Publisher: Bookouture

Book Tour/Review – Their Final Resting Place by BR Spangler

Posted February 22, 2023 by louisesr in Review / 0 Comments

Book Tour/Review - Their Final Resting Place by BR Spangler

Book Tour/Review – Their Final Resting Place by BR SpanglerTheir Resting Place by BR Spangler
Series: Detective Casey White #8
Published by Bookouture on 21 Feb 2023
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 257
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-half-stars

Out in the field the tall stalks sway in the breeze, hiding a girl lying on the ground as if asleep. But she doesn’t stir when rain falls from the gray sky and lands on her soft cheeks. Her beautiful dark eyes stare up, unseeing, as her blood mingles with the rich brown earth.

When a member of Detective Casey White’s team turns up at her door begging for help, Casey races to find the broken body of twenty-year-old Charlie Robson abandoned in a sunflower field. Yellow petals and broken stalks scatter the ground—and Casey immediately recognizes the red markings all over Charlie’s body as arrow wounds. Heartbroken, Casey vows to find the monster who would hunt Charlie down like this.

Interviewing Charlie’s distraught mother, Casey’s blood turns to ice when she learns about a tightknit group of Charlie’s best friends who once called themselves The Sunflower Girls. They met in archery club and have drifted apart since high school. Casey knows the killer is sending a message with arrows… could the other girls be next?

But as Casey instructs her colleagues to track down the five remaining friends, another girl’s body is found, shot with arrows in her own home. Clutched in her hand is a broken sunflower petal. Turning the house upside down Casey finds a bone-chilling, one-word note: Guilty.

Someone is picking off The Sunflower Girls one by one. But why? Interviewing the four remaining girls, Casey is certain they are hiding a dark secret that stretches back to their school days. Trusting no-one, Casey will have to risk everything to track down a deadly killer… but with her own team keeping secrets too, could the real danger be much closer to home?

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I swore I wasn’t going to read another book in this series until I’d gone back to the beginning and read the rest of the series. But when Bookouture asked if I wanted to be on the tour for his new novel I just couldn’t say no.

Bodies found in sunflower fields, shot with arrows, no evidence left behind. Who l would want to kill off a group of friends who haven’t seen each other for years, and why?

I loved this book just as much as the previous one in the series and the mix of Casey’s personal life alongside the investigation cemented why I need to go back to the start and read all of these from the very beginning, even though I know where the relationships are now and I’m loving watching them grow, I want to read more details of how they got to this point.

There were so many clues and blind spots in this book, hinting to who the killer may be, I definitely didn’t have it all figured out but it had me captivated from beginning to end.

four-half-stars

About BR Spangler

B.R. Spangler is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author of Mysteries and Crime Thrillers.

A resident of Virginia with a wonderful family, including five cats, two birds and a lizard. During the day, the hours are filled with engineering work. Off hours, time is spent writing, editing, and thinking up the next great story.

With too many stories to write, books are split across pen names, writing crime thrillers, science fiction, horrors, paranormal and contemporary fiction.

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Review: Silent Little Angels by Jennifer Chase

Posted February 17, 2023 by louisesr in Review / 0 Comments

Review: Silent Little Angels by Jennifer ChaseSilent Little Angels by Jennifer Chase
Series: Detective Katie Scott #9
Published by Bookouture on April 19, 2022
Genres: suspense
Pages: 378
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-stars

The water ripples as the girl's body escapes the reeds and floats silently upwards. Her beautiful face-blue eyes frozen open, skin as white as snow-breaks the surface. But it's too late, this innocent soul has taken her final breath...

When camp counselor Carolyn Sable's body is found floating in a lake beside Eagle Ridge Summer Camp, Detective Katie Scott must dig deep to stay focused. As a child, Katie spent many happy weeks at that camp toasting marshmallows on the fire with her best friend Jenny... until the day Jenny disappeared. The loss will always haunt Katie, but Carolyn's inconsolable family need answers.

Searching the area, the devastating discovery of two more bodies sends the case into a tailspin. Suddenly on the hunt for a serial killer, Katie's blood turns to ice when she finds newspaper clippings about her own past cases planted near one of the bodies. Was this twisted killer banking on Katie taking the lead? And why?

Carolyn was adored by children and staff at the camp, so Katie thinks her sudden resignation is key to cracking the case. Uncovering a tragic accident involving a group of children the weeks before Carolyn left, Katie knows she's getting close.

But when the carefully laid trap Katie sets to catch Carolyn's killer backfires, Katie finds herself in unthinkable danger and unable to even trust her own team. Can she stay alive long enough to crack the toughest case of her career, and how many more innocent lives will be lost before she does?

When I chose this book I didn’t realise that it was part of a series (have you noticed I seem to say that a lot, I really should pay more attention). I saw the cover, thought it looked nice and then read the synopsis, I don’t think that I missed out on anything because I’d not read the earlier books in the series, but I am going to go back and start this series from the beginning.

I liked Katie as a detective, she’s a military vet which is mentioned a number of times but I didn’t think that her character really showed this off (other than in one incident towards the end of the book), if she had been a male character I felt that this would have been made more evident throughout the book rather than her constantly having to point it out to the male characters who were trying to mollycoddle her (is that a universal term?)

I did also like McGaven and thought they had a great relationship, although it was s bit weird that sometimes she seemed to be giving him orders and at others he seemed to be ordering Katie around.
I’d have liked Cisco to have featured a bit more prominently. He’s a great addition to the team.

I had my suspicions about a lot of characters throughout the book, and hadn’t guessed who the bad guy was (although I was certain who it wasn’t) and some of my suspicions did prove to be correct.

All in all a solid read and I’m excited to read the rest of the series

four-stars

About Jennifer Chase

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning author and consulting criminologist. She has authored eight crime fiction novels, including the multiple award-winning Emily Stone thriller series along with a screenwriting workbook.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor degree in police forensics and a Master’s degree in criminology. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent sociopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists.

Jennifer Chase was born and raised in California and still lives there with her husband, dogs and cats. In addition to writing and consulting, Jennifer enjoys spending time outdoors, both at the beach and hiking, and engaging in some amateur photography.

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Bookouture Tour: The Silent Dead

Posted November 7, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 0 Comments

Bookouture Tour: The Silent DeadThe Silent Dead by Marnie Riches
Series: Detective Jackie Cooke #2
Published by Bookouture on 1 Nov 22
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 325
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-half-stars

She was lying as if asleep on the wooden kitchen floor, beneath the fridge covered with a child’s colourful crayon drawings. But her frozen expression showed she would never wake again…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called out to the scene, she’s expecting a routine check. The bottle of pills on the kitchen table, next to the note with the single word SORRY written in a shaky hand, make it seem obvious what’s happened. But Jackie is shocked when she recognises her old schoolfriend Claire – and she is convinced Claire would never take her own life.

Determined to dig deeper, Jackie soon discovers evidence that proves her right: a roll of notes has been thrust down the victim’s throat. And when she finds another woman killed in the same way, she realises someone may be targeting lonely single mothers. As Jackie talks to Claire’s distraught children, one of them too young to understand his mummy is never coming home, she vows to find answers.

Both victims were in touch with someone calling himself Nice Guy – could he be the killer? Pursuing every clue, Jackie is sure she’s found a match in dead-eyed Tyler, part of a dark world of men intent on silencing women for daring to reject them. But just as she makes the arrest, another single mother is found dead – a woman who never dated at all.

Forced to re-evaluate every lead she has, with her boss pressuring her to make a case against the obvious suspect, Jackie knows she is running out of time before another innocent woman is murdered. And, as a single mother herself, she cannot help but wonder if she is in the killer’s sights. Can she uncover his true motivation and put an end to his deadly game… or will he find her first?

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I read the first book in this series last year and loved it so I was thrilled when the publishers asked me if I would be interested in reading the second book in the series.

This is a great police procedural which hurtles along at a great pace. Without wanting to give any spoilers, this book looks into the murky world of incels, something which seems to have featured in a number of books I’ve read recently and which I find fascinating yet frustrating.

I love the character of Jackie Cooke; she’s determined and commited to her role but as well you see the side of her who doesn’t want to let down her family and who has put them first on plenty of occassions. Although I’m not in the police force I can really understand those competing priorities and it’s very rare that you get an author who really shows it.

I really like the way that just as things are getting very deep and disturbing you get a peek of humour to lighten the load.

These books are available on Kindle Unlimited and most definitely worth taking your time to read. I’m really looking forward to their being more in the series

four-half-stars

About Marnie Riches

Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in north Manchester. Exchanging the spires of nearby Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a Masters in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser.

Her best-selling, award-winning George McKenzie crime thrillers were inspired by her own time spent in The Netherlands. Dubbed the Martina Cole of the North, she has also authored a series about Manchester’s notorious gangland as well as two books in a mini-series featuring quirky northern PI Bev Saunders.

Detective Jackson Cooke is Marnie’s latest heroine to root for, as she hunts down one of the most brutal killers the north west has ever seen at devastating personal cost.

When she isn’t writing gritty, twisty crime thrillers, Marnie also regularly appears on BBC Radio Manchester, commenting on social media trends and discussing the world of crime fiction. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Salford University’s Doctoral School and a tutor for the Faber Novel Writing Course.

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Book Tour: The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard

Posted September 1, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 0 Comments

Book Tour: The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard

Book Tour: The Beach Party by Amy SheppardThe Beach Party by Amy Sheppard
Published by Bookouture on 30/08/22
Narrator: Amalia Vitale
Length: 9 hrs 12 mins
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 301
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

We were all at the party. Which of us wanted her dead?

As the smoke from the bonfire spirals into the night sky and the cool drinks slip down our throats, none of us can take our eyes off Lacey. She dances in the dunes, her long golden hair damp from her late-night swim, her smile dazzling, her blue eyes closed.

Everyone who is close to Lacey sits by the smoky fire. Her adoring boyfriend, who holds onto her, perhaps a little too tightly. Her little sister, always in Lacey's shadow, sifting fine soft sand through her fingers, never taking her eyes off Lacey. And me. Sad and full of rage, after an argument forced the man I love to leave the party early.

When the fire burns out, we stumble away from the beach, along the cliff path - faces burned by the wind, hearts full of secrets. But Lacey never makes it home. The next morning, her body is found in the sand dunes, a heart-shaped locket missing from around her neck.

Who would have thought our beach party could end the way it did? Close friends gathered on the last night of a long hot summer - which one of us could have killed the girl everybody loved?

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Having grown up in a small seaside town in NW England I can see the parallels between my home town and Pengully. Small towns can feel claustrophobic when you’re a teenager and as Sheppard described the different residents I could easily match them to people that I knew.

I really liked the idea of using a podcast as the reason for looking into the case again. I’ve seen this done a few times now but I like the idea that people will talk more to others who they know than to the police.

Usually with these types of books I find it quite easy to figure out who was responsible, that didn’t happen here, I was led on a few wild goose chases and only actually figured it out a couple of pages before it was announced. I’m not sure I could have taken the same actions as Katie did at the end though – could you? I’m really interested for people’s feedback on this after reading it!!

My only niggle about this book was there was a lot of obsessing over relationships and sex and a lot of drinking. It was like they couldn’t go a day without opening a bottle of wine. Now, in fairness, at their age I was exactly the same so I think this will appeal more to people in their late teens and early twenties, which in itself is a bonus as I don’t seem to have seen a lot of NA thrillers out there.

If you’ve read A Good Girls Guide to Murder then this is very similar. We have the podcast, the murder of a teenager, the suicide of her boyfriend causing the case to be closed.

About Amy Sheppard

Amy Sheppard is a busy mum of two boys, living in Cornwall. Her obsession with making budget friendly family dinners, led her to writing two cookbooks. Amy creates recipes for her followers and for brands @amysheppardfood
Her debut novel is out in August 2022. A psychological thriller set in Cornwall called ‘The Beach Party’

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Blog Tour: The House Sitter Book Review

Posted June 15, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 2 Comments

Blog Tour: The House Sitter Book ReviewThe House Sitter Published by Bookouture on 14 June 2022
Narrator: Kristin James
Length: 9hrs 9 mins
Genres: Thriller
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-stars

‘You’re just the girl I’ve been looking for,’ Iris told me, her blue eyes sparkling, when she offered me the job as her live-in helper. Little did she know, I thought the exact same about her. And she was wrong to trust me...

As I clean Iris’s large, old house in Pacific Heights, my boyfriend Seth works outside, tending to the lawn and fixing the broken gate. I can’t help but notice Iris’s steely eyes watching our every move. Does she know why we’re really here?

Most days we live in perfect harmony, but today Iris is confused. She thinks we moved in uninvited. I pass her a tablet from the medicine cabinet, knowing she’ll soon calm down and remember how lucky she is to have found us.

Later that night, the police arrive to find Iris’s perfect house turned upside down, the telephone lying on the floor, its cord severed. They walk through each room, calling out, but the house remains totally silent.

You will think you know what happened that night, but when the police discover something unexpected hidden amongst the wreckage in Iris’s bedroom, you’ll find you don’t know a thing.

Today I’m on the blog tour for The House Sitter by Ellery Kane, thank you so much to Bookouture for inviting me to take part in this.

This is actually quite difficult to review without giving anything away. There’s a lot going on, with twists upon twists but so much of it would have the potential to spoil the story for you. I was actually writing notes as I was reading with my thoughts and suspicions, and I can’t share them with you, which is really frustrating!

The book opens with a 911 call, the caller is reporting an intruder, there’s screaming, a gun shot, silence. The rest of the book is told in dual timeline, before and after. Before starts with Iris meeting Seth and Lydia, inviting them to come and work for her. After, Iris is missing, assumed dead and Seth and Lydia are living in her house. In the before we follow Iris’s developing relationship with both Seth and Lydia before her disappearance. In the after we learn more about what has happened to Iris, Lydia and Seth before they met each other. We also get to follow the police investigation as Maureen takes on her first case under the watchful (and disapproving) eye of Walt.

There’s a definite male/female split in this book, I loved all of the female characters and all of the male characters were *choose your preferred derogatory term*.

I really wished that I was reading this with a buddy. I had so many thoughts and suspicions as I was reading. I would highly recommend reading this with someone else, take nothing at face value and pay close attention to the language used, it’s very clever.

I listened to the audio of this, at the start I got very frustrated by some of the voices used by the actress but by the end I had completely changed my mind on it. They were perfect.

four-stars
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Tour: The Lost Ones

Posted June 12, 2022 by louisesr in Review / 0 Comments

Tour: The Lost OnesThe Lost Ones by Marnie Riches
Series: Detective Jackie Cooke #1
Published by Bookouture on 7th June 2022
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 338
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-stars

The girl is sitting upright, her dark brown hair arranged over her shoulders and her blue, blue eyes staring into the distance. She looks almost peaceful. But her gaze is vacant, and her skin is cold…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called to the murder scene, she is shocked by what she sees. Missing teenager Chloe Smedley has finally been found – her body left in a cold back yard, carefully posed with her bright blue eyes still open. Jackie lays a protective hand on the baby in her belly, and vows to find the brutal monster who stole Chloe’s future.

When Jackie breaks the news to Chloe’s heartbroken mother, she understands the woman’s cries only too well. Her own brother went missing as a child, the case never solved. Determined to get justice for Chloe and her family, Jackie sets to work, finding footage of the girl waving at someone the day she disappeared. Did Chloe know her killer?

But then a second body is found on the side of a busy motorway, lit up by passing cars. The only link with Chloe is the disturbing way the victim has been posed, and Jackie is convinced she is searching for a dangerous predator. Someone has been hunting missing and vulnerable people for decades, and only Jackie seems to see that they were never lost. They were taken.

Jackie’s boss refuses to believe a serial killer is on the loose and threatens to take her off the case. But then Jackie returns home to find a brightly coloured bracelet on her kitchen counter and her blood turns cold. It’s the same one her brother was wearing when he vanished. Could his disappearance be connected to the murders? Jackie will stop at nothing to catch her killer… unless he finds her first…

Today is my turn on the tour for The Lost Ones by Marnie Riches, thank you so much to the team at Bookouture for inviting me on to this.

This is the first in a new series by Marnie Riches and I am already looking forward to the next one.

Detective Jackie Cooke is an excellent character, she is what I expect from a Detective in North West England, over worked, under paid and under appreciated by her family. She has a lot going on both in her work life, trying to catch a serial killer while being held back by her boss and in her personal life, trying to cope with her mother and her errant husband as well as twin boys and a pregnancy. How she’s holding it all together is beyond me!

When Jackie is called to investigate the brutal murder of a teenager with Downs Syndrome, it brings back memories of her brothers disappearance when they were children. She’s barely got started on that murder when more body parts start to appear, not belonging to Chloe.

I loved that this included humour and that Jackie wasn’t a stick thin, can do it all detective. She was more real (more my size) and a lot more “normal” than some characters tend to be.

four-stars

About Marnie Riches

Marnie Riches grew up on a rough estate in north Manchester. Exchanging the spires of nearby Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a Masters in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser.

Her best-selling, award-winning George McKenzie crime thrillers were inspired by her own time spent in The Netherlands. Dubbed the Martina Cole of the North, she has also authored a series about Manchester’s notorious gangland as well as two books in a mini-series featuring quirky northern PI Bev Saunders.

Detective Jackson Cooke is Marnie’s latest heroine to root for, as she hunts down one of the most brutal killers the north west has ever seen at devastating personal cost.

When she isn’t writing gritty, twisty crime thrillers, Marnie also regularly appears on BBC Radio Manchester, commenting on social media trends and discussing the world of crime fiction. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Salford University’s Doctoral School and a tutor for the Faber Novel Writing Course.

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Bookouture Tour: The Daughters

Posted May 30, 2022 by louisesr in Tour / 0 Comments

Bookouture Tour: The DaughtersThe Daughters by Julia Crouch
Published by Bookouture on 26 May 2022
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 312
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-stars

My husband says his first wife’s dead.
His daughters say he killed her…

Ever since Carys married Bill, she has tried to look after his daughters. Particularly sweet, troubled Lucy, who was only six when her mother died.

Over the years, Carys has done everything she can think of to help Lucy. Now, she has found a therapist who specialises in cases like hers. His methods are unusual, but Carys is desperate.

Sitting in the sunlit waiting room, staring at the framed diplomas on the wall, Carys allows herself to hope. Then Lucy comes running out of the room, wailing, her eyes wild.

Lucy says she saw her father kill someone.

Carys is certain that the memory isn’t real. Bill wouldn’t hurt anyone.

But then a body is found buried in overgrown woods near their home. And Lucy says if they keep looking they’ll find her mother next…

I had so many mixed feelings about this book. I’ve read quite a few by Julia Crouch and I know that she is an expert at crafting a good story which will keep you guessing. But I also know that her stories are a slow burn. This started as a slow burn, more of a slow simmer really and I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to like it.

The first chapter is meeting a lot of characters, I had to read it more than once to get my head around everything. Now, I will caveat this with the fact my daughter changed bedroom this week and keeps getting lost in the middle of the night. I’m beyond tired from having to guide her round the house when she’s trying to find the loo at 1am. So, I struggled with the first chapter, but it might not be the fault of the chapter, it might just be that my head wasn’t working right.

When Lucy starts seeing a hypnotherapist she suddenly starts to remember details from her childhood, including what really happened to her mother. Are these repressed memories? Are these planted memories? Or are they just a teenagers overactive imagination?

Throughout this book I was questioning who to trust. Lucy is damaged but can you trust what she’s now saying? Is Ajay (the hypnotherapist) the real deal or is he planting things into Lucy’s head? Carys is too good to be true. Can she be trusted or is it all a facade to throw you off?

This then begs the question – Was Alice killed? Did she commit suicide? Or is she still alive?

four-stars
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Tour: Missing by KL Slater

Posted May 19, 2022 by louisesr in Tour / 1 Comment

Tour: Missing by KL SlaterMissing Published by Bookouture on 19 May 2022
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 380
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads
four-half-stars

I've known him all my life. I know he has taken my daughter. His mother says she can help me. But she's the last person I can trust...

Samuel lived next door when we were children. We were inseparable. But he didn’t like sharing me with my adored little brother. And one terrible night, he got rid of my brother forever…

Now, years later, he’s free. And my daughter is missing.

I turn on my baby girl’s unicorn nightlight and bury my face in her pillow, my heart breaking. I know Samuel has her – he blames me for ruining his life, and even after all this time, he still doesn’t like to share.

As darkness falls, there’s a knock at my door and I open it to see Samuel’s mother. She says she can help me.

I know I can’t trust her, but I don’t have a choice. With each step I take, my fear grows stronger. Can she help me find my daughter? Or does she know something about what really happened all those years ago? Something that could stop me from saving my baby girl…

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Good Morning!!

Today I’m on the Tour for Missing by KL Slater. At the start of the book we meet Jimmy, his sister Josie and their next door neighbour Samuel. Jimmy and Josie are best friends but Josie has caught the attention of their next door neighbour Samuel, a feeling that isn’t reciprocated. It isn’t long before Jimmy isn’t around any more and Samuel is serving time for his murder (not a spoiler – this is in the synopsis).

We then pick up the story 26 years later, Josie has made a life for herself and her daughter running a cafe in a town about 10 miles away. From here the story is told from multiple versions; Samuel’s and his mum Muriel’s, and primarily Josie’s.

There are a number of twists in here, some I saw coming, some were a complete shock. It was really fast paced, there was always something happening with no pause to get your breath back.

This is a book about facing up to your past, owning your actions and having the strength to say what you thought you wanted may not actually be what is best for you.

four-half-stars
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Tour: The Adoption by Jenna Kernan

Posted May 13, 2022 by louisesr in Tour / 0 Comments

Tour: The Adoption by Jenna KernanThe Adoption by Jenna Kernan
Published by Bookouture on 11 May, 2022
Length: 12 hrs 16 mins
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 407
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Buy on AmazonBuy on Bookshop

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Goodreads

Your little girl is all yours… isn’t she?

Dani and her husband Tate’s life together is almost perfect. But Dani is haunted by guilt for causing a terrible car accident that left her unable to have children. She can’t remember why she was driving so fast that day or where she was going. Her therapist says she should try to move on.

So when their application to adopt is accepted, Dani sobs with joy. As perfect little Willow nestles in her arms, Dani looks at Tate’s loving smile and knows he will always provide for his family, no matter what.

When Dani sees a woman staring as she pushes Willow’s stroller around the safe, gated Florida community where they live, she tells herself it’s simply an admiring passer-by. After all, Dani herself used to watch the local moms and wish she was in their shoes.

But when Dani wakes in the night to find Willow’s crib empty, their perfect life becomes a nightmare.

In her frantic distress for her daughter, Dani’s memories of the accident flash through her mind. And with a jolt she realises: everyone around her has been lying about that day.

Will Dani find out the truth before it’s too late for her baby girl?

Or will facing her own dark secrets tear them all apart?

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Today I’m on the Bookouture book tour for The Adoption by Jenna Kernan.

My first thought about this is that the premise is incorrect. The adoption is a very small part of the narrative. It’s not the focus of the book by a long shot. The baby itself doesn’t show up until half way through the book and even then it’s not the main part of the storyline. That being said, I did enjoy the book, just because it wasn’t what I expected doesn’t mean it wasn’t good.

I felt for Dani, she’d been through a lot and it had obviously had a major effect on her, Tate was untrustworthy, I never really felt that Dani was safe with him. He pushed her too hard too fast, I wanted to give him the squint eye.

The start of the book is a lot of scene setting but the last quarter has twist after twist. One of them I was pretty certain of before it was announced, the other had all the hints there, I’d made a note of things I’d noticed that didn’t add up and it still didn’t quite trigger in my mind, a version of it was debated but I never quite managed to get my head around it. I think if the first half of the book was condensed I would have given this another star, but it was well worth the voyage through the first half to get to the more enjoyable second half.

About Jenna Kernan

Publishers Weekly bestselling author Jenna Kernan is a Silver Falchion nominee and winner of the Book Buyers’ Best award. Her new gripping crime thrillers feature a criminal psychologist, and daughter of an infamous female serial killer, facing a series of murders in Florida. Look for A Killer’s Daughter and The Hunted Girls, out now. Jenna is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Florida Mystery Writers and Novelists, Inc. A natural redhead living with her husband on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Jenna has recently increased her sunblock to SPF 50.

Jenna offers a FREE BOOK as a welcome gift to new VIP Readers. Subscribe here: http://littl.ink/GripThriller7

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Tour – The Lost Bones by Ruhi Choudhary

Posted May 11, 2022 by louisesr in Review, Tour / 0 Comments

Tour – The Lost Bones by Ruhi ChoudharyThe Lost Bones by Ruhi Choudhary
Series: Mackenzie Price #5
Published by Bookouture on May 9, 2022
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 332
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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four-half-stars

The woman’s skin was almost transparent. Her light hair darkened at the tips. Her lips were blue and slightly parted. But all Mackenzie could focus on were the eyes. Those arctic eyes that looked glassy like glistening marbles. She could see her own reflection in them staring back at her. The woman looked almost like a carefully crafted doll.

Detective Mackenzie Price knows what makes a killer tick. But when she finds the body of a young woman dumped in the trunk of her car, she knows this case is going to be the most personal and twisted yet.

Looking down at the victim, Mack recognises her instantly: Sophie Fields, the fiancée of Mack’s co-worker who vanished months before. Reeling in shock, Mack keeps one crucial piece of evidence to herself, too horrified to share it: a crumpled piece of paper bearing the words “You’re welcome, Mackenzie.”

As Mack pieces together Sophie’s last known movements, another body is found with a note. This time the victim is Courtney Montenegro, Mack’s childhood bully. As Mack looks at the note it becomes clear that the killer has an unusual MO: they want to protect her at all costs. But why?

The only evidence connecting the victims are identical pieces of material left at both crime scenes. With no other leads, Mack unearths a cold case which may lead her to the killer. Sophie had a sister who disappeared years before. Did she get too close to the truth and pay the ultimate price?

With an obsessive killer still on the loose, Mack knows that she needs to get deep inside their mind to work out who is next on the hit list. Can she get to the killer in time before someone close to her loses their life?

A completely gripping read that will have you on the edge of your seat, this addictive crime thriller is perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Today is my stop on the Bookouture tour for The Lost Bones by Ruhi Choudhary. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book as I agreed to read it before I realised that it was the 5th book in a series and I prefer to read a series in order, however, I felt that this worked well as a standalone and I didn’t think that I was missing anything within the story by not having all the background.

The book opens with Mackenzie “Mack” Price returning from a run and finding the body of her colleagues fiancee in the boot of her car, as the body count keeps increasing it becomes apparent that the murderer is choosing people with a relationship to Mack. With cryptic messages being left for her, the town turning against her and the people in power all in a secret club Mack and Nick have got their work cut out for them.

I loved Sully, the boss who needs something to do with his hands in order to think. Every scene he’s in there’s a different hobby taking place in his hands. I found this really unique – and it’s not often that there’s a unique character in books any more!

I thought I knew how it was going to end, who the bad guy was going to be. I was certain, as we approached the end – yes!! I was right! Feelings of smugness followed. I kept on reading. Two pages later.. doh! I was wrong, everything was turned on it’s head again. I love it when a book can do this to you.

I’ve already downloaded the first book in the series to start reading all of the others.

The whole series is available on Kindle Unlimited.

four-half-stars

About Ruhi Choudhary

Ruhi Choudhary discovered her passion for writing when she was seven years old and wrote her first Star Trek episode. Being a fan of the dark and twisted, she found her calling in crime thriller.

She likes to write stories that make you a little uncomfortable and characters that you struggle to make up your mind about but stay with you.

She lives in Toronto and spends her days training to be a scientist and wishing it rained more often!

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