The Last Word by Taylor Adams

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘

Genre - Conspiracy Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

Format - Hardcover

Length - 400 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules.

One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?

As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of?

Displaying his trademark command of rapid-fire pacing, unnerving atmosphere, and razor-sharp characterization, Taylor Adams once again delivers a diabolically disturbing—and deadly—game of cat and mouse.

*My Review*

This book was like a rollercoaster. The beginning was like standing in line. I thought that everything seemed a bit to coincidental. But when you finally get on the ride you can't stop. Just when you thought you'd reached the top to go down the other side, you would start climbing up even higher. I remember getting to multiple points in the book where I was like, this is it, I've reached the end.....but there's still so much left to read. That's because it was never "it". Taylor keeps you in suspense the entire book. The "who done it" bounced all over and made me second guess myself constantly. I was also kept on my toes by the "book" that was being written during the story. Who was writing it? Was it true? What happens? 

The Perfect Family by Shalini Boland

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 282 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

‘Mummy, she’s gone…’ 

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs, saying the words every mother dreads. 

 The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. 

After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law Diane finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. 

But then her perfect family starts to fall apart. And she realises it’s only just beginning…

 

*My Review* 

 

This book was twisting throughout the whole thing. Is Gemma really just having the worst luck or is someone out to get her.....and if so, who and WHY? There really is no such thing as the perfect family. I did NOT see the ending coming and those are the ones that I love the most.

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller, Mysteries
Format - Paperback
Length - 299 Pages

*Amazon Blurb*

What would it take to make you intervene?

When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it―until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls―beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard―has disappeared.
A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters―letters that make her fear for her life.
Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night―and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own.
Someone knows where Anna is―and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.

 

*My Review* 

 

I did NOT see the ending coming!!! Although the book was slow and not all that suspenseful, I would've never guessed the ending. In a way it made me think in the beginning...would I have said anything? Honestly, I don't think I would have, or many other people. Mind your business is just how things are. I didn't really care for the main character, Ella. I mean bad things happen to good people all the time. Even if she had spoken up, teenagers will do what they want and I don't think it would've changed anything....except then there wouldn't have been a book.
Regardless, Ella becomes obsessed with the disappearance of Anna which makes her a bit creepy. The only reason I rated the book as high as I did is because of the ending.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Women Sleuth Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Format - Audio-book
Length - 9 hours an 34 minutes


*Amazon Blurb*

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

*My Review* 

 

It seems more often than not, the main character in a book irritate me. Camille's mother made me get so angry at Camille for not speaking up to her mom. She is a horrible woman and treats her daughter awful. I wasn't able to figure out the "who done it" as quickly in this book as some I've read. I thought I had it, then something would happen to make me second guess myself. 

Camille was also not very likeable especially when it comes to her old boyfriend. I can't tell you how many times I did an eye roll at her.

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Kidnapping Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 432 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

The danger isn’t all in your head . . . 

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life. 

But soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London. 

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves . . . until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment—and accidently learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? And what about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jetlagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself . . . So how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?
Yet the danger Kate imagines isn’t nearly as twisted and deadly as what’s about to happen. When her every fear becomes very real. 

And much, much closer than she thinks.

*My Review* 

 

I was really too into this one. I know that Kate is supposed to be neurotic, but she really just kind of annoyed me with how involved she got with things and then seemed to take everything into her own hands. For me there wasn't much suspense as I felt I was able to figure things out quite quickly.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Kidnapping Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller
Format - Paperback
Length - 432 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. 

Now her husband is dead, and there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage. 

The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything...

*My Review* 

 

How faithful would you be to a man that's dead. Do you tell the story you've always told, do you tell the people what you want them to hear or do you tell them the truth? As much as I enjoyed this book, I found Jean another character that really annoyed me (seems to be almost every book lately, so maybe it's me). She seems to just go along with whatever any tells her. First her husband, then the reporter and even the police. 

If her husband is innocent of the crime everyone thinks he committed then why not move and start somewhere fresh where you don't have people practically living on your doorstep for the story? If he's guilty, then why hide it? He's dead and not going to hurt you if you tell.

Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

 

 Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Domestic Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Format - Audio-book
Length - 7 hours and 50 minutes


*Amazon Blurb*

Maybe you don't know your neighbors as well as you thought you did . . . 

"This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out." In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . . 

You never really know what people are capable of.

*My Review* 

 

The starts out with a woman being murdered, but not sure who the killer is. Ok, I like suspense. Unfortunatley the book seems to then veer off course and it becomes more about a boy breaking into peoples houses. I mean it still went on about trying to figure out who the murderer was and giving all sort of suspects and possibilities, but for me the boy and his mother seemed to take over.

I couldn't really get into this. The mom writes a letter to apologize for her son breaking into people houses. I get why she feels bad, but her character annoyed the crap out of me. She kept doing things that made the situation worse...was that part of the story or was she just annoying?

A Woman Alone by Nina Laurin

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller, Psychic Thriller
Format - Hardcover
Length - 384 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

It's another bright, sunny day in Venture, Illinois, the sort of place where dreams come true and families can get a fresh start. Cecelia Holmes deserves it after the home invasion that shattered her previous life. Now everything seems perfect - her high-security SmartHome, her doting husband, her sweet daughter.
Until she begins to feel spied on. Her husband doesn't believe her. Her neighbors ignore her. So when she discovers a shocking secret about the prior occupant of their house, she feels that she has no one to turn to. And now Cecelia must face her fears alone...

*My Review* 

 

This book was definitely different. It reminded me of a sci-fi book I had read with all the smart home features.

The new house that Cecelia and her family move into is supposed to make her feel safe and not have to worry about anything. It knows exactly how she likes her coffee, the temperature of her bath water and there is even a maid that takes care of everything. So why doesn't Cecelia feel safe? When the home starts making mistakes it is assumed to just be a malfunction, but when it keeps happening and starts putting your family in danger....is it really just a malfunction or something more?

 

 

 

 

The Half Sister by Sandie Jones

 

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller
Format - Hardcover
Length - 336 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

THE TRUTH 

Sisters Kate and Lauren meet for Sunday lunch every week without fail, especially after the loss of their father. 

THE LIE 

But a knock at the door is about to change everything. A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister. 

THE UNTHINKABLE 

As the fallout starts, it's clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn't as perfect as it appears. .

*My Review* 

 

I didn't care for this book at all...so much that I really can't even remember the whole thing, even though I just read it recently.

I know that as I was reading it I didn't care for the characters at all. The plot was really all that thrilling to me and overall I felt disappointed since The Other Woman and The First Mistake were amazing in my opinion.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Ghost Thriller, Horror
Format - Hardcover
Length - 384 pages


*Amazon Blurb*

What was it like? Living in that house.
Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father's book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father's death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
Alternating between Maggie’s uneasy homecoming and chapters from her father’s book, Home Before Dark is the story of a house with long-buried secrets and a woman’s quest to uncover them—even if the truth is far more terrifying than any haunting.

*My Review* 

 

If you've been keeping up with my blog then you'll know that suspense/thriller/horror are my favorite types of books. When someone asks what my favorite book is, I'll ask them what genre because it's different for each. This book.... OMG .....seriously! This is my favorite horror/thriller book of all time right now. I couldn't read it fast enough.

I enjoyed how it went back and forth from what Maggie's dad wrote in his book to her current situation. I couldn't tell if the house was really haunted, who the ghosts were or what. It seemed like every chapter held a surprise that I hadn't been expecting. There were a few times that I thought I knew what someone was up to or who "did what", only to be thrown off by the next chapter. I was reading so fast that sometimes I didn't have time to make a guess, nor did I want to. I just wanted to get to the end to have it all make sense. And WOW did it ever. It's not until the very end and I was totally shocked.

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller
Format - Hardcover
Length - 400 Pages


*Amazon Blurb*

Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.

*My Review* 

I normally don't like a book that has a lot of character because I tend to have a hard time keeping them straight. The way this book introduced the characters made it easy to keep tack of who was who and their part in the book.
I did get annoyed with Lizzie quite often for not speaking up to her husband. I just kept thinking....seriously just SAY something! Even though I got annoyed at Lizzie, I couldn't figure out who the murderer was. The person it turned out to be is the reason it for 4 instead of 5 books for me.

**SPOILER ALERT BELOW**

The killer really had me stumped. I still don't really understand why it was who it was. The major part I couldn't figure out was who was this person that was following her. Her dad was doing in before she moved. Are we to think that the killer just started following her as soon as they moved to town? There author also doesn't even mention who the stalker was. It just seemed like....here's the killer, stories over. Maybe I missed something?

Never Ever Tell by Kristy Ferguson

Available on Amazon June 18, 2020

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Domestic Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Format - E-book
Length - 732KB


*Amazon Blurb*

Vanessa Sawyer knows all about pain. She’s felt it every day since marrying the boy who fathered her baby in high school. All he’s meant are broken bones, broken heart and broken dreams. But he also brought her the love of her life. When her son Wren was born, her baby boy was her salvation.
Vanessa watches Wren grow and become a young man she can be proud of. Until one night everything changes, including Wren. One night that her son refuses to speak of. Now Vanessa can’t rest, not until she uncovers the secret that her son has been hiding from her.
Will she find the answers she’s searching for or will her quest for the truth take her to a dark place where all hope is lost?

*My Review* 

There's nothing worse than bring married to someone that destroys who you are physically and mentally thru abuse except trying to raise a child too. Vanessa probably would've committed suicide or pushed her husband to the breaking point so he'd kill her, but she had her beautiful baby boy to keep her going. He was her whole world and she'd do anything to make sure he was protected, but how much can you really protect someone? It's amazing to see what a mother will go through and how much they can take.
The ended was far from anything I was expecting. I was completely shocked and don't think there was anything that I could've read that would've made me figure it out....even a little.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘
Genre - Suspense, Psychological Thriller
Format - Audio  Book
Length -14 Hours 14 Min

*Amazon Blurb*

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person - but also that the cold-reading skills she's honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased...where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware's signature suspenseful style, this is an addictive thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

*My Review* 

This book too way longer to get through that I'd have liked. I bought the CD's at my local library and the only place I could listen to it was when I was driving in my truck alone. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often.

The book started off very slow and it didn't really seem to pick up for me at all. There was definitely a mystery behind who Hal really was and how she was related to the family, but there was a lot of "commotion" with Hal running off, coming back and running off again. I was annoyed that people didn't just come out and say what they were thinking or what they would have. The characters were boring in my opinion.

Finding out how Hal fits into the family was probably the best part of the whole story and one that I wouldn't have guessed.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Murder Thriller
Format - Hardcover
Length - 336 Pages


*Amazon Blurb*


Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park 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.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure 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 unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

*My Review* 

Alicia is found guilty of murdering her husband. The question is...did she really do it? No one can be 100% certain because she refuses to speak. Remember the saying, actions speak louder than words? What if the person won't even give any action or reaction to go on? She wouldn't give the police a statement, wouldn't talk to her lawyer and is now doing her time in an insane asylum. I mean she has to be crazy if she won't speak, right?

I am not one to be vocal while reading a book, but when the bomb drops I actually said "No way, that's so messed up." and then proceeded to rethink what I had already read. My husband looked at me like I had 2 heads. He isn't a reader, but I made he listen while I described what had happened and what I'd just found out.
I mean that book bomb...... WHAT?!?! If you are looking for a book with a major twist, then you MUST read this one.

Three Days Missing by Kimberly Belle

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Kidnapping, Mothers and Children
Format - Audio Books
Length -  9 hours 49 minutes


*Amazon Blurb*

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: the call that comes in the middle of the night. When Kat Jenkins awakens to the police on her doorstep, her greatest fear is realized. Her nine-year-old son, Ethan, is missing—vanished from the cabin where he’d been on an overnight class trip. Shocked and distraught, Kat rushes to the campground, but she’s too late; the authorities have returned from their search empty-handed after losing Ethan’s trail in the mountain forest.

Another mother from the school, Stef Huntington, seems like she has it all: money, prominence in the community, a popular son and a loving husband. She hardly knows Kat, except for the vicious gossip that swirls around Kat’s traumatic past. But as the police investigation unfolds, Ethan’s disappearance has earth-shattering consequences for Stef, as her path crosses with Kat. As the two mothers race against the clock, their desperate search for answers reveals how the greatest dangers lie behind the everyday smiles of those they trust the most.

*My Review* 

It's a mother's worse nightmare....your child goes missing. What could possibly make things seem more wrong than they already are? How about the fact that your child wasn't even the one the kidnapper intended to take? The story goes back and forth between Kat (who's son Ethan was taken) and Stef, the Mayors wife and mother of Ethan's classmate (the intended target).
This fast paced read will bring 2 mothers from different social classes together in a race to save one child.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Format - Audio Books
Length - 10 hrs 26 min

*Amazon Blurb*

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

*My Review* 

A young girl gets the offer of a lifetime just when she desperately needs it. She is currently jobless and staying on her best friends couch. All Jules needs to do is apartment sit for a few months. There are strict rules to follow, but for the price she's being paid it's definitely worth it....or is it? It doesn't take long for Jules to realize that something isn't quite right at the Bartholomew, but trying to find the answers seems impossible. When she befriends another apartment sitter Ingrid who goes missing, Jules knows that she needs to find out answers and fast.
Throughout the book I had to keep changing my why and who. If you're looking for a book that'll keep you in suspense, this is it. The ending came as quite a surprise and it was one that never crossed my mind.

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Format - Audio book
Length - 11 hours 46 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

Juliette loves Nate.

She will follow him anywhere. She’s even become a flight attendant for his airline, so she can keep a closer eye on him.

They are meant to be.

The fact that Nate broke up with her six months ago means nothing. Because Juliette has a plan to win him back.

She is the perfect girlfriend. And she’ll make sure no one stops her from getting exactly what she wants.

True love hurts, but Juliette knows it’s worth all the pain...


*My Review* 

Juliette is crazy, but she's a controlled kind of crazy. She knows what she wants and she will build her life around getting it. It's got to be hard living 2 perfect lives.
The story wasn't bad, but is seemed awfully slow to me. I got lost a few times with all her plotting and planning. The ending was definitely not what I was expecting at all.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Crime Thriller
Format - Audio book
Length - 8 hours 40 minutes

*Amazon Blurb*

It all started at a dinner party...
A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors - a twisty, roller-coaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives....
Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all - a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately lands on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story. Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds.
Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family - a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.


*My Review* 

To start with, who just leaves their baby home along even if you are next door with a baby monitor? I can understand running over or a few minutes, but definitely not hours. I didn't like any of the characters right off the bat because of this. I didn't real any sympathy for the parents at any point.

This isn't a book that'll keep you in suspense for the who did it, well initially. Turns out there's more than one bad guy in this book, but trying to figure out who that is may take some time. I honestly wasn't sure until the very end basically when they told me.

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Format - Hardcover
Length - 288 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

A spellbinding, darkly twisted novel about desire and obsession, and the complicated lines between truth and perception, Our Kind of Cruelty introduces Araminta Hall, a chilling new voice in psychological suspense.
This is a love story. Mike’s love story.
Mike Hayes fought his way out of a brutal childhood and into a quiet, if lonely, life before he met Verity Metcalf. V taught him about love, and in return, Mike has dedicated his life to making her happy. He’s found the perfect home, the perfect job; he’s sculpted himself into the physical ideal V has always wanted. He knows they’ll be blissfully happy together.
It doesn’t matter that she hasn’t been returning his e-mails or phone calls.
It doesn’t matter that she says she’s marrying Angus.
It’s all just part of the secret game they used to play. If Mike watches V closely, he’ll see the signs. If he keeps track of her every move, he’ll know just when to come to her rescue . . .


*My Review* 

This book was just what I needed during a rough book slump. I couldn't stop reading this book. It was a crazy roller coaster and I am still not sure what was going on....in a good way. I was totally unprepared for the ending and found myself unable to stop thinking about it.
I kept wondering if Mike and V were both crazy or if it was simply just him. At one point they seem like the perfect couple, although a bit weird with their "game". I mean who doesn't want someone to treat you like you are their whole world. Someone that knows and remembers what you like, don't like and how you like it.
I am really hoping for a sequel or maybe just another book from V's point of view. 

The Retreat by Sherri Smith

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘
Genre - Psychological Thriller, Suspense
Format - Hardcover
Length - 352 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Katie Manning was a beloved child star until her mid-teens when her manager attacked and permanently scarred her face, effectively ending her career and sending her on a path of all-too-familiar post-Hollywood self-destruction.
Now twenty-seven, Katie wants a better answer to those clickbait "Where Are They Now?" articles that float around online. An answer she hopes to find when her brother's too-good-to-be-true fiancée invites her to a wellness retreat upstate. Together with Katie's two best friends - one struggling with crippling debt and family obligations, one running away from a failed job and relationship - Katie will try to find the inner peace promised at the tranquil retreat. But finding oneself just might drudge up more memories than Katie is prepared to deal with.
Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend, only one will be left standing.


*My Review* 

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read which is always nice. There were quite a few characters besides the main four and the author does a wonderful job making them all seem unique. Although there are many twists and turns, I was able to figure out the "who" fairly easy, while the "why" too a bit longer.