Format: Hardcover

#BookReview The Paris Understudy by Aurélie Thiele @AlcovePress @angelamelamud #TheParisUnderstudy #AurelieThiele #angelabookspr #AlcovePress

#BookReview The Paris Understudy by Aurélie Thiele @AlcovePress @angelamelamud #TheParisUnderstudy #AurelieThiele #angelabookspr #AlcovePress Title: The Paris Understudy

Author: Aurélie Thiele

Published by: Alcove Press on Sep. 10, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Angela Melamud

Book Rating: 9/10

This powerful debut novel brings to life the hard choices Parisians made–or failed to make–under Nazi occupation, in the tradition of Pam Jenoff and Fiona Davis.

1938. Paris Opera legend Madeleine Moreau must keep newcomer Yvonne Chevallier, whose talent she fears, off the stage. As the long-standing star of the opera, she is nowhere near ready to give up her spotlight. The perfect solution: enlist Yvonne as her understudy so she can never be upstaged. When Madeleine is invited to headline at Germany’s preeminent opera festival, she is sure this will cement her legacy. But war is looming, and when she learns that Adolf Hitler himself will be in attendance, she knows she’s made a grave error. As Madeleine makes a hurried escape back to France, Yvonne finds herself unexpectedly thrown into the limelight on the German stage.

When a newspaper photograph shows Hitler seemingly enraptured by Yvonne, Yvonne’s life is upended. While she is trying frantically to repair her reputation at home, Yvonne’s son is captured and held as a prisoner of war. Desperate to free her son, she makes an impossible choice: turn to the enemy. 

As the Nazis invade Paris, both women must decide what they are willing to do in pursuit of their art. They form an unlikely alliance, using their fame to protect themselves and the people they love from the maelstrom of history.

Painting an enrapturing portrait of resilient wartime women, The Paris Understudy is a love letter to the arts and a stark depiction of the choices we make to survive, for fans of Kate Quinn and Kristen Harmel.


Review:

Charged, intense, and intriguing!

The Paris Understudy is an enticing, absorbing tale set in France during WWII that takes you into the lives of two opera singers, the esteemed Madeleine Moreau and the up-and-coming Yvonne Chevallier, as they both veer down different paths to survive the Nazi occupation of Paris.

The prose is fluid and rich. The characters are strong, resourceful, and trustworthy. And the plot is a captivating mix of life, love, loss, secrets, passion, heartbreak, betrayal, tragedy, survival, danger, friendship, war, and opera.

Overall, The Paris Understudy is a compelling, heart-tugging, atmospheric tale by Thiele that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly in the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be fully invested.

 

This novel is available now!

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

 

       

 

 

Thank you to Alcove Press and Angela Melamud for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Aurélie Thiele

Aurélie Thiele is French American and lives in Dallas, TX. She has studied writing at the UCLA Extension School and Bennington Writing Seminars. Her love of opera started when she was a high school student and her parents would take her to the opera at La Monnaie in Brussels. 

#BookReview Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #HereOneMoment #LianeMoriarty #PenguinReads

#BookReview Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #HereOneMoment #LianeMoriarty #PenguinReads Title: Here One Moment

Author: Liane Moriarty

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Sep. 10, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 512

Format: Hardcover

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.
 
Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their deaths are far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
 
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”
 
Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
 
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die—again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
 
If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?
 
Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.


Review:

Intricate, thought-provoking, and immersive!

Here One Moment is a pensive, moving, emotionally-charged novel that takes you into the lives of a handful of people whose worlds are irrevocably changed and linked by one plane ride and a woman who feels the need to tell every passenger the age and manner in which they will die.

The prose is eloquent and intense. The characters, including all the supporting characters, are complex, conflicted, and genuine. And the plot is a compelling, sobering tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, grief, guilt, acceptance, fate, consequences, and choices.

Overall, Here One Moment will make you think and will resonate with you long after the final page. It’s an impactful, enthralling, reflective tale by Moriarty that does a remarkable job of highlighting humanities weaknesses and emotional fragility and reminds us just how important it is to appreciate all those little things in life, the moments, the sunsets, and the shared smiles.

 

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 Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret, and Truly Madly Guilty; the New York Times bestsellers Nine Perfect Strangers, What Alice Forgot, and The Last Anniversary; The Hypnotist’s Love Story; and Three Wishes. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two children.

Photo by über photography

#BookReview An Honorable Assassin by Steve Hamilton @authorsteve @BlackstoneAudio #SteveHamilton #AnHonorableAssassin #NickMasonSeries #BlackstonePublishing

#BookReview An Honorable Assassin by Steve Hamilton @authorsteve @BlackstoneAudio #SteveHamilton #AnHonorableAssassin #NickMasonSeries #BlackstonePublishing Title: An Honorable Assassin

Author: Steve Hamilton

Series: Nick Mason #3

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on Aug. 27, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 256

Format: Hardcover

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From two-time Edgar Award–winning author Steve Hamilton, An Honorable Assassin is another terrifying thriller featuring the unstoppable Nick Mason.

He was released from federal prison to a second life as an unwilling assassin, serving a major Chicago crime lord until the day he finally won his freedom.

But that freedom was a lie.

Now Mason finds himself on a plane to Jakarta, promoted to lead assassin for a vast shadow organization that reaches every corner of the globe. This time, there’s only one name on his list: Hashim Baya—otherwise known as the Crocodile—international fugitive and #1 most wanted on Interpol’s “Red Notice” list. Baya is the most dangerous and elusive criminal Mason has ever faced.

And for the first time in his career … Mason fails his mission. Baya gets away alive.

There’s only one thing he can do now: to save himself, his ex-wife, and his daughter, he must make this mission his life, hunting down the target on his own. But Mason isn’t alone in his search, because for Interpol agent Martin Sauvage, apprehending Baya has become a personal vendetta. Sauvage is a man just as haunted as Mason. And just as determined.

Never have the stakes been so high, the forces surrounding him so great. Sauvage wants Baya in prison. Mason needs him in a body bag. Assassin and cop are on a five-thousand-mile collision course, leading to a brutal final showdown—and the one man in the world who can finally show Nick Mason the way to freedom.


Review:

Action-packed, intricate, and ominous!

In this compelling third instalment in the Nick Mason series, An Honorable Assassin, Hamilton has written an adrenaline-pumping thriller that sees the recently released prisoner Mason being swept away to Jakarta by an organization that expects him to execute the criminal mastermind and financier to the deadliest terrorist groups in the world, Hashim Baya before they decide to kill his ex-wife and daughter for the fun of it.

The writing is descriptive and tight. The characters are astute, tenacious, and resilient. And the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat with its intense chapters that submerge you, page after page, into a world full of danger, deception, secrets, depravity, corruption, lies, arrogance, violence, and murder.

Overall, An Honorable Assassin is a cleverly woven, sinister, highly entertaining mystery with a good sense of urgency, great characterization, and a brisk pace that’s a fabulous addition to the Nick Mason series and a novel that really shouldn’t be missed.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Steve Hamilton

Steve Hamilton is the New York Times–bestselling author of twelve novels, most recently The Second Life of Nick Mason and Die a Stranger. His debut, A Cold Day in Paradise, won both an Edgar and a Shamus Award for Best First Novel. His standalone novel The Lock Artist was a New York Times Notable Crime Book and won an Alex Award and the Edgar Award for Best Novel. He attended the University of Michigan, where he won the prestigious Hopwood Award for writing, and now lives in Cottekill, New York, with his wife and their two children.

Photo by Franco Vogt.

#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers

#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers Title: Agony Hill

Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor

Series: Franklin Warren #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s trademark.

In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren’s new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

Warren has barely unpacked when he’s called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany—from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren’s neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows — clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty.


Review:

Astute, sinister, and immersive!

Agony Hill is an engrossing, gritty novel that takes us to Bethany, Vermont, in 1965, where newly hired state police detective Franklin Warren suddenly finds himself mixed up in a complex investigation involving the death of a local farmer that may be the result of suicide, arson, or just plain murder.

The prose is authentic and rich. The characters are flawed, intelligent, and tenacious. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling mix of family, community, intrigue, drama, secrets, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Agony Hill is a suspenseful, absorbing, atmospheric tale by Taylor that is a thoroughly enjoyable read and a fantastic start to this new Franklin Warren series.

 

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 – Minotaur Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sarah Stewart Taylor

Sarah Stewart Taylor grew up on Long Island and was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and blueberries.

Sarah is the author of THE MOUNTAINS WILD, an atmospheric thriller about a Long Island homicide detective named Maggie D'Arcy who returns to Ireland twenty-three years after the unsolved disappearance of her beloved cousin Erin in the Wicklow Mountains. When a young woman disappears and new evidence from Erin’s case is found, Maggie will have to uncover the truth about the Irish man she's never stopped loving and, in order to help Irish police save the missing woman, the truth about who Erin was and what happened to her.

It will be published by Minotaur Books on June 23, 2020.

Sarah is also the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, about an art historian who studies funerary art, "the art of death," from Minotaur Books. The first book in the series, O’ Artful Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Her non-fiction has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview Mind Games by Nora Roberts @smpromance @StMartinsPress #MindGamesNovel #NoraRoberts #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Mind Games by Nora Roberts @smpromance @StMartinsPress #MindGamesNovel #NoraRoberts #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Mind Games

Author: Nora Roberts

Published by: St. Martin's Press on May 21, 2024

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Pages: 422

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Identity presents a suspenseful new novel of tragedy and trauma, love and family, and the evil that awaits.

As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.

Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.

The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse—because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them—and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head…


Review:

Intricate, thrilling, and intense!

Mind Games is a complex, creepy thriller that takes us into the lives of the Fox family, especially Thea, as they continue to struggle with the actions, scars, repercussions, and tragedy caused by a serial killer with continual evil thoughts and intentions that are disturbingly readable by some members of the family.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are troubled, special, and vulnerable. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling tale of twists, turns, secrets, obsession, jealousy, vengeance, family, friendship, childhood trauma, unique talents, romance, and a dab of the supernatural.

Overall, Mind Games is another engrossing, heartwarming, suspenseful tale by one of my favourite authors that once again showcases her exceptional ability to delve into not only the psychological and behavioural actions of the most depraved of society but also those of the victims who have suffered or been permanently damaged by them.

 

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 Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Come Sundown, The Obsession, The Liar, and coming in December 2017, Year One -- the first book in The Chronicles of The One. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: House of Glass

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?


Review:

Ominous, edgy, and intricate!

House of Glass is a fast-paced, compelling thriller that takes you on a journey into the life of best-interest lawyer Stella Hudson as she juggles a new case involving a philandering husband, an extremely wealthy wife, a doting grandmother, a pregnant nanny who may or may not have accidentally fallen to her death, and a nine-year-old client who hasn’t uttered a word since the tragic event.

The prose is crisp and tight. The characters are secretive, protective, and vulnerable. And the plot is a complex, menacing tale of family, friendship, deception, lies, drama, manipulation, secrets, revelations, suspicious personalities, violence, and murder.

Overall, House of Glass is another suspenseful, twisty, intense tale by Pekkanen that does a remarkable job of highlighting that people aren’t always who they seem to be and that desperate people often do desperate things.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Sarah Pekkanen

SARAH PEKKANEN is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of four novels of suspense including The Golden Couple and The Wife Between Us, and the solo author of the thriller Gone Tonight. A passionate volunteer for rescue animals, she serves as an Ambassador for RRSA India and works hands-on in India to heal and vaccinate street dogs. She lives just outside of Washington, D.C., with her family.

Photo Credit: Kristina Sherk

#BookReview The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston @StMartinsPress #TheHauntingOfHecateCavendish #PaulaBrackston #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston @StMartinsPress #TheHauntingOfHecateCavendish #PaulaBrackston #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish

Author: Paula Brackston

Series: Hecate Cavendish #1

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 23, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is book one in New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston’s new, magic-infused series about Hecate Cavendish, an eccentric and feisty young woman who can see ghosts.

England, 1881. Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. But this is no ordinary collection of books. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves. The most prized artifact, however, is the medieval world map which hangs next to Hecate’s desk.

Little does she know how much the curious people and mythical creatures depicted on it will come to mean to her. Nor does she suspect that there are lost souls waiting for her in the haunted cathedral. Some will become her dearest friends. Some will seek her help in finding peace. Others will put her in great peril, and, as she quickly learns, threaten the lives of everyone she loves.


Review:

Atmospheric, whimsical, and action-packed!

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is a creative, thrilling novel that takes you to Victorian England and into the life of Hecate Cavendish, a young woman who, after starting her new job as a librarian assistant at the Hereford cathedral, quickly finds herself spending her days enthralled by a magical map, surrounded by supernatural creatures, investigating odd occurrences, communing with lost souls, protecting sacred texts, and trying her best to keep the dead away from the living.

The writing is rich and dark. The characters are spunky, inquisitive, and fearless. And the plot is an adventurous tale about life, loss, friendship, family, secrets, deception, action, wandering spirits, danger, and magical realism.

Overall, The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is an imaginative, passionate, fantastical start to a new series by Brackston that is bursting with soul-searching dilemmas, a dab of romance, dangerous endeavours, and complex, endearing characters.

 

This novel 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 Paula Brackston

PAULA BRACKSTON is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter and The Little Shop of Found Things, among others. Paula lives with her family in the historical border city of Hereford in the beautiful Wye valley. When not at her desk in her writing room, she enjoys long walks with the dog in a sublime landscape filled with the imprints of past lives and ancient times.

Photo Credit: Skyla Holman

#BookReview The Lost Victim by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #TheLostVictim #RobertBryndza #KateMarshall #KateMarshallSeries

#BookReview The Lost Victim by Robert Bryndza @RobertBryndza #TheLostVictim #RobertBryndza #KateMarshall #KateMarshallSeries Title: The Lost Victim

Author: Robert Bryndza

Series: Kate Marshall #5

Published by: Raven Street Publishing on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 326

Format: Hardcover

Source: Robert Bryndza

Book Rating: 10/10

When school girl Janey Macklin disappeared from the seedy side of London in 1988, her case went cold, with no body and no witnesses. Now, thirty years later, private detective Kate Marshall has been approached by a true crime podcast producer with an intriguing question they need her help answering: What if Janey was killed by Peter Conway, the notorious Nine Elms Cannibal?

The contract would be the most lucrative of Kate’s career, but it comes with a price of its own, dredging up a sordid, complicated past that she would sooner forget . . . one that the paparazzi are determined to keep in the headlines.

As Kate and her partner, Tristan, scour King’s Cross for clues, no two leads seem to point in the same direction. The last person to see Janey alive has already been tried, convicted, and then acquitted of her murder, Peter Conway is in poor health and fading fast, and the line between their clients and their suspects is blurring with each new revelation about the case.

With little to work from, can Tristan and Kate wade through clandestine phone calls, decades-old secrets, and deteriorating DNA evidence to solve Janey’s murder, or will she remain one of London’s countless missing persons, forever lost to time?

Can be read as a stand-alone.


Review:

Mesmerizing, dark and unpredictable!

The Lost Victim is an eerie, twisty thrill ride that takes us back to the UK, where Private Investigator Kate Marshall and her partner Tristan Harper now find themselves on the thirty-year-old cold case of a missing teen that will not only see them heading to the streets of London but will have Kate confronting the demon from her past one last time.

The writing is insightful and edgy. The characters are multifaceted, diligent, and clever. And the plot is an ominous, compelling mix of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, deduction, duplicity, mayhem, manipulation, malicious intentions, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Lost Victim is another intricate, engrossing, highly entertaining thriller by Bryndza that once again highlights his exceptional ability to write police procedurals that have well-drawn characters and disturbingly realistic storylines. It is the fifth novel in the Kate Marshall series and definitely one of my new all-time favourites.

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to Robert Bryndza for providing me with a copy in exchange for an review.

 

About Robert Bryndza

Robert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over four million copies in the English language.

His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 29 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).

Robert has released a further five novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller.

Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands and the third book, Darkness Falls, has just been published.

Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.

#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder

Author: Kerryn Mayne

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit(currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friendsreruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail–and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life–but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who’s simply unforgettable.


Review:

Surprising, captivating, and sweet!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a heartfelt, absorbing tale that takes you into the life of Lenny Marks, a socially awkward, Hobbit-loving teacher who, after receiving a letter from a parole board, struggles to come to grips with a past she thought she knew with the darker one that seems to be slowly seeping into her consciousness from memories she has suppressed for a very long time.

The writing is tender and light. The characters are quirky, endearing, and well-developed. And the plot is a compelling, hopeful tale of life, loss, secrets, resilience, abuse, friendship, revelations, childhood trauma, violence, self-identification, and moving on.

Overall, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a twisty, charming, moving tale by Mayne that is a wonderful reminder that even after suffering the most unimaginable cruelty and tragedy, humanity still has the innate ability to hope, heal, and live healthy lives.

 

This book is available now. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

       

 

 

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

 

About Kerryn Mayne

Kerryn Mayne is an author, former wedding photographer, and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn lives in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne with her husband, children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now). Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is her debut novel.

Photo Credit: Kelly Dwyer Portraiture

#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR

#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR Title: Boss Lady

Published by: Montlake Romance on Jul. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 317

Format: Hardcover

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this funny and inspiring novel from the authors of The Better Half, a mess of a heroine is desperate to resolve her past so she can finally rediscover who she was always meant to be.

Antonia “Toni” Arroyo’s protective mother has outdated notions for her daughter’s life: employ her natural beauty and marry young. But Toni has wholly different aspirations.

A promising inventor and budding entrepreneur, she fights to keep her passions alive as a financially strapped mother of twins with a job in airport transportation services that has her going in circles. One treasured frequent passenger is elderly traveler Sylvia Eisenberg, Toni’s sage but unofficial adviser and cheerleader. When Toni meets Sylvia’s grandson, Ash, a striking venture capitalist, luck just might bend her way.

With a game-changing new business endeavor in development, Toni hustles an opportunity to pitch her idea on TV’s Innovation Nation. Toni’s unexpected challenger? Her very own recently resurfaced, self-aggrandizing not-quite-ex-husband. As Toni’s interrupted past collides with her tenuous future, she is more determined than ever to follow through on her delayed dreams. Toni’s been clinging to “maybe” for so long—it’s finally time for “absolutely.”


Review:

Clever, humorous, and inspiring!

Boss Lady is a flirty, charming tale about the hardworking, driven Antonia Arroyo who, after her husband walks out and doesn’t return for more than a year learns to juggle her love of science, her extreme creativity and drive to succeed, the raising of her twin teen girls, her monotonous job in airport transportation, and the reappearance of a crush from a lifetime ago.

The prose is smooth and sharp. The characters are focused, amusing, and dependable. And the plot is a lighthearted, funny blend of life, love, introspection, friendship, awkward situations, embarrassing moments, taking chances, and the ups and downs of being a single mother and an entrepreneur.

Overall, I found Boss Lady to be a smart, simmering, entertaining read by Frank & Youmans that’s brimming with empowerment, female friendships, and delectable romance.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

ALLI FRANK: The robustness of a farm girl, the honed sophistication of a city woman, a dash of Jewish chutzpah, and a heaping cup of endurance athlete and voila, you have Alli Frank. Alli was raised in Yakima, WA, the only child of two parents who instilled in her that hard work coupled with a resilient spirit will take you far. So, up some of the highest mountains Alli climbed, down insanely steep terrain she skied and across long swathes of land she ran. To pay for all this adventure, Alli has worked in education for over 20 years in San Francisco and Seattle - from an overcrowded, cacophonous public high school to a pristine private girl’s school. She has been a teacher, curriculum leader, coach, college counselor, assistant head, private school co-founder, sometimes pastor, often mayor, and de facto parent therapist. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford Universities, Alli can still be found during the day skiing or running down mountains and by night with her nose deep in a book or hunkered down watching movies, never one to miss a great story. Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two daughters and a terribly cute mini-Bernedoodle. When she needs good food (cause she really hates to cook) she turns to her co-author Asha Youmans. Read Alli's essays in the Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology, Frolic and Medium.

ASHA YOUMANS: Raised in Seattle, WA, Asha Youmans was among the first wave of girls to integrate Little League in Washington. She was also a member of a two-time city champion Double Dutch team and rode a unicycle, tumbled, and juggled as a member of a traveling circus acrobatics team. Asha is the middle child of two dedicated community service people. Her father, TJ Vassar, was a pioneer in education in Seattle and across the globe, making such an impact in diversity curriculum and inclusive practices in schools that President Obama honored his life’s work in 2012. Her mother, Lynda, was a children’s hospital administrator who insisted on her kids participating in community volunteer work. Enrolled in gifted programs while attending public school, Asha went on to graduate from one of America’s premier private academies, Lakeside School, from which her father earned a diploma as the school’s first Black graduate. After writing her own major program and graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Asha returned to Seattle where she taught in public and private schools for 20 years. Asha is a fabulous home cook who loves storytelling and connecting with others by making them smile. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Together they have two adult sons and a feisty, senior Yorkshire Terrier.