Format: Hardcover

#BookReview The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross @StMartinsPress #TheUnwrittenRulesOfMagicNovel #HarperRoss #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress

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#BookReview The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross @StMartinsPress #TheUnwrittenRulesOfMagicNovel #HarperRoss #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress Title: The Unwritten Rules of Magic

Author: Harper Ross

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jan. 27, 2026

Genres: Fantasy, Women's Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

For fans of The Midnight Library and In Five Years, The Unwritten Rules of Magic is a spellbinding novel that blends magic and memory in an unforgettable journey through love, grief, and the hidden cost of perfection across three generations of women.

Emerson Clarke can’t remember a time when she felt in control. Her father—a celebrated author—was a chaotic force until he got Alzheimer’s. Her mother turned to gin. And recently, her teen daughter has shut her out without explanation. If only she could arrange reality the same way she controls the stories she ghostwrites, life could be perfect.

Or so she thinks.

After her father’s funeral, Emerson steals his vintage typewriter—the one he’d forbidden anyone to touch—and tests its keys by typing out a frivolous wish. When it comes true the very next day, she tries another. Then, those words also spring to life. Suddenly, she becomes obsessed with using the typewriter to rewrite happiness for herself and her daughter.

But the more she shapes her real-life, the more she uncovers disturbing truths about her family’s history and the unexpected cost of every story-come-true. She should destroy the typewriter, yet when her daughter’s secret finally emerges, Emerson is torn between paying the price for bending fate and embracing the uncertainty of an unscripted life.

Review:

Compelling, nuanced, and thought-provoking!

The Unwritten Rules of Magic is a heartfelt, alluring story that immerses you into the lives of three generations of women in the Clarke family, along with all the secrets, smiles, tears, wounds, compassion, misery, and strength that have surrounded them over the years.

The prose is fluid and expressive. The characters are troubled, wounded, and secretive. And the plot unfolds as a tender exploration of life, loss, love, grief, forgiveness, familial drama, friendship, hope, heartbreak, expectations, disappointment, and the unbreakable bonds that tie us as family.

Overall, The Unwritten Rules of Magic is an immersive, compelling multigenerational family saga by Ross that reminds us life is made up of complicated, messy, challenging, and heartbreaking moments, and that the true magic of life lies in simply living it.

This book is available now.

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

         

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Harper Ross

Harper Ross has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with the dramatic story worlds in books and movies. After leaving her legal practice to raise her kids, she discovered her own creative side and began writing novels that explore friendship, family, and forgiveness. Because she also appreciates the magic in everyday life—from the spark of attraction to those serendipitous moments we all experience—you’ll find a dash of that in her work too. When she’s not at the keyboard, she’s likely to be singing badly in her car, dancing in her kitchen, or walking her adorable dog, Mo. She’s also a lucky wife and mother to a very patient and supportive family.

Photo Credit: Kate Kahut.

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#BookReview This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page @BerkleyRomance @PenguinCanada #ThisBookMadeMeThinkOfYou #Libby Page #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

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#BookReview This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page @BerkleyRomance @PenguinCanada #ThisBookMadeMeThinkOfYou #Libby Page #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: This Book Made Me Think of You

Author: Libby Page

Published by: Berkley on Feb. 3, 2026

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 10/10

Twelve stories. Twelve months. Once chance to heal her heart…

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her fiancé waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly because Joe died five months ago…

The gift is simple – twelve carefully-chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

Tilly sets out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to vlog her journey, her story becomes more than her own. With help from Alfie, the bookshop owner, her budding new following and her friends and family, can Tilly’s year of books show her how to love again?

Review:

Quaint, absorbing, and sweet!

This Book Made Me Think of You is a heartfelt, uplifting tale set in Primrose Hill, London, that draws readers into the lives of Tilly Nightingale, a young widow still grappling with the loss of her husband and the all-consuming grief thats preventing her from moving on, and Alfie Lane, a bookshop owner struggling to keep his family business afloat while also trying to fulfil a dying man’s final wishes.

The prose is genuine and fluid. The characters are heartbroken, hesitant, and kind. And the plot is an addictive, alluring blend of friendship, family, life, loss, introspection, support, forgiveness, community, new beginnings, love, and the healing power of books.

Overall, This Book Made Me Think of You is a charming, hopeful, beautifully written novel by Page that showcases her exceptional ability to create endearing, multilayered characters and engaging, heart-tugging storylines that captivate from start to finish.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

Thank you to Berkley Romance for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Libby Page

Libby Page is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose work has been published in over 20 territories around the world. Before becoming an author, she worked in journalism and marketing. She lives in Somerset, England, with her husband and young son.

Photo by Katherine Barnes Photography.

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#BookReview Pendergast: The Beginning by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child @GrandCentralPub #PendergastTheBeginning #PendergastSeries #DouglasPreston #LincolnChild #GCPInsider

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#BookReview Pendergast: The Beginning by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child @GrandCentralPub #PendergastTheBeginning #PendergastSeries #DouglasPreston #LincolnChild #GCPInsider Title: Pendergast: The Beginning

Series: Pendergast #23

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jan. 27, 2026

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

From the #1 New York Times bestselling duo Preston and Child comes the Agent Pendergast origin story—a golden opportunity for longtime fans and new readers to learn about Agent Pendergast’s strange and shocking first case.

It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand new FBI agent—a certain A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended.

Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. What starts off as a whimsical quest swiftly turns into a terrifying pursuit, as Chambers and Pendergast uncover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known serial killer profile.
 
Thanks in large part to Pendergast’s brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer… and that is when the true horror begins.

Review:

Suspenseful, addictive, and twisty!

In this twenty-third instalment in the Pendergast series, Pendergast: The Beginning, we head back in time to 1990s New Orleans, when Agent Pendergast’s career in the FBI first began with a complex case involving a serial killer with a chilling fixation on right arms.

The writing is taut and intense. The characters are meticulous, tormented, and persistent. And the plot is a suspenseful, engrossing whodunit full of twists, turns, lies, deception, revelations, obsession, depravity, violence, and murder, all interwoven with a dab of the supernatural.

Overall, Pendergast: The Beginning is an eerie, tortuous, fast-paced tale by Preston & Child that far exceeded my expectations and does an exceptional job of highlighting just how easily evil can live among us hidden behind masks of normality.

 

This book is available now.

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

             

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

#BookReview When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #WhenWeWereBrilliant #LynnCullen #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

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#BookReview When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #WhenWeWereBrilliant #LynnCullen #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: When We Were Brilliant

Author: Lynn Cullen

Published by: Berkley on Jan. 20, 2026

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

They were an unlikely pair—a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously—but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives in this dazzling new novel from the national bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and The Woman with the Cure.

In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at capturing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant.

Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other—something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.

A lavish and transporting novel, When We Were Brilliant captures the halcyon days of an icon and the grit of women determining their own futures as it explores the exceptional and complicated friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold.

Review:

Fascinating, captivating, and rich!

When We Were Brilliant is an insightful, immersive novel set in the 1950s that draws readers into the lives of photographer Eve Arnold and her most famous subject and close friend Marilyn Monroe, through their unusual, evolving bond, the highs and lows of fame and fortune, the pressures of marriage, the ache of loss, and the toll of living under constant public scrutiny.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are hardworking, devoted, and passionate. And the plot is a compelling tale of life, love, friendship, family, glitz, glamour, jealousy, scandal, uncertainty, infidelity, ambition, and the many complexities of stardom.
 

Overall, When We Were Brilliant is a vivid, absorbing novel by Cullen that showcases her impressive research and deep understanding of both a pioneering photographer and a brilliant, misunderstood actress whose life was tragically short and painfully complicated, yet who is unfortunately too often remembered only for her beauty and sex appeal.

 

This book is available now.

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

             

 

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

 

About Lynn Cullen

Lynn Cullen’s bestselling novels, including The Woman with the Cure, The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Mrs. Poe, Twain’s End, The Creation of Eve, and Reign of Madness, have been translated into seventeen languages and are the recipients of various honors, including NPR Great Read, Oprah.com Book of the Week, People magazine Book of the Week, Indie Next List selection, and Atlanta magazine Best Books of the Year. She lives in Atlanta.

Photo by Megan Cullen Cayes.

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#BookReview Very Slowly All at Once by Lauren Schott @harperbooks #VerySlowlyAllAtOnce #LaurenSchott #HarperBooks

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#BookReview Very Slowly All at Once by Lauren Schott @harperbooks #VerySlowlyAllAtOnce #LaurenSchott #HarperBooks Title: Very Slowly All at Once

Author: Lauren Schott

Published by: Harper on Jan. 20, 2026

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 8/10

A propulsive and wickedly entertaining debut thriller for fans of Laura Dave and Ashley Elston that explores the dark underside of the American dream, about a couple whose financial problems are seemingly answered when they begin receiving growing sums of money from an unknown source . . . a windfall that will carry an unthinkable price.

Mack and Hailey Evans have worked hard to achieve their upper-middle-class life: promising careers, two beautiful children, and a brand-new house in the exclusive lakefront village of Bratenahl, Ohio. Not that everything’s perfect—aging parents, problems at work, and even the upkeep on that gorgeous house have been causing these two increasing amounts of worry.

When a small check appears in the mailbox from a mysterious company named Sunshine Enterprises, Mack assumes it’s from his wealthy, estranged father, trying to buy his way back into their lives. Though he’d rather rip it up, Mack deposits the needed funds. To his surprise the checks keep coming—each for a larger amount larger than the last. When Hailey finds out what’s going on, she has her own suspicions about the provenance of the payments. Despite growing uncertainty over the identity of their benefactor Mack and Hailey keep taking the money. After all, there are bills to pay.

It is a choice with dark repercussions, as the couple soon learn the hard way that nothing in life is free. Suddenly, the Evans find themselves in a harrowing arrangement with someone who will stop at nothing to get a return on their investment.

Review:

Crafty, intricate, and suspenseful!

Very Slowly All at Once is a gritty, absorbing tale that draws you into the lives of the Evans family, who on the surface appear to have it all, until everything quickly begins to unravel, money grows tight, mysterious cheques arrive in the mail and are cashed, careers are recklessly jeopardized, their brand-new home starts to crumble around them, and it becomes chillingly clear that someone is targeting them.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are secretive, ruthless, and impulsive. And the plot is an intriguing web of twists, turns, lies, deception, power, corruption, revelations, ambition, and manipulation.
 

Overall, Very Slowly All at Once is a cunning, entertaining, sinister debut adult novel by Schott that is a highly satisfying read and an eerie reminder of just how far some people are willing to go to get what they want.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

Thank you to Harper for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lauren Schott

Lauren Schott was born in Akron, Ohio, and is a graduate of Duke University. She has spent twenty-five years working in publishing. Very Slowly All at Once is her first novel for adults.

Photo by Claire Walsh.

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#BookReview Dandelion is Dead by Rosie Story @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #DandelionIsDead #RosieStory #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

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#BookReview Dandelion is Dead by Rosie Story @BerkleyPub @PenguinRandomCA #DandelionIsDead #RosieStory #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: Dandelion is Dead

Author: Rosie Story

Published by: Berkley on Jan. 13, 2026

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Literary Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Jake has fallen head over heels for Dandelion. The only problem? Dandelion is dead.

When Poppy discovers unanswered messages from a charming stranger in her late sister’s dating app, she makes an impulsive choice: She’ll meet him, just once, on what would have been Dandelion’s fortieth birthday. It’s exactly the kind of wild adventure her vivacious sister would have pushed her toward.

Jake is ready to find something real—and not least because his ex-wife’s twentysomething boyfriend has moved into their old family home. When he meets the intriguing woman who calls herself Dandelion, their connection is undeniable, and he can think of little else.

As their relationship deepens, Poppy finds herself trapped in a double life she never meant to create. Every moment with Jake feels genuine, electric, and totally right—despite the fact they’re tangled in deceit. As the lines between grief and love blur, Poppy faces a choice: keep her sister’s memory alive through her lies, or risk everything for a chance at her own happiness?

With sparkling wit and aching tenderness, debut author Rosie Storey gives us a modern love story about the courage it takes to live again after loss and finding hope in the most unexpected places.

Review:

Witty, tender, and touching!

Dandelion is Dead is a layered, perceptive tale featuring the heartbroken, grief-stricken Poppy who has been contemplating her life and masking her sorrow after the loss of her big sister, and Jake the single dad who seems like the perfect mate except for the fact he doesn’t know her true identity and she happens to have a fiancé at home.

The writing is heartfelt and direct. The characters are lonely, quirky, and adrift. And the plot is a lighthearted, touching blend of life, love, loss, introspection, friendship, grief, guilt, awkward situations, sweet moments, dating woes, misunderstandings, communication, intimacy, deception, and moving on.

Overall, Dandelion is Dead is an astute, moving, sincere novel by Story that is the first book I’ve read by this author, but certainly won’t be my last.

 

This book is available now.

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

             

 

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

 

About Rosie Story

Rosie Storey grew up on a farm in the south of England. She left her corporate career to finish her debut novel, Dandelion Is Dead. She holds a master’s in creative writing, lives in East London, and works as a writing coach.

Photo by Sophie Davidson.

#BookReview Nash Falls by David Baldacci @davidbaldacci @GrandCentralPub #NashFalls #WalterNashSeries #DavidBaldacci #GCPInsider

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#BookReview Nash Falls by David Baldacci @davidbaldacci @GrandCentralPub #NashFalls #WalterNashSeries #DavidBaldacci #GCPInsider Title: Nash Falls

Author: David Baldacci

Series: Walter Nash #1

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Nov. 11, 2025

Genres: Crime Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 448

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 10/10

When Walter Nash is recruited by the FBI to help bring down a global crime network his life is turned completely upside down in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci.

Walter Nash is a sensitive, intelligent and kindhearted man. He has a wife and a daughter and a very high-level position at Sybaritic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career. Despite never going on grand adventures, and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.

However, following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.

Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice. But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. And that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge: He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been.

And even that may not be enough.

Review:

Intense, sharp, and action-packed!

Nash Falls is a sinister, engrossing thriller that introduces Walter Nash, a highly successful acquisitions executive who, following the death of his estranged father, suddenly finds himself working with the FBI when it becomes apparent that something deeply illicit is happening at the investment firm where he works, and he’s quickly drawn into a dangerous web where powerful forces will stop at nothing to silence him, including kidnapping his daughter and destroying his reputation.

The writing is crisp and controlled. The characters are astute, driven, and multi-layered. And the intricate plot keeps you fully engrossed from start to finish, with all the twists, turns, deception, revelations, corruption, power plays, red herrings, violence, and murder.

In case you couldn’t tell, I absolutely loved this novel, and once again, Nash Falls proves that when it comes to crafting exceptionally complex, fast-paced, and expertly plotted crime fiction with unforgettable characters and nefarious storylines, Baldacci remains one of the very best.

 

This book is available now.

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

             

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About David Baldacci

David Baldacci is a global #1 bestselling author, and one of the world’s favorite storytellers. His books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 130 million worldwide sales. His works have been adapted for both feature film and television. David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at WishYouWellFoundation.org.

Photograph by Allen Jones.

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#BookReview The Storm by Rachel Hawkins @LadyHawkins @StMartinsPress #TheStormNovel #RachelHawkins #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Storm by Rachel Hawkins @LadyHawkins @StMartinsPress #TheStormNovel #RachelHawkins #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Storm

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jan. 6, 2026

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive—and as deadly—as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…

Review:

Dark, atmospheric, and suspenseful!

The Storm is a tense, absorbing tale that transports you to Alabama and into the lives of a handful of interconnected characters, including Lo Bailey, the acquitted suspect in a decades-old murder, and Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, as the past collides violently with the present and a looming hurricane threatens not only to devastate the community but also unearth long-buried truths.

The writing is ominous and controlled. The characters are flawed, guarded, and secretive. And the plot is an intense mix of life, loss, friendship, family, lies, guilt, deception, resentment, privilege, betrayal, fractured alliances, and questionable motives.
 

Overall, The Storm is a taut, gripping, twisty tale by Hawkins that is a compelling read for fans of smart, character-driven thrillers, where the setting is just as perilous as the people within it.

 

This book is available now.

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

         

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachel Hawkins

Rachel Hawkins is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, as well as multiple books for young readers, and her work has been translated in over a dozen countries. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.

Photo by John Hawkins.

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#BookReview Silent Bones by Val McDermid @valmcdermid @PGCBooks #SilentBones #InspectorKarenPirie #ValMcDermid #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Silent Bones by Val McDermid @valmcdermid @PGCBooks #SilentBones #InspectorKarenPirie #ValMcDermid #PGCBooks Title: Silent Bones

Author: Val McDermid

Series: Inspector Karen Pirie #8

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on Nov. 14, 2023

Genres: Crime Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 432

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a  motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt – it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built eleven years prior. 

Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who’d been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished. Now he’s reappeared, buried under the motorway. It’s the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit. What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend? Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road. It’s a series of puzzles that tests Karen and her team to their limits. And possibly beyond . . .

A darkly propulsive thriller of secrets hidden at the core of a Scottish Highlands town, Silent Bones reaffirms Val McDermid as a crime writer of inimitable power.

Review:

Gripping, gritty, and entertaining!⁣

In her latest novel, 𝐒ilent Bones, McDermid takes us back to Edinburgh, where DCI Pirie and her team in the Historic Cases Unit are investigating the homicide of an investigative reporter who vanished eleven years earlier after being accused of murdering his girlfriend, and delving into a potential scandal involving several politically powerful individuals.⁣

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are driven, intuitive, and tenacious, and the plot unfolds as a complex web of deception, abuse, deprivation, manipulation, control, power, mayhem, violence, and murder.⁣

Overall, 𝐒ilent Bones is a captivating, intricate, and menacing thriller that delivers everything I’ve come to expect from McDermid’s police procedurals, including strong pacing, meticulous deduction, and plenty of suspense.⁣

 

This book 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 Val McDermid

Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

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#BookReview You Watched in Silence by H. Lee Justine @BlackstoneAudio #YouWatchedInSilence #HLeeJustine #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders

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#BookReview You Watched in Silence by H. Lee Justine @BlackstoneAudio #YouWatchedInSilence #HLeeJustine #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders Title: You Watched in Silence

Author: H. Lee Justine

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on Nov. 18, 2025

Genres: LGBTQIA, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 360

Format: Hardcover

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Caitlyn believes her world is falling apart when her best friend cuts her off—until she gets a message from the only person who can put it back together. Family vlogger Bella Greene—the celebrity influencer she and her ex-best friend were obsessed with—offers Caitlyn a job as nanny to her twins.

Like millions of others, Caitlyn knows that Bella’s life is in pieces, too. Canceled over perceived indifference to a tragic suicide by one of her fans, Bella fled with her family to a remote island off the coast of Washington. For Caitlyn, the opportunity to help Bella will also help her to heal; a way to honor the past while creating a new future.

Caitlyn can’t believe how easily she bonds with the twins. She also feels an instant connection with the family’s flirtatious chef, Hannah Zhou, who soon stirs romantic impulses that Caitlyn never imagined having again. It feels like magic … until she catches a glimpse of a mysterious girl that nobody else can see.

Before she knows it, Caitlyn descends into constant terror, unable to tell if she is losing her mind or being haunted by a past she’d rather forget. Worse, there is magic here, a dark force that manifests in mysterious pentagrams, animal sacrifices, and scrawled threats right in Bella’s backyard, and increasingly close to her home.

But who’s behind it? Is it a disgruntled employee? A scorned lover? Or someone out for unjust revenge? Because Bella didn’t do anything wrong … right?

Review:

Simmering, gripping, and claustrophobic!

You Watched in Silence is an ominous, character-driven thriller that introduces Caitlyn, a young woman who, after being hired as the nanny for a family vlogger she and her former best friend have idolized for years, quickly realizes that everything is not as perfect as it appears. Beneath the polished façade of affluence, relationships are strained, secrets abound, and danger seems to lurk around every corner.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are anxious, secretive, and vulnerable, while the plot unfolds as a darkly menacing tale packed with twists, revelations, insecurities, lies, manipulation, isolation, vengeance, familial dysfunction, and troubled pasts.

Overall, You Watched in Silence is a taut, atmospheric, unnerving thriller by Justine that’s relentlessly deceptive and full of eerie surprises.

 

This book is available now.

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

             

 

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About H. Lee Justine

H. Lee Justine is the author of You Watched in Silence. She is a career ghostwriter who has been featured in NPR for her work with famous clients. Maybe you've even read one of her books already. But after years of writing other people's stories, she's excited to see her own name on bookshelves. Her affinity for creepy stories started at age nine and never stopped. When she's not writing, you can find her making content on TikTok.

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