#BookReview The Garden by Nick Newman @PenguinRandomCA #TheGarden #NickNewman #PenguinReads

#BookReview The Garden by Nick Newman @PenguinRandomCA #TheGarden #NickNewman #PenguinReads Title: The Garden

Author: Nick Newman

Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons on Feb. 18, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction

Pages: 313

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

A beautiful eerie, hypnotic novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world, and how their lives unravel when their sanctum is breached, for fans of Piranesi and The Testaments.

In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. Evelyn and Lily have only ever known each other. What was before the garden, they have forgotten; what lies beyond it, they do not know. Each day is spent in languid service to their tending the bees, planting the crops, and dutifully following the instructions of the almanac written by their mother.

So when a nameless boy is found hiding in the boarded house at the center of their isolated grounds, their once solitary lives are irrevocably disrupted. Who is he? Where did he come from? And most importantly, what does he want?

As suspicions gather and allegiances falter Evelyn and Lily are forced to confront the dark truths about themselves, the garden, and the world as they’ve known it.


Review:

Unique, chilling, and atmospheric!

The Garden is a sharp, engaging tale that takes you into the life of two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, who have been content to spend the majority of their lives contained to the boundaries of their property and following the rules their mother left for them, until one day a strange young man breaks into their home, and they suddenly start to question everything they’ve ever known or believed about the world at large, the past, and themselves.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are obedient, lonely, and intelligent. And the compelling plot sweeps you away into an intricately woven tale that touches on life, solace, sacrifice, dread, beliefs, fears, and survival.

Overall, The Garden is, ultimately, a speculative, haunting, well-written story by Newman that did a wonderful job of incorporating a creative storyline, postapocalyptic fiction, and an atmospheric setting into a compelling tale full of isolation, reflection, compliance, loneliness, and sisterhood.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nick Newman

Nick Newman is the adult pen-name of Nicholas Bowling, author of several children’s novels including Witchborn and In the Shadow of Heroes, which was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award. He has previously worked as a teacher, musician, and a stand-up comedian and is currently working as a bookseller at Daunt Books in London.

Photo by Robin Christian

#BookReview The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea by C.L. Miller @CLMillerAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #CLMiller #TheAntiqueHuntersDeathOnTheRedSea #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea by C.L. Miller @CLMillerAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #CLMiller #TheAntiqueHuntersDeathOnTheRedSea #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea

Author: C.L. Miller

Series: The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder #2

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Feb. 18, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The next installment in the nationally bestselling The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder series finds antique hunter Freya Lockwood and Aunt Carole one again embarking on a journey to recover priceless antiques—this time on a Red Sea cruise.

Freya and Aunt Carole are back! After their successful solve at Coptham Manor, Freya and Carole return to late mentor Arthur Crockleford’s antique shop in Dedham Vale, but after receiving an invitation (and then suspicious disinvitation) from an antiques specialist cruise and a break-in and murder at a local maritime museum, Freya and Carole are back on the case!

The two catch up to their original cruise ship in Cyprus, for a route that will take them through the Suez Canal (with a stop in Egypt) to their eventual destination off the Red Sea in Jordan. The ship has an art gallery filled with stolen antiquities listed in Arthur’s journal. This time, Freya and Carole are on the hunt for a shadowy figure called “The Collector,” who traffics in stolen artifacts, and whom they believe to be on board. But on a ship full of antiques enthusiasts—plus some unexpected familiar faces—will Freya and Carole be able to discover the Collector’s identity before people begin disappearing from the ship? Or are they next?


Review:

Whimsical, suspenseful, and atmospheric!

The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea is a charming, mysterious tale that takes us back into the life of Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole as they now find themselves on an invitation-only cruise headed to Jordan in the hopes of helping nab once and for all the infamous trafficker of stolen artifacts, known as “The Collector”.

The writing style is light and witty. The characters are unique, impulsive, and endearing. And the plot is a well-paced, entertaining whodunit full of amateur sleuthing, red herrings, suspicious personalities, deduction, attraction, and murder.

Overall, The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea is the second book in The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder series, and if you enjoy a quirky, enjoyable, fun mystery like me, then this one won’t disappoint.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About C.L. Miller

C. L. Miller started working life as an editorial assistant for her mother, Judith Miller, on The Miller’s Antique Price Guide and other antiquing guides. After she had children, she decided to follow her long-held dream of becoming an author and began concentrating on her writing full-time. She was an Undiscovered Voices 2022 and in the UV 2022 anthology. She lives in a medieval cottage in Dedham Vale, Suffolk, with her family.

Photograph © Dan Kennedy

#BookReview The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens @aeskens @mulhollandbooks @HBGCanada #TheQuietLibrarian #AllenEskens #MulhollandBooks #HBGCanada

#BookReview The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens @aeskens @mulhollandbooks @HBGCanada #TheQuietLibrarian #AllenEskens #MulhollandBooks #HBGCanada Title: The Quiet Librarian

Author: Allen Eskens

Published by: Mulholland Books on Feb. 18, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

After the murder of her best friend, a librarian’s search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this sweeping novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from award-winning writer Allen Eskens.

Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.

Thirty years before, Hana was someone Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend—the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head.

Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana’s care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora—and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.


Review:

Compelling, suspenseful, and fast-paced!

The Quiet Librarian is an intense, ominous tale that takes us into the life of Minnesota librarian Hana Babic who, after her best friend is murdered, prepares herself for the past to collide with the present when one of the depraved men she was brutalized by during the Bosnian war seems to have suddenly reappeared.

The prose is meticulous and tight. The characters are persistent, scarred, and resourceful. And the plot is a raw, menacing tale about life, loss, tragedy, danger, desperation, cruelty, secrets, survival, manipulation, betrayal, deception, revenge, violence, and wartime brutalities.

Overall, The Quiet Librarian is an absorbing, mysterious, disturbing tale by Eskens that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical facts and compelling fiction into an insightful, sinister tale that is intriguing, haunting, and highly entertaining.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to HBG Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Allen Eskens

Allen Eskens is the USA Today-bestselling author of The Life We Bury, The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, the Deep Dark Descending and The Shadows We Hide. He is the recipient of the Barry Award, Rosebud Award, Minnesota Book Award, and the Silver Falchion Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, Thriller Award, and Anthony Award. His work had been published in 21 languages and his debut novel, The Life We Bury is being developed for a feature film.

Allen lives with his wife, Joely, in greater Minnesota and is represented by Amy Cloughley of Kimberley Cameron and Associates, and is published by both Seventh Street Books and Mulholland/Little Brown.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #JosephOConnor #TheGhostsOfRome #RomeEscapeLineTrilogy #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #JosephOConnor #TheGhostsOfRome #RomeEscapeLineTrilogy #PGCBooks Title: The Ghosts of Rome

Author: Joseph O'Connor

Series: Rome Escape Line Trilogy #2

Published by: Europa Editions on Feb. 14, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

In the final months of World War II, a clandestine group known as The Choir smuggles thousands of escapees out of Nazi-occupied Rome via a secret route known as the Rome Escape Line. When an unidentified airman falls from the sky, The Choir is plunged into lethal danger and the survival of the Escape Line itself is threatened.

The Choir is riven with internal tensions and infighting. The organization is in danger of falling apart, which would leave thousands of escaped allied soldiers, POWs, Jews, and objectors stranded in a Rome that is ruled with vicious efficiency by the Nazis. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the architect of the Escape Line and acknowledged leader of The Choir, broods inside the Vatican, seemingly paralyzed by what he sees as the intolerable risks of keeping the Escape Line in operation.

One man has been given the task of definitively destroying the entire operation and the price of his failure is high—SS Commander Paul Hauptmann’s wife and children are under Gestapo supervision in Berlin. Hauptmann is ordered to stay on in the city he both loathes and loves and to dismantle the Escape Line, or watch his family perish. Into this deliriously thrilling melee steps the Contessa Giovanna Landini, a reckless, audacious, and magnetic member of the Italian Resistance who has the nerve to challenge Hauptmann’s authority.

A beautifully written and expertly crafted historical suspense novel that is bursting with action, atmosphere, and unforgettable characters, The Ghosts of Rome is the thrilling follow-up to Joseph O’Connor’s best-selling My Father’s House.


Review:

Charged, emotional, and action-packed!

The Ghosts of Rome is a fascinating, enticing tale that picks up right where My Father’s House left off, taking us back to Vatican City during WWII and into the lives of a handful of individuals known as “The Choir” who now find themselves doing whatever they can to help a shot down, wounded allied airman evade capture while also getting him the life-saving surgery he desperately needs.

The prose is smooth and expressive. The characters are selfless, reliable, and resourceful. And the plot unravels and intertwines briskly into a sweeping saga of life, loss, bravery, strength, loyalty, espionage, grit, determination, deception, secrets, and survival.

Overall, The Ghosts of Rome is an intricate, suspenseful, captivating tale by O’Connor based on real-life events that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical facts and compelling fiction into a thrilling, heart-tugging tale that is atmospheric and highly absorbing.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He broadcasts a popular weekly radio diary on RTE’s Drivetime With Mary Wilson and writes regularly for The Guardian Review and The Sunday Independent. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #BloodTies #JoNesbo #KongeriketSeries #PenguinReads

#BookReview Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #BloodTies #JoNesbo #KongeriketSeries #PenguinReads Title: Blood Ties

Author: Jo Nesbo

Series: Kongeriket #2

Published by: Random House Canada on Feb. 11, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The modern master of Nordic noir is back with an explosive novel about two brothers who, on the verge of losing everything, are willing to do anything to stop that from happening.

By all accounts, Carol and Roy Opgard are doing quite well for themselves. Or at least they are doing as well as can be expected in a small town like Os. Carl manages the area’s swanky and successful spa, while Roy runs the local gas station and dreams of building it into an entire amusement park complete with a roller coaster. But then news breaks about a new highway that will bypass Os and leave the town cut off and isolated. Something has to be done about that, even if the methods need to be dirty. Fortunately, Roy and Carl have experience with dirty work.

Meanwhile, the town sheriff has gotten his hands on new technology that will enable him to take a deeper look at a spate of unsolved murders from years past—including that of his own father. Just as the sheriff reopens his investigation, the death toll begins to climb. Like Roy says about his roller coaster: “Once it is rolling, it’s too late to get off.”

Blood Ties is a tense, compulsively readable tour de force about loyalty, family ties and love that is as destructive as it is powerful.


Review:

Dark, simmering, and gritty!

Blood Ties is a slow-burning, intricate tale that takes us back to the small Norwegian village of Os and into the lives of the Opgard brothers. Carl, a college graduate turned spa owner, and Roy, a garage owner with lofty dreams of building an amusement park, as they each grapple with enduring jealousy, exceptional childhood cruelty, devastating violence, and long-buried secrets that bind them together but which may ultimately tear them apart.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are consumed, deceitful, and troubled. And the plot is an ominous, murky tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, familial drama, lies, greed, obsession, resentments, mayhem, abuse, violence, childhood trauma, swirling emotions, guilt, wickedness, and murder.

Overall, Blood Ties is a twisty, unpredictable, sinister page-turner by Nesbo that transports you into the darkest corners of the human psyche and takes you on a roller coaster ride of psychological manipulation, control, corruption, and ruthless ambition.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbø is a bestselling Norwegian author and musician. He was born in Oslo and grew up in Molde. Nesbø graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics with a degree in economics. Nesbø is primarily famous for his crime novels about Detective Harry Hole, but he is also the main vocals and songwriter for the Norwegian rock band Di Derre. In 2007 Nesbø also released his first children's book, Doktor Proktors Prompepulver.

#BookReview Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde @SimonSchusterCA #OnlyInYourDreams #EllieKWilde #OakwoodBaySeries #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde @SimonSchusterCA #OnlyInYourDreams #EllieKWilde #OakwoodBaySeries #SimonSchusterCA Title: Only in Your Dreams

Author: Ellie K. Wilde

Series: Oakwood Bay #1

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Jan. 21, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

If he can prove he loved her then, and he loves her still, this time might be different.

Ten years after one of the most heartbreaking nights of her life, Melody Woods is back in her small hometown of Oakwood Bay, broke, jaded, and unceremoniously dumped by her big-city boyfriend. To top it all off, her twin brother, Parker, is pushing her to take his spot on a camping trip with the one guy she’s spent a decade avoiding.

For college football coach Zac Porter, his best friend’s twin sister, Melody, has always been off-limits. And after fumbling his chance ten years ago, a devastated Zac was sure he’d lost Melody for good. So, when Melody shows up at the campsite instead of Parker, Zac realizes that now is the time to prove to her that they were always meant to be, no matter how long it takes to make up for his teenage self’s mistake.

Reeling from the truth of her last relationship, Melody plans to stay in town just long enough to get back on her feet. Then, she’s gone again. Meanwhile, Zac is facing an uphill battle to coach his team to its first winning game in years, to show Melody how she deserves to be loved, and to keep Parker from ever finding out. Maybe then, being with her will be more than just a dream.


Review:

Sultry, entertaining, and sweet!

Only in Your Dreams is a passionate, charming tale that mixes the weary, disheartened Melody who, after a disastrous breakup and a return to her hometown, is determined to put all her time and effort into picking herself back up while doing her best to stay away from the man who broke her heart ten years ago, and the delectable, dependable Zac who has finally decided he’s waited long enough and is finally willing to take the risk and act on his feelings for his best friend’s twin sister.

The writing is titillating and crisp. The characters, including all the supporting characters, are fun-loving and engaging. And the plot sweeps you away into a sassy, push-pull storyline filled with witty banter, shameless flirting, sizzling chemistry, friendship, family, introspection, romance, and light drama.

Overall, Only in Your Dreams is a fabulous read to kick off the new year. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the storyline, and I swooned over the happy-ever-after ending!

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ellie K. Wilde

Ellie K. Wilde dreams up love stories with a lot of heart and the kind of spice that makes your knees shake. She writes male leads with big personalities and sweet, cinnamon roll insides, and women who discover they’re just as tough as they wish they were. Happily-ever-afters only.

#BookReview The Map of Bones by Kate Mosse @KateMosse @PGCBooks #TheMapOfBones #KateMosse #TheJoubertFamilyChronicles #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Map of Bones by Kate Mosse @KateMosse @PGCBooks #TheMapOfBones #KateMosse #TheJoubertFamilyChronicles #PGCBooks Title: The Map of Bones

Author: Kate Mosse

Series: The Joubert Family Chronicles #4

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Jan. 7, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Following The Ghost Ship, bestseller Kate Mosse brings readers a sweeping novel of adventure and hardship, injustice and triumph, in the epic conclusion to The Joubert Family Chronicles.

Olifantshoek, 1688. When the violent Cape wind blows from the south-east, they say the voices of the unquiet dead can be heard whispering through the deserted valley. Suzanne Joubert, a Huguenot refugee from war-torn France, is here to walk in her cousin’s footsteps. Louise Reydon-Joubert, the notorious she-captain and pirate commander, landed at the Cape of Good Hope more than sixty years ago, then disappeared from the record as if she had never existed. Suzanne has come to find her—and to lay the stories to rest. But all is not as it seems.

Franschhoek, 1862. Nearly one hundred and eighty years after Suzanne’s perilous journey, another intrepid and courageous woman of the Joubert family, Isabelle Lepard, has journeyed to the small frontier town once known as Oliftantshoek in search of her long-lost relations. A journalist and travel writer, intent on putting the women of her family back into the history books, she quickly discovers that the tragedies and crimes of the past are far from over. Isabelle must face a race against time—to not only discover the truth, but escape with her life as well.

Moving and ambitious in scope, The Map of Bones tells the story of courageous women battling to survive in a hostile land—of revenge, retribution, and ultimately, redemption. Most of all, it is a poignant novel about the importance of women bearing witness and the power of the written word.


Review:

Captivating, immersive, and memorable!

The Map of Bones is an atmospheric, fascinating tale that picks up a few decades after The Ghost Ship left off, sweeping us to the Cape of Good Hope in the late 1600s and into the life of the fierce, independent Suzanne Joubert who, after arriving as a refugee on the shores of South Africa is bound and determined to do whatever it takes, even amongst the hostility and danger that surrounds her, to once and for all discover the fate of her infamous ancestor Louise Reydon-Joubert, the she-captain of the Ghost Ship.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are persistent, resilient, and strong. And the plot is a passionate, engrossing quest full of life, loss, love, courage, action, adventure, family, friendship, sacrifice, savagery, injustice, and revelations.

Overall, The Map of Bones is the alluring, insightful, stunning conclusion to The Joubert Family Chronicles by Mosse which spectacularly highlights her incredible knowledge and research into the vivid, tragic history of the Huguenots.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kate Mosse

KATE MOSSE is a multiple New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author with sales of more than eight million copies in thirty-eight languages. Her previous novels include Labyrinth, Sepulchre, The Winter Ghosts, Citadel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, and The Burning Chambers. Kate is the founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a visiting professor at the University of Chichester, and in June 2013, was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. She divides her time between Chichester in the United Kingdom and Carcassonne in France.

Photo Credit: Ruth Crafer

#BookReview More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MoreOrLessMaddy #LisaGenova #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MoreOrLessMaddy #LisaGenova #SimonSchusterCA Title: More or Less Maddy

Author: Lisa Genova

Published by: Scout Press on Jan. 14, 2025

Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

A breathless, riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy.

Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she’s always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough.

With her signature “deep empathy and insight” (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling authorLisa Genova has crafted another profoundly moving novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.


Review:

Moving, memorable, and compelling!

More or Less Maddy is an intimate, thought-provoking novel that immerses you into the life of Maddy Banks, a bipolar young woman who is struggling to find purpose in her life while being dependent on medication, consistently disappointing those she loves, and feeling like a prisoner to a mind that never wants to rest.

The prose is evocative and sincere. The characters are multi-layered, vulnerable, and eccentric. And the plot is a touching tale of life, love, family, friendship, desires, needs, dreams, mania, suicide ideation, standup comedy, complex relationships, and mental health.

Overall, More or Less Maddy is an immersive, emotional, sensitive tale by Genova that does a remarkable job of reminding us of the lifelong struggles for those suffering from a mental health disorder to perform normal daily activities, forge true friendships, and experience love, while also highlighting just how easily the greatest of highs can quickly transition to devastating, tragic lows.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lisa Genova

Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar–winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She is featured in the documentary films To Not Fade Away and Have You Heard About Greg. Her TED talks on Alzheimer’s disease and memory have been viewed over eleven million times.

Photo by Greg Mentzer

#BookReview Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox @josephknox__ @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #ImposterSyndrome #JosephKnox #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox @josephknox__ @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #ImposterSyndrome #JosephKnox #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Imposter Syndrome

Author: Joseph Knox

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Dec. 10, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

On the run from his shady past, Lynch has just arrived in London, still looking over his shoulder to make sure he isn’t being followed. His phone is dead, he has no money, no contacts, no one at all. Until he runs into a young woman named Bobbie who mistakes him for her brother, Heydon Pierce, who disappeared 5 years ago without a trace.

At Bobbie’s suggestion, Lynch goes to the Pierce family home, posing as Heydon to try and con some money out of them. But far from tricking them, his subterfuge is instantly discovered. He strikes the devil’s bargain with them – their silence for his cooperation in finding out what really happened to Heydon.

But Lynch’s investigation goes too deep and uncovers the fact that Heydon Pierce was tangled up with some dangerous and powerful people in London. Everyone has their own motives to keep Heydon well buried in the past. In such a conspiracy of mirrors, there’s only one thing Lynch know for certain: the only person he can trust is himself.


Review:

Engrossing, fast-paced, and sinister!

Imposter Syndrome is a brisk, compelling tale that takes you into the life of Lynch, a broke con man who, after running from the life he recently led in Paris, becomes embroiled in the dangerously messed-up lives of the complex, affluent Pierce family.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are secretive, troubled, and multilayered. And the plot is an ominous thrill ride full of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, guilt, grief, relationship dynamics, reckless behaviour, swirling emotions, manipulation, violence, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, Imposter Syndrome is an intricate, crafty, atmospheric read by Knox that captivated, satisfied, and highly entertained me and was a good reminder that things are never what they seem.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Joseph Knox

Joseph Knox was born and raised in and around Stoke and Manchester, where he worked in bars and bookshops before moving to London. He reads, writes, and runs compulsively. His novels have been translated into 14 languages.

#BookReview The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheCloseUp #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheCloseUp #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Close-Up

Author: Pip Drysdale

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Dec. 3, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this glittering new psychological suspense novel from internationally bestselling author Pip Drysdale, a writer’s own thriller is brought chillingly to life when a stalker begins to reenact the events from her book.

Sometimes when your dreams come true, so do your nightmares…

When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to LA to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist, she welcomes the fault lines, the Santa Ana winds, and the magic hour light. Her whole future is wide open—until Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her, and her debut novel, a thriller, bombs.

Three years pass. Zach’s star rises—he’s on Netflix, on billboards, in every magazine—while hers falls. Now she’s working in a flower shop, still calling herself a writer while staring at a blinking cursor every night. But then she delivers flowers in one of LA’s most exclusive neighborhoods and…he’s there. Zach Hamilton. And it’s like no time has passed at all—the two pick up right where they left off.

It feels like fate, a love story for the ages—the kind of love you write about. Suddenly, Zoe’s writer’s block disappears. When photos of Zach and Zoe are leaked, her name ends up in the press and her novel goes viral online. Which all sounds fine in theory: at least now she’ll sell some books. Except the problem with everyone knowing her name is that everyone knows her name.

Including Zach’s stalker. A stalker who wants Zoe gone. A stalker who has read Zoe’s novel. A stalker who is now re-enacting everything that happened in that book, step by step, against her…


Review:

Edgy, addictive, and twisty!

The Close-Up is a sharp, atmospheric tale that takes you into the life of Zoe Ann Weiss, a struggling author who, after reconnecting with a man who is now a Hollywood movie star, finds herself the victim of a deviant stalker with a penchant for reenacting all of the gruesomest scenes from her first and only published novel.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are troubled, tormented, and consumed. And the plot is an engrossing, eerie tale full of twists, turns, lies, deception, obsession, fame, depravity, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Close-Up is a sinister, suspenseful, tortuous tale by Drysdale that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how easily people can be emotionally and psychologically exploited while at the same time reminding us just how vulnerable and susceptible technology and social media truly makes us.

 

This novel is available in paperback now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Pip Drysdale

Pip Drysdale is a writer, musician and actor who grew up in Africa and Australia. At 20 she moved to New York to study acting, worked in indie films and off-off Broadway theatre, started writing songs and made four records. After graduating with a BA in English, Pip moved to London where she played shows across Europe and started writing books. Her debut novel, The Sunday Girl, was a bestseller and has been published in the United States, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Strangers We Know was also a bestseller and is being developed for television. The Paris Affair is her third book.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.