Publisher: Scout Press

#BookReview My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyDarlingGirl #JenniferMcMahon #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyDarlingGirl #JenniferMcMahon #SimonSchusterCA Title: My Darling Girl

Author: Jennifer McMahon

Published by: Scout Press on Oct. 3, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.

Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of.

But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’s arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family.


Review:

Atmospheric, menacing, and dark!

My Darling Girl is an eerie, gripping, multi-generational story that transports you to Vermont and into the life of Alison O’Connor, who after surviving a traumatic childhood littered with unpredictability and abuse, is wary of having her terminally ill mother come home to die but is determined to do whatever it takes to protect those she loves from the charming yet pure evil that seems to be lingering nearby while she’s living under their roof.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are multilayered, vulnerable, and troubled. And the plot, told in a back-and-forth style, is an unsettling tale of life, loss, tragedy, desperation, familial drama, secrets, tortured souls, supernatural phenomena, and the complex relationships that exist between mothers and daughters.

Overall, My Darling Girl is a haunting, ominous, chilling tale that kept me engaged and intrigued from start to finish and is undoubtedly once again another unique, creative, frightening tale by McMahon.

 

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 Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon is the author of nine novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Promise Not to Tell and The Winter People. She lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

Photograph by Zella McMahon.

#BookReview Zero Days by Ruth Ware @RuthWareWriter @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #ZeroDays #RuthWare #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Zero Days by Ruth Ware @RuthWareWriter @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #ZeroDays #RuthWare #SimonSchusterCA Title: Zero Days

Author: Ruth Ware

Published by: Scout Press on Jun. 20, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

An adrenaline-fueled thriller that combines Mr. and Mrs. Smith with The Fugitive about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery.


Review:

Addictive, propulsive, and suspenseful!

Zero Days is a fast-paced, sinister page-turner that takes you into the life of Jacintha “Jack” Cross, a security penetration specialist who, after returning home from a job one night to find her husband murdered and his hard drive gone, suddenly finds herself on the run and determined to do whatever it takes to hunt down and discover the who and why that lead to her husband’s senseless death when it quickly becomes apparent that as far as the police are concerned she’s suspect number one.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are impulsive, driven, and resourceful. And the plot is an intricate, captivating tall full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, greed, red herrings, corruption, malicious intentions, and murder.

Overall, Zero Days is an exhilarating, twisty, action-packed thrill ride by Ware that is one of my favourite novels I’ve read by her in the past few years. It not only did a great job of keeping me on the edge of my seat from start to finish but was an eerie reminder of just how vulnerable and susceptible our dependence on technology and social media truly makes us.

 

This book 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 Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer, and is The New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark WoodThe Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game. Her latest book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, will be available in May 2018. She is married with two small children.

#BookReview The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #TheDrowningKind #JenniferMcMahon

#BookReview The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #TheDrowningKind #JenniferMcMahon Title: The Drowning Kind

Author: Jennifer McMahon

Published by: Scout Press on Apr. 6, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Be careful what you wish for.

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.


Review:

Intricate, haunting, and imaginative!

In this latest novel by McMahon, The Drowning Kind, she transports us to Bradenburg, Vermont during 1929, as well as present-day, and into the family estate, Sparrow Crest, where emotions run high, tragedy seems to strike, tales are told, secrets are kept, skeletons are long buried, and the spring-fed pool provides hope and healing but only at a very steep price.

The prose is dark and tight. The characters are damaged, unsettled, and vulnerable. And the plot told from alternating timelines is a suspenseful tale of tension, desperation, loss, familial drama, tortured spirits, dark magic, supernatural phenomenon, and the dynamic relationship between sisters.

Overall, The Drowning Kind is a tragic, engrossing, mystical tale by McMahon that does a beautiful job of reminding us that often the choices we make have far-reaching consequences.

 

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 providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon is the author of nine novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Promise Not to Tell and The Winter People. She lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

Photograph by Zella McMahon.

#BookReview One by One by Ruth Ware @RuthWareWriter @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #OnebyOne #RuthWare

#BookReview One by One by Ruth Ware @RuthWareWriter @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #OnebyOne #RuthWare Title: One by One

Author: Ruth Ware

Published by: Scout Press on Sep. 8, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 7.5/10

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?

When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?


Review:

Intense, pacey, and suspenseful!

One by One is a menacing, locked-door thriller that sweeps you away to a secluded chalet in the French Alps and into the lives of nine people employed or formerly employed by the social media company, Swoop, and two chalet employees as they grapple to survive an avalanche that leaves them stranded without power or cell service and a killer amongst them who seems determined to wreak revenge at any cost.

The prose is precise and clear. The characters are multilayered, self-absorbed, and secretive. The setting is a character in itself with its claustrophobic environment and isolation. And the plot told from dual perspectives unfolds and unravels quickly into an ominous tale full of jealousy, hatred, deception, greed, manipulation, desperation, obsession, violence, and murder.

Overall, One by One is a taut, atmospheric, action-packed whodunit that could have had a few more twists and a little less predictability but was nevertheless intriguing from start to finish.

 

This book 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 providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer, and is The New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark WoodThe Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game. Her latest book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, will be available in May 2018. She is married with two small children.