When a book by Sally Hepworth comes out, I will want to read it. I don’t need to know anything about it, I am going to get my hands on the novel and read it cover to cover within a day. And she never disappoints. Darling Girls was an excellent read about three girls growing up in foster care. The book goes between past and present and keeps the reader hooked until the very end.
Here is the plot:
For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.
But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?
Don’t miss this novel, it comes out April 23
You don’t have to be Italian to love The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza! Inspired by the author’s own family history, prepare to lose yourself in the pages of this masterfully written novel. I just want to hop on a plane and fly to Sicily after reading this one.
This story blends history, suspense, and romance and it left me wanting more!
Here is the plot:
Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage. On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief. But Aunt Rosie’s death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret. Rosie believes Sara’s great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn’t die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered.
Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and learn the story of Serafina—a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just for herself but for all the women of her small village. Unsurprisingly the more she challenges the status quo, the more she finds herself in danger.
As Sara discovers more about Serafina, she also realizes she is coming head-to-head with the same menacing forces that took down her great-grandmother. At once an immersive multigenerational mystery and an ode to the undaunted heroism of everyday women, The Sicilian Inheritance is an atmospheric, page-turning delight.
Out now, get it!
Can we take a moment to admire the gorgeous cover of this book? Death In the Details by Katie Tietjen was inspired by a woman considered a pioneer in forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee. According the Wikipedia, she created the “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, 20 true crime scene dioramas recreated in minute detail at dollhouse scale, used for training homicide investigators.”
With that in mind, check out the plot of this novel:
Maple Bishop is ready to put WWII and the grief of losing her husband, Bill, behind her. But when she discovers that Bill left her penniless, Maple realizes she could lose her Vermont home next and sets out to make money the only way she knows how: by selling her intricately crafted dollhouses. Business is off to a good start—until Maple discovers her first customer dead, his body hanging precariously in his own barn.
Something about the supposed suicide rubs Maple the wrong way, but local authorities brush off her concerns. Determined to help them see “what’s big in what’s small,” Maple turns to what she knows best, painstakingly recreating the gruesome scene in miniature: death in a nutshell.
With the help of a rookie officer named Kenny, Maple uses her macabre miniature to dig into the dark undercurrents of her sleepy town, where everyone seems to have a secret—and a grudge. But when her nosy neighbor goes missing and she herself becomes a suspect, it’ll be up to Maple to find the devil in the details—and put him behind bars.
I love the premise of this book. I’m always looking for books with plots I haven’t seen before and this one gave me something new. I enjoyed it!
Out now.
This book broke my dry-spell of just okay books. I was eagerly turning pages to see how these kinds of disjointed events would come together. And they did! Mary Kubica is an author whose books are always fantastic, much like Sally Hepworth, Megan Miranda, Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena. You just know you are in for a good time when you pick up a book written by Mary Kubica, that’s for sure.
Here’s the plot, you don’t need to know any more than this before you jump in:
Everyone has secrets, but not everyone has remorse…
A terrible accident.
Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom and working full time as an ICU nurse, when a patient named Caitlin arrives in her ward with a traumatic brain injury. They say she jumped from a bridge and plunged over twenty feet to the train tracks below.
A shocking revelation.
When a witness comes forward with new details about Caitlin’s fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was a crime committed? Did someone actually push Caitlin, and if so, who… and why?
No one is safe.
Meghan lets herself get close to Caitlin until she’s deeply entangled in the mystery surrounding her. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims…
SO GOOD! Out now.
ANOTHER TERRIFIC BOOK!
I am so thankful when I read good book after good book. I appreciate going without a literary dry spell. Megan Miranda’s newest thriller is Daughter of Mine. The story centers around Hazel, the daughter of a detective who left her childhood home but is called back when she inherits the house. Though she moved away over ten years ago, she is pulled back to the lake community and as Hazel begins to clean out the family home, a drought occurs. With every passing day, the lake levels are receding and things are slowly revealed. Things that are not exactly pleasant.
I was completely swept up in the story along with the twists and turns in every chapter.
Here is the official synopsis:
When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.
Out now, go get this today!
Ellie is feeling hopeless, she wants to leave her super controlling husband but is having a hard time because her vision is going. That is the basic premise of For Worse by L.K. Bowen.
Ellie needs him to survive, to take her places, and to help her. Feeling like she may be able to leave this time, she joins a support group for divorced women over fifty, hoping to find friendship and support. And she does. She finds more than that.
I enjoyed parts of this book, but what did not draw me in as much was the chapters that are the messages from the chatroom, so much of the story takes place within the messages on the boards and I had a hard time focusing.
Here is the synopsis:
Ellie is leaving her husband … again.
After twenty-two years of marriage and an unsuccessful separation, she can’t take it anymore. On the surface, she has a picture-perfect relationship. Jeff has been a steadfast spouse. But what seems like loyalty is in reality an obsessive desire for control. Ellie is slowly losing her sight, which means she needs more and more assistance, and Jeff will stop at nothing to ensure she feels helpless and reliant on him alone.
Desperate to escape her psychologically abusive marriage, Ellie turns to an online chat room full of like-minded women in the throes of divorce. Despite their anonymity, these women quickly become Ellie’s closest confidantes. The chat room is a refuge, a place to which Ellie can retreat for solace and support.
Jeff continues to be manipulative and cruel, using Ellie’s failing vision to gaslight her into questioning reality itself. Desperate for freedom, she sinks deeper into the online world, and is drawn into the dark web, where she discovers a group of women with a shocking solution for ending a marriage.
This is out now!
Mark Edwards is an excellent author and I have enjoyed many of his suspenseful books including his latest, The Darkest Water. When Calvin opens a bakery in a small village, he has no idea that he’s going to attract some creeps on social media. Around the same time as the bakery opens, a man is found dead on the beach. The community is obviously scared and nervous.
Calvin’s wife Vicky encourages him to be active on social media to bring in more business, and it does…but it also brings in a strange woman who is a little too good to be true.
Here is the plot:
Calvin finally owns the bakery of his dreams, in an idyllic village in the Lake District. After reluctantly following his wife Vicky’s advice to promote it on social media, he’s thrilled when a viral clip makes him a legend overnight. But then the creepy DMs start flooding in—all from a stranger who claims she’s his biggest fan.
Meanwhile, a local recluse is found on a nearby beach, buried to his neck and left to drown, and the community goes into shock. Why would anyone want him dead? And who exactly was he? Detective Imogen Evans, new to the Lake District, is under pressure to find out before the killer strikes again.
As the murder hunt gathers pace, Calvin’s obsessive admirer turns up right on cue after his assistant is injured in an accident, and to Vicky’s horror, she’s here to stay. As events begin spiraling into darkness, is there anyone in this quiet backwater Calvin can trust—or have his mistakes already put him, and everyone he loves, in terrible danger?
Out now.
I’ve been a huge fan of Caroline Leavitt’s books going on at least twenty years if not more. When I first discovered her brilliant novels, I quickly read everything she’d written and then eagerly awaited her next novel. Every time I learn she’s coming out with something new, I cannot wait to read it and immediately add it to my Goodreads list so I have something to look forward to.
Her latest is Days of Wonder and it doesn’t disappoint. With her special way of getting the reader attached to the characters, your heart breaks a million times as you love and care for the people in this book.
Here is the plot:
As a teenager, for a moment, Ella Fitchburg found love—yearning, breathless love—that consumed both her and her boyfriend, Jude, as they wandered the streets of New York City together. But her glorious life was pulled out from beneath her after she was accused of trying to murder Jude’s father, an imperious superior court judge. When she learns she’s pregnant shortly after receiving a long prison sentence, she reluctantly decides to give up the child.
Ella is released from prison after serving only six years and is desperate to turn the page on a new life, but she can’t seem to let go of her past. With only an address as a possible lead, she moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan, determined to get her daughter back. Hiding her identity and living in a constant state of deception, she finds that what she’s been searching for all along is a way to uncover—and live with—the truth. Yet a central mystery endures: neither Jude nor Ella can remember the events leading up to the attempted murder—that fateful night which led to Ella’s conviction.
Like with all of her books, this one is deeply layered and keeps you fully engaged. I highly recommend it! Out on April 23.
I was so excited to read Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie! Especially when I saw the book took place in the 80s! YES PLEASE! Four partners in a law firm are killed in a crash and the widows are left behind to figure out what really happened. I love this premise and it vaguely reminded me of a book I read in the 1980s where a group was taken to a corporate retreat in the jungle and people began dying.
But I digress! This is an awesome premise and I feel like we need more books set in the 80s.
Here is the plot:
1985, Rhode Island.
A private jet carrying four partners of a Providence law firm crashes outside New York City, killing all aboard but leaving behind more questions than answers and setting the stage for four widows to find the truth.
Justine: a former fashion model adjusting to suburban life
Camille: a beautiful, young second wife whom some suspect is a gold digger
Meredith: a stripper who was in a relationship with the firm’s only female partner
Krystle: a founding partner’s wife committed to the firm being a legacy for her sons
While the crash is initially ruled a tragic accident, something’s not adding up: the team wasn’t supposed to be in New York that day, and it’s soon revealed there was a very large sum of cash that burned up with the plane.
The scene is as wild as ’80s neon, and the manic chase to uncover the Mafia-laced secrets gives this rip-roaring read a rad vibe that will linger long after the ’80s soundtrack fades and the hairspray fall.
This isn’t the most thought-provoking book in the world, but it sure was fun! Its out now!
David Baldacci is one of the best writers who can easily write suspense and then come out with a book like A Calamity of Souls which is incredibly detailed historical fiction. The story takes place in 1968 Virginia and involves themes of race, justice, tragedy, and redemption. Whew, what an absolutely genius story with near-perfect writing.
Here is what you need to know:
Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.
Desiree DuBose is a Black lawyer from Chicago who has devoted her life to furthering the causes of justice and equality for everyone. She comes to Freeman County and enters a fractious and unwieldy partnership with Lee in a legal battle against the best prosecutor in the Commonwealth. Yet DuBose is also aware that powerful outside forces are at work to blunt the victories achieved by the Civil Rights era.
Lee and DuBose could not be more dissimilar. On their own, neither one can stop the prosecution’s deliberate march towards a guilty verdict and the electric chair. But together, the pair fight for what once seemed impossible: a chance for a fair trial and true justice.
Just published, get it now!
Don’t Let Her In by Joanne Ryan is about Lena, a woman who just moved into a new neighborhood. Coincidentally, her neighbors (all of them have their secrets and dysfunction) begin to receive threatening letters. But Lena doesn’t get any which is of course, immediately suspicious. Who is out to ruin her? It couldn’t be her ex-partner Gareth who cheated on her, so who is it? And why?
Told through various points of view, the book was twisty and entertaining!
Here is what you need to know:
Lena just moved to Mandalay Close. She needed a new start, since her boyfriend cheated her out of the happy-ever-after she’d believed they were always going to share.
But on the day Lena moves in, letters begin to arrive for all her new neighbours. Letters that promise to expose everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. Every house has received one – except for Lena’s.
Someone clearly wants to implicate her, to ruin her new life and turn everyone against her. She’s made an enemy, but who, and why? Everyone seems so nice, so trustworthy. So normal.
As more bad things happen and her life rapidly spins out of control, Lena finds herself unable to believe this is happening to her. After all, she’s not a bad person. Though she does have secrets of her own, secrets that she’s not willing to share with anyone…
Out on April 18!
As soon as I opened the first page of The Chef, I knew I was going to like this book by Robin Mahle.
The novel centers around a crazy chef and the couple who are forced to deal with him. Not many books I read take place in a restaurant, so I appreciated the setting. The characters, pacing, and plot were all perfectly balanced and I liked the twists and turns the book took here and there.
This seemed long, it took me a few days to finish it, but I was glued to the pages to see what happened next. Solid suspense!
Here is the plot:
Hiring him might be the most dangerous mistake I ever made . . .
I started as a server in a New York restaurant. That’s where I met my husband, Dante.Now we’re opening our own restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s our dream come true.
But it’s turning into a nightmare. We’re nearly out of money. I had to fire our head chef after he ‘accidentally’ stabbed me. And now I’ve caught my husband flirting with a waitress. He used to flirt with me like that.
Then Chef Marco shows up. The answer to our prayers. He’s cooked in top restaurants all over Europe. He also has the most stunning green eyes. We hire him on the spot.
That’s when the nightmare really begins . . .
This was such a good read and I was entertained from start to finish! The Chef is out now.
I have seen nothing but praise for The Beautiful People by Michelle Gable. I loved this one, set in the 1960s- about a woman who gets a job assisting photographer Slim Aarons. You are probably familiar with Slim’s work, one of the most famous being this:
Everything about this time period makes me wish I lived back then. From the clothes to the hairstyles to the music, I love it all. This book was such a treat to read. I wanted to crawl into the pages and live in Margo’s world for a while.
Here is what you need to know:
It’s 1961, and for Margo Hightower, everything is about to change. True, her engagement is off, her family has fallen in scandal, and she’s completely broke. But she’s just been hired as assistant to photographer Slim Aarons—famous for his vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars—and she knows this opportunity is her ticket to something better.
From the bright beaches of Acapulco to glitzy parties in New York, Margo is thrown headfirst into the glamorous jet-set world she so covets, observing its ways from behind the camera as Slim’s sidekick. There’s Jackie Kennedy, Truman Capote and his Swans, a host of Vanderbilts. Beautiful people in beautiful places.
But when they land in Palm Beach, a scene with few rules and many riches, the lines between work and play begin to blur. As Margo becomes swept up in the city’s social circle—and into a friendship with heiress and rising fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer—the golden life seems increasingly in reach. Until she finds herself entangled in a complicated web of loyalties and secrets that could bring it all crashing down…
Highly recommended, get this one now and start reading!
This didn’t feel like a usual Freida McFadden book, it felt different to me from the start, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. It took me a little while to get into the story but once I was hooked, I had to keep reading to see what would happen next!
One by One was nerve-wracking and I kept finding myself trusting and then not trusting each character. In the end, I didn’t trust any of these people and I can say that I never want to go camping in a group, ever.
I still cannot put my finger on what makes it different from the author’s other books but it was a good read! I have yet to read a book by Freida that I didn’t like.
Here is the synopsis:
Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life.
Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire’s minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate and, hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.
As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by what—or who? As Claire’s dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.
Out now!
I just started this one and was immediately pulled into the story of a struggling writer. I can so relate! The Writer by Miranda Smith is a page-turning suspense that moves quickly and is the perfect book to get you out of a reading slump. The writing flows, the character is sympathetic, and her struggles are real. I love books like this that deliver on the promise of being a fun, quick thriller.
Towards the second half of this story, I kept reading faster and faster. I stayed up late just so I had answers. I HAD no know who and why!
Here’s the synopsis:
Her body was found close to the university. She was on her way home after a night out. Just like in the story I wrote…
Every Monday, I meet my writing group in a warm, lively bar to drink a glass of wine or two. It’s the highlight of my week. But now something terrible is happening.
At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal. My tires were slashed. A woman was hit by a car outside my apartment. Then, yesterday, someone was murdered. And all the details are copied from the stories we shared.
Am I going mad, or is someone in my group a killer?
I thought they were the only people I could trust, since what happened ten years ago. But now I’m terrified one of them knows the truth that lies buried in all my work—the secret I’ve tried so hard to hide. And they want to make me pay for it.
I have to know who’s bringing my stories to life… but will the answer cost me everything?
This book is out now! Borrow it for free with Kindle Unlimited.
