crime seems straightforward: a man is murdered and his wife confesses. So, what is the book about? The victim, LaVerne Stordock, was a former police detective who disrupted his whole life to marry Suzanne. Their relationship was …
I’ve been an Anna Quindlen fan for quite awhile – Black and Blue is among my favorites. I was really looking forward to her latest, Alternate Side…and, as usual, it was well-written with excellent dialogue, setting, and characterization. The problem for me was that I not only didn’t care for the setting, I really didn’t care …