“If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.” Well… THAT got my attention. Ruby Cooper is 16 when something horrible happens — something that ultimately tears her family apart. And the further Ruby and her sister Erin travel down their own paths, the more impossible it seems that their family will ever be put back together. And let me tell you… the things some of these characters DO. My jaw literally dropped several times while reading this. The sheer

With the authorities closing in and more lives on the line, there’s only one way out, for himself and the people he cares about: revenge. In Hollywood Payback by Jon Lindstrom, Jake Ferguson threw his life away more than two decades ago, and he’s done his time behind bars. Now, as he re-enters society, he realizes the world has changed vastly since he was last free. And now, all he wants to do is settle into a quiet life. It’s just too bad that other people have alternate pla

In Max Doty’s The House That Eats The Dead, a family moves into their dream home under almost too-good-to-be-true circumstances, only to find out that the house itself has an insatiable hunger. And what it’s craving isn’t ice cream or carbs. And as the hunger intensifies, the family starts to lose control. I was lucky to be sent this ARC by Bantam, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House, in exchange for my honest review. But first, I want to say a big thank you to Max Do

Three gal pals, Hope, Ash, and Caro decide to go on a little girls trip and disappear from their lives for a little bit of time in this novel. These girls met when they joined a book club, and their friendships took off from there. When each woman seems to be at a difficult point in their lives, they decide to go on this little trip and get away from it all. But we learn quickly that the books they read for their club aren’t the only things hiding secrets. My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ M

“And if her parents had ever given her a proper dollhouse, she would probably have turned it into a crime scene, and it would’ve been great.” Ooooh, doesn’t that quote just make you so happy? When six struggling, “mid-list” authors are invited to spend the weekend at an author’s private island, they arrive to discover a shocking twist: this famous author is dead! And he died before finishing his final book. These authors have been invited in to ghostwrite the ending of the bo

Alice is trying to deal with the fact that she has killed a man. A young man was breaking into her home, a home where her young daughter and two friends were having a play date, and she jumped into action to keep those little girls safe. Charges are not laid against her, as she was found to have been acting in self-defence, and her friends and family tell her to try to move on from it all. But, of course, Alice can’t move on. She still has no idea why this young man busted in

One isolated cabin. One cheating boyfriend. One plan to get even. But wait a minute, there are THREE leading ladies in this revenge story! Nora, Cham and Ruby all discover they’ve been dating the same man, and he’s done some dirty, dirty deeds. So, of course, they hatch a plan for some payback, and it goes horribly wrong. I mean, what do you expect to happen in an isolated mountain cabin during a horrible snowstorm? I was fortunate to receive this ARC from Poisoned Pen Pres

Tess and Allie have been best friends since childhood. Allie is a self-made travel influencer, and Tess is a legal assistant trying to put herself through law school and working for Allie part-time. Allie and Tess go caving one day, but as they start descending into this cave, they realize they’re not alone. And when this person follows them down, what was supposed to be a fun day has turned into a race for survival. My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My thoughts about Her Last Breath: As

Slasher season has officially arrived with E. L. Chen’s new book! When small-town Cedar Lake Falls plans to tear down the infamous cabin where “Slasher” was filmed, a group of friends decides to rent it out for one last hurrah to soak in all the movie memories. At first, the friends take the creepy happenings as funny pranks. But when it becomes clear that the group is being stalked by an unknown assailant, maybe the group is getting a little too close to the events of the mo

Now, what can I say about Wolf Hour that won’t give too much away? Let’s stick to five things: This is a story set in 2016 Minneapolis, but also in 2022. Gang violence, mysterious murderers, and a very clear suspect. Cops… some great, some not so great, and one who is suspended but doesn’t really listen to that. The murderer and another main character share a tragic past. Taxidermy. That’s all I’ll say on that. My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My thoughts I thought the story was great! Th

Ernest Cunningham has never been held hostage before, but he’s getting the full real-life experience in this latest Ernest Cunningham book! And once the doors are chained shut and there’s a murder at the bank during the “heist”, we are officially in a locked-room mystery. And those are what Ernest is best at solving. But who could’ve done it? What is each person doing at the bank on this specific day? That’s what we, as readers, get to find out! My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My thoug

Marcus Kliewer’s The Caretaker is about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job that she found on Craigslist, who then discovers that the position has far greater consequences than she could have ever imagined. Far greater and far more dangerous. And what started as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare for Macy Mullins, and it could change her life forever. My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My thoughts There’s no way that I could give The Caretaker anything other than a

When Rain Winter was 12, she and her friends experienced something horrific: she was nearly abducted by a deranged man, and when he couldn’t get her, he took her friends. Then, after the abductor is released from prison, someone murders him. Many years later, Rain is living a nice suburban life with her husband and daughter, when another man is murdered—a man who may or may not have “deserved” his ending. Rain, who is now a journalist, is drawn to the story for some unexplain

We’re back in the world where S.C.Y.T.H.E. agents capture souls after death and transport them to the afterlife they’re destined for. This time, we’re with a completely different cast of characters, and we’re focusing on Nora, a S.C.Y.T.H.E. administrative assistant, and her brother, who is now the next on Death’s list. So what does Nora do? She steals the file, of course, and essentially kidnaps her brother and travels to Canada. And the weirdness really ramps up then. My R

We have a set-in-Canada debut thriller from Emma White that features four friends/book club besties who are about to go out for a little reading retreat on a beautiful lake, in a secluded cabin. This weekend is all about getting trashed on rosé and reading and talking about books, but one morning, a member of their group is found dead on the shore. But what really happened? These women are all hiding many, many secrets, but how far will they go to cover it all up? I had the c

The Impossible Fortune is the fifth instalment in The Thursday Murder Club series. I feel like sharing any of what the book is about will give too many spoilers for those who haven’t read the other books yet, so I’ll do my best to keep it very surface-level. This book features a wedding, and one of our Murder Club members has been busy preparing for it for a long time. Another club member is grieving and not totally themselves, but a new mystery might wake them up from their

You Belong Here by Megan Miranda is, at its core, about how far a mother will go to protect her daughter. When this mom sends her daughter off to university at her alma mater, a place she vowed never to return, things go very wrong, very quickly. And now, this little family must figure out how to get out of the mess they’re in safely. My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My thoughts You Belong Here is another book I read in my little book club with my mom, and it’s actually the third Megan Mi

Take a trip back in time with me! Where are we going? Maine, U.S.A. When are we travelling back to? 1789 Whom are we visiting? Martha Ballard and the residents of Hallowell What’s happening? It’s winter, the river is frozen, and what comes out of its depths shocks the people of the little village—a body. Was it a murder? Was it accidental? Martha begins investigating to find the truth about what happened, in addition to her roles as a midwife, a mother, a wife, a friend, and,

A family vacation gone wrong. Two dead bodies. One missing girl. Or is it two missing girls? One mother/aunt who is suspicious of everything and everyone. When Courtney, her family and her brother’s family all head out to a small resort on a small-town lake for a nice summer vacation, things turn out to be the furthest thing from nice you can get. Soon, her niece is missing, she’s keeping a close eye on three other children, and her husband is making choices that have her on

Gowns. Champagne. Murder. Hollywood… but make it French, for 12 days straight. Yes, I’m talking about the Cannes Film Festival, because that’s the setting of the book I’m reviewing today! Three young, ambitious, talented women are the focal point of this novel, but sadly, they can’t seem to climb the ladder and make it big in this industry. Now that they’re in Cannes, they see it as the perfect opportunity to bring their talents into the spotlight. But then a multi-million-do