Review: The Missing Sister by Elle Marr

Posted April 23, 2020 by Lily B in Reviews / 24 Comments

The Missing Sister by Elle Marr
Series: Standalone
Published by Thomas & Mercer on April 1, 2020
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 294
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3.5 Stars

In Paris, her twin sister has vanished, leaving behind three chilling words: Trust no one.
Shayna Darby is finally coming to terms with her parents’ deaths when she’s delivered another blow. The body of her estranged twin sister, Angela—the possible victim of a serial killer—has been pulled from the Seine. Putting what’s left of her life on hold, Shayna heads to Paris. But while cleaning out Angela’s apartment, Shayna makes a startling discovery: a coded message meant for her alone…
Alive. Trust no one.
Taking the warning to heart, Shayna maintains the lie. She makes a positive ID on the remains and works to find out where—and why—her missing sister is hiding. Shayna retraces her sister’s footsteps, and they lead her down into Paris’s underbelly.
As she gets closer to the truth—and to the killer—Shayna’s own life may now be in the balance…

Shayna Darby is finally coming to terms over her parent’s death when she is dealt a devastating blow. A body of her possible twin has been recovered in Paris and she must fly to the country to identify the body. Upon her arrival, she finds a secret message left by her twin, Trust No One. Now Shayna must discover what really happened to her twin in an unfamiliar city full of its own dark secrets.

I enjoy thrillers and I enjoyed this one for the most part. I like the dark secrets of Paris that were weaved into the story and left me wanting to discover more about the world. The story and the concept have kept me hooked, the execution of it all fell a little short for me. The story was slow-moving and in parts dragged a little. It didn’t take long for me to figure out who is responsible, just not why they were responsible.

I liked Shayna and I liked her resilience. She had a strong devotion to her twin that kept her going, searching for the clues. I can’t say the same for her twin Angela.

I think the part that had me interested the most is the bone tunnels of Paris and some of its dark histories were both fascinating and engrossing.

Overall, I would definitely try this author again and enjoyed the story despite it’s pacing.

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Review Round Up #10

Posted December 3, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 16 Comments

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton
Series: Alaska Wild Mysteries #1
Published by Minotaur Books on December 3, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First in a new series set in Alaska from beloved author Paige Shelton, Thin Ice will chill your bones.
Beth Rivers is on the run – she’s doing the only thing she could think of to keep herself safe. Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, she had become the subject of a fanatic’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days by her kidnapper, Levi Brooks, Beth managed to escape, and until he is captured, she's got to get away. Cold and remote, Alaska seems tailor-made for her to hideout.
Beth’s new home in Alaska is sparsely populated with people who all seem to be running or hiding from something, and though she accidentally booked a room at a halfway house, she feels safer than she’s felt since Levi took her. That is, until she’s told about a local death that’s a suspected murder. Could the death of Linda Rafferty have anything to do with her horror at the hands of Levi Brooks?
As Beth navigates her way through the wilds of her new home, her memories of her time in the van are coming back, replaying the terror and the fear—and threatening to keep her from healing, from reclaiming her old life again. Can she get back to normal, will she ever truly feel safe, and can she help solve the local mystery, if only so she doesn’t have to think about her own?

Beth Rivers is a thriller author better known as Elizabeth Fairchild, and Beth Rivers is on the run. After being kidnapped and held in a van for three days by her kidnapper Levi Brooks, Beth manages to escape but not unscathed. So she does the only thing she knows to do, she runs away and a cold, remote place in Alaska seems like a perfect hideaway.

The town is scarcely populated and the townspeople all seem to be there running and hiding from something. So when Beth arrives and a murder happens, she can’t help but wonder if it’s somehow related to her.

This was a perfect read for this time of year. I loved the atmosphere of an isolated village in Alaska, with a small population and cold. The characters were fantastic and I enjoyed following all of them as well as getting to know them.

By accident, Beth ends up staying in a halfway house, where she meets an interesting cast of characters and get involved in a police investigation. Beth also has a few issues. She’s scared that Levi Brooks will find her. She has very little memory of the man himself since she hurt her head and needed surgery after jumping out of the van, and both her mother and an investigator are trying to find him.

This was a great read and I am looking forward to more from this town and characters in the future.

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent
Series: standalone
Published by Gallery/Scout Press on June 12, 2018
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Heat:

From the international bestselling author of Unraveling Oliver, an “unputdownable psychological thriller with an ending that lingers long after turning the final page” (The Irish Times) about a Dublin family whose dark secrets and twisted relationships are suddenly revealed.
My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.
On the surface, Lydia Fitzsimons has the perfect life—wife of a respected, successful judge, mother to a beloved son, mistress of a beautiful house in Dublin. That beautiful house, however, holds a secret. And when Lydia’s son, Laurence, discovers its secret, wheels are set in motion that lead to an increasingly claustrophobic and devastatingly dark climax.
For fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn, this novel is a “seductively sinister story. The twists come together in a superbly scary denouncement, which delivers a final sting in the tail. Brilliantly macabre” (Sunday Mirror).

My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.

With an opening like that, this book seems to have the making of a great thriller, does it?

We follow three characters in this book, Lydia, the wife of a respectful, successful judge - a mother to a beloved son Laurence and a mistress to a grand house in Dublin. We follow Laurence, the son who discovers the deep dark secret earthed in the backyard of his sanctuary and Karen, the sister of Annie Doyle that is desperate to find her.

This book is twisted on a level of twisted. If you love a twisted psychological thriller, you might enjoy this one. And while a lot found this enjoyable with how twisted it was, I found this book irritating.

All of the characters in this book are unlikable. Lydia is a psychopath with a dark past and she is completely off her rocker. She’s an overbearing mother who wants to keep her son from leaving her alone in the house, and goes through extreme measures to do so. Laurance is troubled in his own way and I found his sexual fantasies about the possible missing dead girl a little weird, especially when the author decided to take the route she did with him and Annie.

This entire book was just completely screwed up. I had a hard time believing the ending a bit, but even that was as shocking as it was messed up.

Overall, I just wanted to finish this. It was okay. If you like really messed up characters, 2/3 in this book will fit the bill. It does drag at times, and I had a hard time wanting to pick it up once I put it down. But overall, okay.

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Review: The Keeper by J.L. Bryan

Posted November 12, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 33 Comments

The Keeper by J.L. Bryan
Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #8
Published by J.L. Bryan on December 27, 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Ghosts, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 302
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Gifted
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars

The South Channel lighthouse is a crumbling antique at the mouth of the Savannah River, abandoned and forgotten for generations. Local stories still tell of a mysterious woman in white who often stood at the old lighthouse, watching the sailors come into port...even long after she died.
Now the property by the lighthouse is owned by a famous movie star in search of a remote beach getaway on sleepy Tybee Island. Unfortunately, old ghosts haunt her new retreat, stirred up by the construction of a luxurious new mansion. Ellie, Stacey, and their team must remove the ghosts, who grow more dangerous and aggressive every night, threatening the lives of the client and her family and personal staff.
The lighthouse has a dark history, with many ghosts, and mysteries to unravel before Ellie can send them on to the other side.

If there is one book series that I can count on to pull me out of my slump, that’s Ellie Jordan by J.L Bryan and like the past few books in this series, this one does not disappoint.

Ellie is back, still trying to deal with the events of the last book as she struggles with the new management that took over her agency and finding the ghost that haunts her dreams.

In this one, we follow Ellie and Stacy to an island with a lighthouse, currently owned by an actress. As Ellie and Stacy scramble to capture the ghosts that haunt the house of the actress before her family comes to town, they are also trying to uncover the mysterious magician that haunts one of the theaters they believe might be connected to Anton Clay.

Chilling, entertaining and always fun, J.L Bryan delivers in another fantastic Ellie Jordan installment that held me captive and chewing through the pages.

I can’t get enough of Ellie and Stacy and how far they have come now and how close they seem to be getting what Ellie truly wants. There were a few good surprises in this book, the character development was great and I found myself enjoying this as much as the others. It also wraps up some loose connections from the previous installment.

I cannot wait to see what’s in store for Ellie and Stacy next, especially after that kind of an ending.

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Review: The Night Before by Wendy Walker

Posted May 25, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 8 Comments

The Night Before by Wendy Walker
Series: standalone
Published by St. Martin's Press on May 14, 2019
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3.5 Stars

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First dates can be murder.
Riveting and compulsive, national bestselling author Wendy Walker’s The Night Before “takes you to deep, dark places few thrillers dare to go” as two sisters uncover long-buried secrets when an internet date spirals out of control.
Laura Lochner has never been lucky in love. She falls too hard and too fast, always choosing the wrong men. Devastated by the end of her last relationship, she fled her Wall Street job and New York City apartment for her sister’s home in the Connecticut suburb where they both grew up. Though still haunted by the tragedy that’s defined her entire life, Laura is determined to take one more chance on love with a man she’s met on an Internet dating site.
Rosie Ferro has spent most of her life worrying about her troubled sister. Fearless but fragile, Laura has always walked an emotional tightrope, and Rosie has always been there to catch her. Laura’s return, under mysterious circumstances, has cast a shadow over Rosie’s peaceful life with her husband and young son – a shadow that grows darker as Laura leaves the house for her blind date.
When Laura does not return home the following morning, Rosie fears the worst. She’s not responding to calls or texts, and she’s left no information about the man she planned to meet. As Rosie begins a desperate search to find her sister, she is not just worried about what this man might have done to Laura. She’s worried about what Laura may have done to him…

Laura Lochner has had her share of bad luck when it comes to love. She always seems to pick the wrong men. Men that aren’t good for her. Men that eventually leave her. Mistakes she can’t seem to shake, nor the night years ago from her teenage years. A dark past that seems to haunt her.

After her latest bad relationship, Laura finally moves back into her hometown that she hoped to stay away, to live with her sister Rosie and her husband Joe. Laura is ready to move on, ready to stop making mistakes and give dating another shot with a man she meets online, who she hopes won’t know her past history.

But when Laura fails to come home the morning after, her sister Rosie starts to wonder what happened the night before.

I thought this was an interesting read that kept me mostly guessing through half of the book. I liked the premise and I liked the writing and I was curious to see how the revelations would come to light and paint the bigger picture about what happened that one night years ago with Laura.

Though I enjoyed the book, I also found that not much happens in the middle of it. A lot of the book is focused on rehashing and Laura’s date trying to get her to reveal her past. I was curious about why this was happening and was hoping for more of a nail-biting revelation. Thought that never happened, I did find that I generally enjoyed the ending. I found the book to be misleading and entertaining. It was a solid read, but I think I wanted a little more from this book. In the end, it just felt like there was something missing to make this a great thriller, but nevertheless, it was good and I am looking forward to more of this authors writing.

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Review: The Echo Killing by Christi Daugherty

Posted May 16, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 15 Comments

The Echo Killing by Christi Daugherty
Series: Harper McClain, #1
Published by Minotaur Books on March 13, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 356
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3.5 Stars

When a murder echoing a fifteen-year-old cold case rocks the Southern town of Savannah, crime reporter Harper McClain risks everything to find the identity of this calculated killer.
A city of antebellum architecture, picturesque parks, and cobblestone streets, Savannah moves at a graceful pace. But for Harper McClain, the timeless beauty and culture that distinguishes her home’s Southern heritage vanishes during the dark and dangerous nights. She wouldn’t have it any other way. Not even finding her mother brutally murdered in their home when she was twelve has made her love Savannah any less.
Her mother’s killer was never found, and that unsolved murder left Harper with an obsession that drove her to become one of the best crime reporters in the state of Georgia. She spends her nights with the police, searching for criminals. Her latest investigation takes her to the scene of a homicide where the details are hauntingly familiar: a young girl being led from the scene by a detective, a female victim naked and stabbed multiple times in the kitchen, and no traces of any evidence pointing towards a suspect.
Harper has seen all of this before in her own life. The similarities between the murder of Marie Whitney and her own mother’s death lead her to believe they’re both victims of the same killer. At last, she has the chance to find the murderer who’s eluded justice for fifteen years and make sure another little girl isn’t forever haunted by a senseless act of violence―even if it puts Harper in the killer’s cross-hairs…

At the age of twelve, Harper McClain found her mother brutally murdered in their beautiful Savannah home. Since her killer was never found, the unsolved murder of her mother left Harper obsessed and drove her to become one of the best crime reporters in the state. Now years later, another killing occurs and Marie Whitney has echoes of Harper’s mother’s murder. There are so similar, down to the finer details that Harper is sure that it is the same killer that killed her mother years ago, surfacing after all this time. But no one seems to believe her. Now Harper is left alone trying to find the killer in a world where no one seems to believe her hunch, but her actions might leave her more alienated and losing everything in order to bring forth justice.

This book was…

Interesting. I liked it. For the most part, I thought the story was compelling for the most part. I think the set up had me very invested in finding out how all of this ties together in the end even if the killer becomes obvious halfway through.

I liked the writing. I thought Christi Daugherty’s writing is really good. My issue wasn’t with the story and the concept so much as it was with Harper. This is a very character driven book and if you don’t like the main character, it can definitely hinder how you feel about this book and it did with me. I liked Harper to begin with but then her obsession turned into recklessness and started testing her morality and it showed me that there are many lines that she is willing to cross despite who it hurts in the process. I found her reckless, impulsive, a user and morally questionable. I agreed with Luke and the other characters about their stance on her visit to the victim’s daughter. Even when the author played the outcome more subdue. I felt like this was a good example of how Harper really did not care the lengths she went to find this killer, or how her actions would affect multiple people in this book and her actions have caused a lot of consequences as a whole. That for me was just a little much, she wasn’t even a detective.

There was a bit of a push and pull romance going on here with Luke, the cop. She’s a crime reporter, his a cop, they shouldn’t have a relationship, they want a relationship, but they shouldn’t and Luke is also a casualty of how far she was willing to go. I love Luke, he was such a great character with a lot of heart, but I agree with his words in this book to her and don’t want to see this relationship work out.

Overall, I liked the writing, I liked the concept. It was a solid read, but ultimately I just did not care for Harper. I will probably continue on with the series because it left a hook interesting enough to see how it plays out, but I’ll be more cautious.

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Review: Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline

Posted April 10, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 10 Comments

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline
Series: Standalone
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on April 9, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Heat:

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding domestic thriller about a group of friends who have been bound for twenty years by a single secret—and will now be undone by it. Someone Knows is an emotional exploration of friendship and family, as well as a psychological exploration of guilt and memory.
Twenty years ago, in an upscale suburb of Philadelphia, four teenagers spent a summer as closest friends: drinking, sharing secrets, testing boundaries. When a new boy looked to join them, they decided to pull a prank on him, convincing him to play Russian roulette as an initiation into their group. They secretly planned to leave the gun unloaded—but what happened next would change each of them forever.
Now three of the four reunite for the first time since that horrible summer. The guilt—and the lingering question about who loaded the gun—drove them apart. But after one of the group apparently commits suicide with a gun, their old secrets come roaring back. One of them is going to figure out if the new suicide is what it seems, and if it connects to the events of that long-ago summer. Someone knows exactly what happened—but who? And how far will they go to keep their secrets buried?

Allie is headed home for the funeral of a childhood friend when she runs into two other people that share a terrible secret that they kept for twenty years.

Twenty years ago a terrible accident happened. No one was supposed to be hurt. The gun was never supposed to be loaded. But someone died, and four other people were there to witness and each carried the secret for years

This was my first foray into Lisa Scottoline’s writing, although I have collected several books from her over the years, I picked this one because it sounded exciting.

I thought this book had a lot of potentials and I liked how it was entertaining enough to keep me flipping through the pages and engaged. Ultimately, it just missed the mark.

The book is riddled with unlikable characters and the book alternates between these characters in chapters, which to me just happened to be one of its downfalls because I really did not like or care for most of these characters. I think there were only one or two characters I really liked and they just did not have enough spotlight in the story.

Even if you skip reading the blurb, it’s easy to predict who dies in the book. The book ends up being kind of split into two sections, one before the ‘accident’ and then the after.

I wish the actual twist in the book was who dies instead of the ‘twist’ that the author decides to throw at us in the end.

The last couple of chapters in the book I think is what ultimately spoiled the book for me. I thought it was just a mess. A completely freaken mess. It was clunky, a bunch of stuff thrown together for shock value that did not make sense to the overall story.

I don’t even know how to explain the stuff that just pissed me off without spoiling the book.

One of those things is the stupid direction it goes with one of the characters that just made my head hurt and honestly felt like it was added to make this book into a thriller. I think this book would have been better off focusing on how the event that occurred shaped the character’s lives.

Then this ultimate twist occurs at the end of the book and I almost threw the damn thing out the window because I was sooooo livid. IT DID NOT MAKE SENSE. I’m sorry. If it was added for shock value. Congrats. I am shocked. Shocked that it was even put in the book.

To break it down without spoiling it to the best of my ability. Knowing what we did from the book, this character’s actions did not make sense to me, especially if the character knew what was going to already happen the following day at that moment in time. Also, the behavior of the character in the epilogue after learning this horrible twist did not coincide with the character’s behavior from just witnessing the event. How it affected the character’s life, then and how it affected life after just did not make sense to me. It felt like it would have affected them worse, instead it felt like they basically said “oh well, we know now… we move on”

It just…

No.

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Review: Cut and Run by Mary Burton

Posted March 1, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 9 Comments

Cut and Run by Mary Burton
Series: standalone
Published by Montlake Romance on October 9, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Romantic Suspense
Pages: 321
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars

Heat:

Twin sisters separated by the past are reunited by unspeakable crimes in New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton’s throat-clutching novel of suspense…
Trauma victims are not new to medical examiner Faith McIntyre, but this one is different. The unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run is FBI agent Macy Crow. What the woman from Quantico was doing in a dark alley after midnight is just one mystery. The other is more unsettling: Macy is Faith’s mirror image—the twin sister she never knew she had.
Faith knew that she was adopted, but now she’s finding that her childhood concealed other secrets. Following the trail of clues Macy left behind, Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden make a shocking discovery on an isolated country ranch—a burial ground for three women who disappeared thirty years before.
They weren’t the only victims in a killer’s twisted plot. And they won’t be the last.
As the missing pieces of Faith’s and Macy’s dark lives snap into place, Faith is becoming more terrified by what she sees—and by what she must do to save her sister and herself from the past.

First time dipping my toes into Mary Burton’s world and it won’t be my last!

Cut and Run follows a medical examiner Faith McIntyre, who finds that the woman lies in critical condition is her twin sister she never knew about. Faith always knew she was adopted, but she didn’t know that her adoption would unearth a trail of deep dark secrets. Following the clues her twin left behind, Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden will uncover shocking discoveries of the past that might help them find a new missing pregnant girl in the present.

This book was a really good thriller. Well written, with great character development. I loved that Faith and Mitchell weren’t exactly perfect, which made them easy to relate to and more human.

I love the dark atmospheric tone of the book. I really enjoyed the pace. The overall story kept me mostly guessing and gave me enough to make me want to flip through the pages. The themes were a bit dark and as a mother, hard to read at times. But overall the well-developed plot was exciting and heart pounding till the end. I liked that the authors sprinkled a little bit of romance to lighten the plot line.

I think my only gripe with all of this would be the ending. I thought it felt a bit rushed as everything fell into place and the last bit was uncovered. I would have liked the reveal to unravel a bit slower.

But I really enjoyed her style of writing and storytelling, I will be looking for more from this author.

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Review: Don’t Wake Up by Liz Lawler

Posted February 26, 2019 by Lily B in Reviews / 11 Comments

Don't Wake Up by Liz Lawler
Series: standalone
Published by Harper Paperbacks on February 5, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Heat:

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A harrowing psychological thriller debut about a woman who awakens after an assault with no physical proof of the attack and who must try to convince everyone of what really happened.
When Dr. Alex Taylor opens her eyes, she is hooked up to an IV, is bound to an operating table, and her legs are raised in stirrups. Disoriented and alarmed, she assumes she's been anesthetized and brought to surgery after being in an accident. But the man standing over her, with his face hidden behind a surgical mask and wielding instruments, is no doctor she recognizes at the hospital where she works as a successful and respected doctor. He’s a stranger—and he’s calmly and methodically telling her how he's about to attack her. Before Alex can even scream for help, she succumbs to another dose of anesthesia, rendering her unable to defend herself….
When she comes to on a gurney, she finds herself surrounded by her colleagues and immediately reports the attack and rape. The police are skeptical of her bizarre story. And after a physical exam reveals no proof of any attack, even her boyfriend has doubts. Despite Alex's adamant claims, no one believes her, leaving her to wonder if she has, in fact, lost her mind.
Until she meets the next victim…
An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller, Don't Wake Up is also a provocative, timely exploration of victimhood, abuse, and the discrediting of women in our culture.

Dr. Alex Taylor is a young, but a successful doctor who seems to have everything going for her until the night she gets attacked and her world is turned upside down. She thought the horror was over, but it all begins when she opens her eyes and then meet the other victim…

I have a hard time writing this review. I don’t really know how to feel about this book and I find that I am completely torn on the rating.

The writing was good, it felt fast paced at the beginning, but slowly began to drag and parts of it quickly became boring and annoying.

The story as a whole, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. It was frustrating. It’s been a while since I’ve found myself so angry with the book. Let me explain.

Dr. Alex Taylor is a smart, successful doctor. She gets attacked and NO ONE. Not one single person believes her. Her colleagues don’t believe her, her fiance does not believe her, even her “best friend” acts like a total jerk to her. I was so angry over everything and how everyone suddenly doubted her mental state and the control Dr. Alex Taylor was losing because of it. I didn’t feel that the extent it went that it was realistic. The police might have doubted her because of the lack of evidence, but I didn’t feel like there wasn’t one person there that shouldn’t have believed her. Even the man that ‘loved’ her was a complete and total loser. She also somehow ends up the prime suspect in the murder cases that follow and the lead detective that was trying to frame her with no evidence was driving me insane. How the hell was that realistic?

I kind of went into this book thinking it was a powerful tool during the #metoo movement as its blurb on the cover, but instead, I got nothing but frustration and not at all where I expected this book to go. It fizzled, it could have delivered some sort of a message, but instead, it left me more than a little underwhelmed.

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Guest Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Posted October 7, 2018 by Lily B in Guest Post, Reviews / 22 Comments

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Series: standalone
Published by Gallery/Scout Press on July 19, 2016
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Source: Won
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 3 Stars

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

I took one look at the quote on the back cover “if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie…” and read a few of my favorite book bloggers talking this one up and I just had to read it. I was unfamiliar with the author until this book released so I was eager to give her a try.

Well, I really wanted to say I loved this one and I was riveted, but that turned out not to be the case. I think I went in with incredibly high expectations and an expectation of a Christie whodunnit when this wasn’t Christie and it wasn’t fair to give it such a high standard to reach. This one was by no means lousy and the writing was strong and good. The setting of a cruise off the coast of Norway and the assembled group of high flyers and travelers was a nice International Intrigue feeling. There is a sense of wondering if the narrator is reliable or not which I do love. I liked the ‘did it really happen that way? Was it even real?” Quite a clever premise and set up.

But, when it came down to it, The Woman in Cabin 10 turned out to be a so-so read for me until the last third when it finally grabbed me. If I hadn’t seen others I trust loving on it, I might very well have stopped reading early on.

I didn’t connect with the female protagonist, Lo. I didn’t hate her, but I didn’t exactly like her or admire her either. She’s not a nice person and she drinks enough to destroy her liver and is definitely an alcoholic which is nuts since she’s got an anxiety disorder and is on medication. I think I was meant to be wary of connecting with her and wondering about her part in all this.

No, what almost had me it setting aside was me impatiently waiting for something to happen between little blips of action or suspense. I found the action-suspense points good, but the slow built to each one had me drifting as I flipped pages waiting for the next intense moment. I didn’t feel like there was a point to much of it like it was treading water until the next momentous event could occur and I spent a lot of time in Lo’s head which wasn’t interesting to me and was frankly annoying because she dwells on stuff and leaps with her logic. To be fair, I might not have been in the right frame of mind for this style of psychological thriller. I think I was looking for a more pounding pace which is why the last portion was when I finally clicked with this book. It just took off like a rocket and left me breathless and twitching for what would come next.

So, in the end, I was glad to have read this one and I do want to read more of the author’s books, but now I know what to expect and I think that will make all the difference in the world.

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

Facebook | Goodreads

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Guest Audio review: A Twist in Time by Julie McElwain, Lucy Rayner

Posted September 28, 2018 by Lily B in Audio, Guest Post, Reviews / 22 Comments

A Twist in Time by Julie McElwain
Narrator: Lucy Rayner
Length: 16 hours 54 minutes
Series: Kendra Donovan, #2
Published by Tantor Audio on April 4, 2017
Genres: Time-Travel
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Former FBI agent Kendra Donovan's attempts to return to the twenty-first century have failed, leaving her stuck at Aldridge Castle in 1815. And her problems have just begun: in London, the Duke of Aldridge's nephew Alec-Kendra's confidante and lover-has come under suspicion for murdering his former mistress, Lady Dover, who was found viciously stabbed with a stiletto, her face carved up in a bizarre and brutal way. Lady Dover had plenty of secrets, and her past wasn't quite what she'd made it out to be. Nor is it entirely in the past-which becomes frighteningly clear when a crime lord emerges from London's seamy underbelly to threaten Alec. Joining forces with Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly, Kendra must navigate the treacherous nineteenth century while she picks through the strands of Lady Dover's life. As the noose tightens around Alec's neck, Kendra will do anything to save him, including following every twist and turn through London's glittering ballrooms, where deception is the norm-and any attempt to uncover the truth will get someone killed.

Following close on the heels of the first book, A Murder in Time’s adventures, A Twist in Time takes modern woman and tough FBI agent, Kendra Donovan to the bright lights and society of Regency London to solve a murder that hits close to home.

This is a wonderfully unique mash up of time travel and historical mystery with a dash of romance. Kendra is a 21st woman with excellent profiling skills and FBI training who inexplicably ends up in 19th century England. She’s fortunate enough to have landed in the Duke of Aldrige’s castle and that he is something of a Renaissance man who can handle her odd quirks from the start. Kendra becomes romantically entangled with his nephew the Marquis of Sutcliffe, friends with a Bow Street Runner and a lady with feminist leanings. She is torn between her sense of not belonging where women are still second class citizens and her skills make her an oddity and knowing that this is the first time she has ever been around people who like and yes, love her.

Kendra has to set all that aside when Alec, Lord Sutcliffe, gets accused of a brutal murder of his former mistress. The clues lead Kendra through the balls and soirees of London Society to the darker alleys of Cheapside. Lady Dover’s life held secrets and one of them was enough to make someone not only kill her, but mutilate her face. Kendra’s detection skills paired with the forensics and policing of that day along with her companions’ knowledge of Regency norm all come together to bring this enchanting whodunnit.

As with the first book, I was most taken with how a modern person gets along more than two hundred years in the past. It was fascinating to see her do police work when modern method and tech aren’t there to help and she is bucking an all-male system all the way.

Kendra has abandonment issues from her parents and issues because of things that happened in her own time so she struggles to accept Alec’s love and wishes that she be with him. I confess that I wanted to shake her after a while. I get it, but it really does all come down to her own fear and need to trust someone and little to do with anything in her own time waiting for her. Alec is being punished because her parents turned their backs on her. At least she is starting to realize this in this one. I’ll look forward to where this romance thread goes in future books.

Also, her ‘I am woman hear me roar’ bit of ‘I can take care of myself’ was driving me nuts. She goes racing into the London slums alone to prove to herself and others something when it’s just stupid not to take back up. Even in modern times, she would have a partner or back up. She’s also constantly ragging on the times even though some of it is her own preferences and prejudices rather than something was necessarily wrong (which yes, it gets old when she compares things to modern times and overlooks that it’s not some great Utopia in our day and age). I get it, a woman’s lot really sucked back then as did the class system, but she chooses to toss it all out rather than see that some things were actually good if not better). This is part of her modern arrogance that because she knows the future that she knows better- you’d think she would have learned after what happened in the last book. But, at the same time, I find that the struggles Kendra goes through are a wise move on the author’s part to show that adjusting to a time travel situation would never be easy. The author did her homework on the historical setting and social mores of Regency times and brings those out through Kendra’s eyes.

The narration by Lucy Rayner continues to have me on the fence. I love aspects of her work like her accepts and ability to vocalize genders and tone. But, she gets a sing-song pattern and I feel that her Kendra voice (which is the primary one) gets whiny or snippy which might be influencing some of my issues with Kendra. I don’t dislike her work, but I don’t love it, either and had to get used to it all over again when I started this book.

Still, it was another great installment in a series that I think historical murder mystery fans and time travel lovers would enjoy.

My thanks to Tantor Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

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About Sophia Rose

About Sophia Rose