Publisher: St. Martin's Press

#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 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 Things Left Unsaid by Sara Jafari @StMartinsPress #ThingsLeftUnsaid #SaraJafari #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Things Left Unsaid by Sara Jafari @StMartinsPress #ThingsLeftUnsaid #SaraJafari #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Things Left Unsaid

Author: Sara Jafari

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 15, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

When twenty-six year old Shirin Bayat bumps into Kian at a house party in London, she is taken aback by the immediate feelings that resurface. It’s been a decade since they were close friends at school, before painful events pulled them apart, suddenly and seemingly forever. Ever since, Shirin has lived with the aching weight of things left unsaid between them.

Now they’re back in each other’s lives, at a time when Shirin needs someone she can trust the most. Feeling stuck in a sea of slippery friendships and deeply burned out by her publishing job, Kian is a bright light amongst a sea of gray. There’s nothing worse than losing the person you trust most with your deepest secrets and desires, and Shirin and Kian are determined to hold tightly to each other.

But of course, life often has other plans. Will it be different this time around, or are Shirin and Kian destined to fall apart once more?

Review:

Evocative, angsty, and heartfelt!

Things Left Unsaid is a heartwarming, touching story that immerses you in a tale about confronting the past, taking risks, being true to one’s self, following your heart, and the importance of never losing sight of your own wants, needs, and dreams.

The writing is raw and impassioned. The characters are flawed, troubled, and endearing, And the plot is an engaging tale about life, heartbreak, forgiveness, friendship, family, courage, past hurts, secrets, happiness, and unconditional love.

Overall, Things Left Unsaid is an uplifting, emotive, alluring story by Jafari that reminds us that everyone who enters our lives, no matter the length of time, shapes and defines us.

 

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 Sara Jafari

Sara Jafari is a London-based British Iranian author of the novels The Mismatch and Things Left Unsaid. She is a contributor to I Will Not Be Erased and the romance anthology Who’s Loving You. Jafari also works as an editor and runs TOKEN magazine, which showcases writing and artwork by underrepresented writers and artists.

Photo Credit: Melissa Legarda

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#BookReview Climbing in Heels by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas @StMartinsPress #ClimbingInHeels #ElaineGoldsmithThomas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Climbing in Heels by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas @StMartinsPress #ClimbingInHeels #ElaineGoldsmithThomas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Climbing in Heels

Author: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 29, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Climbing in Heels, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’s debut novel, is a fictional tale of the rise of three secretaries at the hottest agency in 1980’s Hollywood, giving you a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It’s the story of friendship, betrayal, survival, standing up when they pass you by, and saying I won’t go when they want you gone. And it’s also a story about how some of those women became very much like the monsters who trained them.

Meet Beanie Rosen, the fast-talking and even faster-thinking Valley girl who knows where she wants to go, and doesn’t care if she doesn’t look the part.

Mercedes Baxter, who learned early on how to leverage the monied friends of her monied friends’ parents until she found a foothold in Hollywood.

And Ella Gaddy, a sexy free-spirit anti-debutante from a white-glove Kentucky home who shakes up any room she walks into.

Read Climbing in Heels and watch these women meet, meld, fight, strategize and climb their way into your heart.

A rollicking tale of sex, drugs, and power – in heels.

Review:

Addictive, salacious, and entertaining!

Climbing in Heels is an immersive, provocative tale that takes you into the lives of the rich, glamorous, and famous, as well as the not-so-important people of 1980s Hollywood and reminds us that not everything is always as it seems and amongst all the designer clothes and extravagant mansions there’s also an abundance of sex, power, ambition, temptation, rivalry, jealousy, and deception.

The writing is effortless and fun. The characters are self-obsessed, relentless, and driven. And the plot is a captivating mix of life, love, fame, fortune, secrets, despicable behaviours, friendship, drama, and the intricacies of movie-making.

Overall, Climbing in Heels is an exciting, seductive, amusing tale by Goldsmith-Thomas that highlights her impressive behind-the-scenes knowledge of the motion picture industry.

 

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 Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

ELAINE GOLDSMITH THOMAS began her career at the William Morris Agency and rose by the late 1980’s to become the Senior Vice President of the WMA, and later the Senior Vice President of ICM, guiding the careers of, among others, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Nicholas Cage, and Madonna. More recently, she has produced a broad, successful slate of films and television series including Maid in Manhattan, Mona Lisa Smile, Hustlers, Marry Me, Emily in Paris, The Fosters and many others.

Photo Credit: Ian Buiosi

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#BookReview Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas @StMartinsPress #ToughLuckNovel #SandraDallas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas @StMartinsPress #ToughLuckNovel #SandraDallas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Tough Luck

Author: Sandra Dallas

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 29, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this homage to True Grit, a young woman makes a perilous journey west in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father.

After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado Territory, and since then he’s sent only three letters. Still, Haidie is certain that he is alive, has struck gold, and will soon send for them.

But patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting.

Filled with vivid period detail, colorful characters, and the irreverent voice of our scrappy heroine, Tough Luck celebrates both the tenacity of youth and the persistence of the heart in the great American West.

Review:

Heart-tugging, uplifting, and evocative!

Tough Luck is an absorbing tale set in 1863 that takes you into the life of Haidie Richards, a fourteen-year-old-girl who, after her mother dies and her older brother decides to sell the farm, escapes the orphanage with her little brother and does whatever she has to in order to make her way to Denver to find their estranged father who left years ago in search of riches in the west.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are strong, courageous, and resilient. And the plot is a tender tale of life, loss, heartbreak, determination, hardship, hope, secrets, survival, love, and friendship.

Overall, Tough Luck is an atmospheric, hopeful, captivating tale by Dallas that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, personalities, and lives of the characters you can’t help but root for them.

 

This novel is now available in paperback.

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 Sandra Dallas

Sandra Dallas, dubbed “a quintessential American voice” in Vogue Magazine, is the author of over a dozen novels, including Prayers for Sale and Tallgrass, many translated into a dozen languages and optioned for films. Six-time winner of the Willa Award and four-time winner of the Spur Award, Dallas was a Business Week reporter for 25 years covering the Rocky Mountain region, and began writing fiction in 1990. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado.

Photo Credit: Povy Kendal Atchison.

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#BookReview The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict @StMartinsPress #TheQueensofCrime #MarieBenedict #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict @StMartinsPress #TheQueensofCrime #MarieBenedict #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Queens of Crime

Author: Marie Benedict

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Feb. 11, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie—a thrilling story of the five greatest women writers of the Golden Age of Mystery and their bid to solve a real-life murder.

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

Review:

Mysterious, atmospheric, and entertaining!

The Queens of Crime is a menacing, action-packed tale that takes you back to London during 1930 and into the lives of five of the most successful female crime writers of the time, including Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, as they join together to solve the murder of a young British nurse who vanished without a trace one day while on holiday with a friend in France.

The prose is descriptive and light. The characters are independent, intelligent, and intuitive. And the plot is a well-paced, captivating tale full of red herrings, amateur sleuthing, dangerous endeavours, deduction, secrets, deception, and female friendships.

Overall, The Queens of Crime is a cosy, enjoyable, satisfying tale by Benedict inspired by real-life historical figures that I devoured from start to finish and is the perfect choice for anyone who prefers their mysteries set in historical times.

 

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 Marie Benedict

Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms and Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus on history and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. She is the author of New York Times bestseller The Only Woman in the Room, Carnegie's Maid, The Other Einstein, and Lady Clementine. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #TheSnowbirds #ChristinaClancy #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #TheSnowbirds #ChristinaClancy #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Snowbirds

Author: Christina Clancy

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Feb. 4, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their “separate but together” partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face.

When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time he’s really left her.

Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be—and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.

Review:

Slow-burning, reflective, and sentimental!

The Snowbirds is an honest, compelling tale that takes you into the life of Kim who, after thirty years and two kids with her partner Grant, is struggling with how she sees the rest of her life unfolding until Grant disappears one day on a hike and the reality of a life without him makes her reassess what she really wants.

The writing is rich and smooth. The characters are independent, discontent, and flawed. And the plot, using a past/present style, is an intriguing tale about life, love, family, friendship, parenthood, independence, introspection, marital tension, and new beginnings.

Overall, The Snowbirds is a simmering, insightful, mysterious tale by Clancy that reminds us that life is unpredictable and full of curve balls, and it’s how we approach and handle these highs and lows and ups and downs that truly make all the difference.

 

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

 

About Christina Clancy

CHRISTINA CLANCY is the author of The Second Home. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine and in various literary journals, including Glimmer Train, Pleiades and Hobart. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lives in Madison, WI with her family.

Photo by James Bartelt.

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#BookReview The Housekeeper’s Secret by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheHousekeepersSecret #IonaGrey #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Housekeeper’s Secret by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheHousekeepersSecret #IonaGrey #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Housekeeper's Secret

Author: Iona Grey

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 13, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Duty, desire, and deception reside under one roof.

Standing in the remote windswept moors of Northern England, Coldwell Hall is the perfect place to hide. For the past five years, Kate Furniss has maintained her professional mask so carefully that she almost believes she is the character she has created: Coldwell’s respectable housekeeper.

It is the summer of 1911 that brings new faces above and below the stairs of Coldwell Hall―including the handsome and mysterious new footman, Jem Arden. Just as the house’s shuttered rooms open, so does Kate’s guarded heart to a love affair that is as intense as it is forbidden. But Kate can feel her control slipping as Jem harbors secrets of his own.

Told in alternating timelines from the last sun-drenched summer of the Edwardian Age to the mud-filled trenches of WWI, The Housekeeper’s Secret opens its door to a world of romance, the truths we hold onto, and the past we must let go.

Review:

Compelling, intense, and absorbing!

The Housekeeper’s Secret is a passionate, captivating tale set in England during the early 1900s that takes you into the life of Kate Furniss, a young housekeeper who, after fleeing an abusive husband and changing her name, finds her world turned upside down again when a handsome new footman arrives at Coldwell Hall who seems to be driven by secrets of his own. 

The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are determined, vulnerable, and brave. And the plot, told through a mixture of letters and narration, is an intriguing blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, betrayal, survival, danger, grief, war, friendship, violence, and forbidden love.

Overall, The Housekeeper’s Secret is an insightful, enticing, atmospheric tale by Grey that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be fully engrossed and completely invested throughout.

 

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

 

About Iona Grey

Iona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She lives in the rural North West of England with her husband and three daughters. She is the award-winning author of Letters to the Lost, and her new book The Glittering Hour is on sale October 17 2019 (UK) and December 10, 2019 (US).

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

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#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.

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

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#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

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