Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books

Date of publication: July 27th 2021

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | WorldCat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

A young woman’s escalating obsession with a seemingly perfect man leads her down a dangerous path in this novel of suspense brimming with envy, desire, and deception.

Eyes aren’t the windows to the soul. Emails are.

Cassie Woodson is adrift. After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie finds the only way she can pay her bills is to take a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. The daily drudgery amplifies all that her life is lacking–love, friends, stability–and leaves her with too much time on her hands, which she spends fixating on the mistakes that brought her to this point.

While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. Cassie knows she shouldn’t read them. But it’s just one look. And once that door opens, she finds she can’t look away.

Every day, twenty floors below Forest’s corner office, Cassie dissects their emails from her dingy workstation. A few clicks of her mouse and she can see every adoring word they write to each other. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness, reveling in their penchant for vintage wines, morning juice presses, and lavish dinner parties thrown in their stately Westchester home. There are no secrets from her. Or so she thinks.

Her admiration quickly escalates into all-out mimicry, because she wants this life more than anything. Maybe if she plays make-believe long enough, it will become real for her. But when Cassie orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle–she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.

First Line:

As I stepped off the elevator on the second floor, I found myself silently begging for a calamity.
Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron

I was super excited to start reading Just One Look. The blurb did its job and hooked me. I needed to know what happened to Cassie and where her fixation was going with Forest/Annabelle.

Just One Look had an exciting plotline. Cassie is a disgraced lawyer who is now working as a temp in another law firm. Her job at the temp agency is to read through emails and see if they are relevant to the fraud suit. By accident, Cassie reads an email from a hotshot lawyer named Forest to his wife Annabelle and becomes obsessed. Her obsession takes her down a dangerous path, where she finds that not all is what it seems. That what is read in an email isn’t exactly the whole truth.

The plotline for Just One Look was medium-paced. There was a lot of time explaining the fraud case and the inner workings of firms (which I had zero interest in). That did slow down the plot at the beginning of the book. Cassie’s vague references to what happened to her months earlier also dragged down the pace for me. “The Incident” was not fully explained until halfway through the book. Until then, it was up to me to imagine what happened (and no, it was nothing like I imagined). There was also some lag in the middle of the book (right around when Dalton died). But that lag didn’t last long. The author was able to get the book back on track.

Cassie was a hot mess and she knew it. She drank too much and she obsessed over her ex-boyfriend. She also looked down on her coworkers (mainly because she was once a hotshot lawyer). I found her annoying and immature for most of the book. But, when her obsession with Forest/Annabelle started, I knew I was in for a ride. And man, what a ride it was.

The mystery angle of the book was well written. What happened and who killed Dalton took me by surprise. There were also two twists in the plotline that made my mouth drop. I called one of them but the other I didn’t.

The stalker angle of the book was very creepy to read. I understood why Cassie latched onto Forest/Annabelle. But as that storyline progressed, I was mentally telling her to stop. It didn’t surprise me when that storyline ended the way it did. It made for some great, tense reading, but no surprise on my end.

The end of the book was anti-climatic after the explosive ending to the stalker and mystery angles. I didn’t quite understand why the author chose to go the route she did, but in the end, I was happy she did it. I like seeing what happens after a character goes through what Cassie did. But it also showed that no matter how much someone tries to change, they are the same person deep down.

I would recommend Just One Look to anyone over the age of 21. There are sexual situations, mild violence, mild language, and alcohol use/abuse.

Evil Eye: A Slasher Story by April A. Taylor

Publisher: Midnight Grasshopper Books

Date of publication: August 3rd 2021

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Purchase Links: Amazon

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Author

Goodreads Synopsis:

During the eye of a hurricane, evil strikes.

Six strangers get stuck on an island during a roaring hurricane. They have nothing in common, but five of them will have to join forces to survive the night. Meanwhile, the sixth wants nothing more than to kill every single one of them.

Join Annette, Chad, Heather, Spencer, and Kate on the worst night of their lives. Can they survive or will the killer maniacally laugh while eviscerating them? Filled with gore, terror, and the little moments between humans that can make or break their budding friendships.

First Line:

Annette tried to coax her vehicle into starting, but it was having none of it.
Evil Eye: A Slasher Story by April A. Taylor

I will be very blunt; I am not a big fan of slasher books (or films, if I am brutally honest). I surprised myself when I agreed to review the book after I had read the blurb. I was in the mood to read something different. And this book was different. A good difference, and I am glad that I read it.

The plotline for Evil Eye was simple. An island in Florida was evacuating due to an incoming hurricane. Once everything was cleared, six people were left on the island and a killer who has plans for them. After herding them together, the killer slowly picks them off, one by one. Who will survive? And why are they being targeted?

Evil Eye had a very fast-moving plotline with no lag. That surprised me. I thought that there would be at least some lag when everyone got together, but the author kept the plotline zipping along. I loved it!!

I will admit that I wished there was more time to introduce the characters and maybe get more background. But, I realized that that wasn’t going to happen pretty early in the book, and I was OK with it.

Because this is a horror book (based on slasher films), there is much gore. It starts pretty early in the book, and the killer is very creative with how he kills his victims.

The author did a great job of keeping who the killer was and why those people were singled out under wraps. There were a couple of twists to that plotline that made me scream when they were revealed!!!

The end of Evil Eye was part of those twists that made me scream. Not only was it a cliffhanger, but there was a big reveal that made me scream (see above). I was taken aback by what was revealed and by the phone call!!

I would recommend Evil Eye to anyone over the age of 21. There is violence, gore, and mild language.

Where the Truth Lies by Anna Bailey

Publisher: Atria Books

Date of publication: August 3rd, 2021

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Google Play | WorldCat

Trigger Warning: Homophobia, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, General Violence

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

The town of Whistling Ridge guards its secrets.

When seventeen-year-old Abigail goes missing, her best friend Emma, compelled by the guilt of leaving her alone at a party in the woods, sets out to discover the truth about what happened. The police initially believe Abi ran away, but Emma doesn’t believe that her friend would leave without her, and when officers find disturbing evidence in the nearby woods, the festering secrets and longstanding resentment of both Abigail’s family and the people of Whistling Ridge, Colorado begin to surface with devastating consequences.

Among those secrets: Abi’s older brother Noah’s passionate, dangerous love for the handsome Rat, a recently arrived Romanian immigrant who has recently made his home in the trailer park in town; her younger brother Jude’s feeling that he knows information he should tell the police, if only he could put it into words; Abi’s father’s mercurial, unpredictable rages and her mother’s silence. Then there is the rest of Whistling Ridge, where a charismatic preacher advocates for God’s love in language that mirrors violence, under the sway of the powerful businessman who rules the town, insular and wary of outsiders.

But Abi had secrets, too, and the closer Emma grows to unraveling the past, the farther she feels from her friend. And in a tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark—the truth of what really happened that night—to change their community forever.

First Line:

The roar of the bonfire is hard to distinguish from the sound of the trailer-park boys and the schoolgirls who holler and dance in the shadow of the Tall Bones.
Where the Truth Lies by Anna Bailey

Review:

I am going to be very blunt. This was not an easy book to read. It disturbed me on such a level that I had to take a break from it. While on that small break, I thought about what I read and how it was so relevant to what goes on in small, secular towns and, to be honest, not so small and not so secular towns. So, I will say this: Read this book and keep in mind that places like Whistling Ridge exist and in those towns, people like the ones portrayed.

The pacing of Where the Truth Lies started at a fast pace and kept gaining momentum until the ending. There were points in the book where it was almost too much (because of everything that was going on). For a fast-paced book, there was little lag which surprised me. I expected more because of how frantic the pacing got at the end.

The book starts with Abi disappearing from a bonfire and Emma beginning to look into it. She befriends a Gypsy man who was among the last people to see Abi alive. Then the author let’s open the gates of “WTF.” The racism that is shown to both Rat (the Gypsy) and Emma was disturbing to read. My heart hurt for them both.

Noah, Jude, Dolly, and Samuel are then introduced. They are Abi’s older brother, younger brother, mother, and father. Samuel is a Vietnam Veteran with PTSD coupled with severe anger and violence issues. He is a devout Christian who follows the Scripture closely. I couldn’t stand him, and I couldn’t find a little bit of pity when the author went into his backstory. I will warn that the abuse he puts his family through is graphic. There were a few times where I had to put my Kindle down because I was getting triggered. But I kept going.

Noah’s story arc was the saddest (well, besides Abi). He was gay, living with a homophobe, and a mother would couldn’t (and wouldn’t) protect him. He was forced to go to conversion therapy with the very slimy preacher, and when it didn’t work (because, you know, you can’t change who someone is), he was almost forced to go through it again. No wonder he wasn’t more screwed up. But, his relationship with Rat was beautiful to read. Not getting more into it, but I was moved by the depth of devotion Rat had for Noah.

The rest of the town is introduced, and I couldn’t get over how small-minded they were. Distrustful and racist of anyone who wasn’t white (and that included Emma, who was raised there), they were also quick to follow the lead of the preacher and Hunter’s father. So, I wasn’t surprised at the scene in the middle of the book when mob mentality took over, and the mob burned Rat’s trailer. But I was surprised at Dolly’s sudden change of heart when it came to Noah.

Abi’s disappearance is still the main storyline. I figured, like the police, that she had taken off until the police found something. Then my focus shifted to who would have killed her.

The end of the book had a lot going on. There was a massive twist in Abi’s storyline. One I didn’t see coming and surprised me when it showed it. I also didn’t see the twist that came with the Blake family storyline. If only Jude had come forward with what he had seen earlier and if only Dolly had the guts to do what she did much, much earlier.

I was a little confused by the very ending of the book. It was almost surreal, and honestly, it was a little anticlimactic after the events in the book. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what was written. I reread those last paragraphs quite a few times before giving up.

Where the Truth Lies is a dark book that doesn’t hold back any punches. It doesn’t sugarcoat any of the events in the book. I did enjoy reading it but at the same time, it disturbed me on a level that very few books have been able to.

I would recommend Where the Truth Lies to anyone over the age of 21. There are graphic (and often disturbing) scenes of domestic violence and child abuse. There is homophobia. There are graphic scenes of racism. There is also graphic violence.

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of Publication: August 3rd, 2021

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | Google Play | WorldCat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received: Publisher

Trigger Warnings:

Goodreads Synopsis:

For decades, people have been warned about the Cold Creek Highway. Hitchhikers have vanished along it over the years, and women have been known to have their cars break down… and never be seen again. When Hailey McBride decides to run away from an unbearable living situation, she thinks that her outdoor skills will help her disappear into the Cold Creek wilderness, and she counts on people thinking that she was the victim of the killer.

One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek to attend a memorial for the victims of the highway, but it might as well be one week for the amount of pain that Beth is still dealing with after her sister, Amber, was murdered the previous summer. Beth has quit university, is lying to her parents, and popping pills like Tic Tacs. Maybe this will finally bring her peace.

When she gets a job at a local diner where Amber once worked, she connects with people who knew her sister. Beth wants to find who killed her sister and put her own life back together, but as she gets closer to the truth, she learns that there is more than one person lying in Cold Creek.

First Line:

No one ever wakes up thinking, I’m going to die on a dark road tonight, but that’s the point, isn’t it?
Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Review:

I am a big fan of psychological thrillers. Now, I love books, period, but reading psychological thrillers give me a rush. I like the feeling that I get when reading them. I like the butterflies in my stomach, the anxiety built up during the book, and the feeling at the end of the book.

Dark Roads is the story of two girls connected by death. Hailey and Beth. After a shocking discovery that makes her home life unbearable, Hailey disappears into the wilderness surrounding the small town of Cold Creek. A year later, Beth shows up, hoping to find peace in the town where her sister last lived. But there is a greater force at stake. Can Beth and Hailey expose what has been going on in Cold Creek? Or will the town, and the highway, live up to its reputation?

The plotline for Dark Roads was fast-paced. The flow of the book was choppy, but I think the author wanted it that way. There was a slight lag in the middle of the book before Beth discovered Hailey and a tiny little at the end. The author addressed the main storylines/plotlines, but she did not resolve the main one about the killings on the highway. Again, I do believe that the author wanted it that way.

Hailey was the first main character introduced in Dark Roads. When the book starts, her father had died in a car crash, and she was living with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Hailey isn’t comfortable there. She is more at home with her best friend Jonny, racing dirtbikes and stealing parts to keep the bikes running. She is not allowed to ride her bike or hitchhike home because of a serial killer operating on the highway of Cold Creek. Things come to a head that summer when her uncle, Vaughn, starts acting suspiciously, and Hailey does a little investigating. What Hailey finds out during her investigation sends her deep into the forest for a year. Honestly, I would have done the same thing. She was in the crosshairs of a serial killer, and the only way to get away was to disappear.

Beth had come to Cold Creek to try and make peace with her sister’s death. She was a freaking mess, popping pills and drinking vodka while doing her investigation into Amber’s death. I was sure, during points in the book, that she was going to die. I also questioned her getting involved with Jonny. I questioned almost everything she did in this book. But, she did solve her sister’s death, and she brought down someone with that (and I wasn’t surprised at who it was).

When Hailey and Beth came together, the book did pick up the pace. The switching between their viewpoints was almost frantic. I loved that Hailey was virtually a ghost and that she was informing Thompson (the other cop) about what was going on. Her chemistry with Beth was terrific too. She had an instant rapport with her that I loved.

The author did a fantastic job writing the mystery angle of Dark Roads. I had zero clues about who the killer was. I thought it was someone else until that scene with Beth in her car. The reveal took me by surprise. There was another twist to that storyline that I saw coming, but it still surprised me.

The author did a fantastic job writing the mystery angle of Dark Roads. I had zero clues about who the killer was. I thought it was someone else until that scene with Beth in her car. The reveal of who it took me by surprise. There was another twist to that storyline that I saw coming, but it still surprised me.

I want to mention the author’s note at the end of the book. There was an explanation about the actual criminal case that the Cold Creek Highway was based off. She also addressed that indigenous women were more likely to be killed, and the murders were not given priority. That explanation made sense, and I understood why she chose not to have the other murders in the book solved.

Dark Roads was a fast-paced psychological thriller. The storyline was well written, and the characters were compelling.

I would recommend Dark Roads to anyone over the age of 21. There is violence and language. There are several graphic scenes of a woman being tortured and beaten. There are a couple of explicit scenes of police brutality. There are drugs and alcohol. There are scenes of a person taking pictures of women/underage girls without their knowledge.

Catnip & Curses (The Fae Files: Book 2) by Emigh Cannady

Publisher: Black Feather Publishing

Date of publication: July 10th, 2021

Genre: Fae, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Romance

Series: The Fae Files

Wiretaps & Whiskers—Book 1 (review here)

Catnip & Curses—Book 2

Hexes & Hairballs—Book 3 (expected publication date August 10th, 2021)

Purchase Links: Amazon

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Author

Goodreads Synopsis:

I have one rule: Never mix business with pleasure.
I was never much good at following rules.

Alright, so my new partner isn’t the worst. It doesn’t hurt that Logan is big, tall, and smokin’ hot. I started out hating him, but this human hunk is starting to grow on me…when we’re not fighting like cats and dogs. Even our co-worker thinks there’s something going on between us. Is there something between us? Humans like him and faeries like me don’t usually click, but we’re on a case in Arizona and things are getting pretty freakin’ hot. I’m so tempted to break the rules on dating people at work, but there’s a catch —

I’m under review.

Well…that’s not completely true. The entire Occult Crimes Division is under review, as in me, my partner, my boss, Jake from IT…everybody. Evidently, hunting ghosts is kind of expensive, and now the accountants are asking questions. If Logan and I can’t prove to these hard-asses how vital our work is to the FBI, the OCD will cease to exist.

No pressure or anything. I just have to save my entire department from impending doom.

First Line:

Logan marched into our shared cubicle looking insanely triumphant, and a little unhinged.
Catnip & Curses by Emigh Cannady

I was super excited to read Catnip & Curses. I had enjoyed Wiretaps & Whiskers and couldn’t wait to start reading this book. I wasn’t disappointed. Catnip & Curses was a fantastic book to read.

Catnip & Curses is the second book in The Fae Files series. You cannot read this book as a standalone. You need to read Wiretaps & Whiskers to understand Logan and Elena’s relationship and how their cases go. There are many references to the first book, particularly in the first half of the book.

Catnip & Curses picks up 8-9 months after the conclusion of Wiretaps & Whiskers. Logan has fully acclimated to being an OCD agent and a first-time cat dad. Elena hasn’t changed from book one, and she is fighting a growing attraction to Logan. Things change when they get called into their boss’s office, though. They find out that they are going to Arizona to investigate a poltergeist, they are being audited, and the agents in charge of the audit are accompanying them. Can Elena and Logan convenience the agents in charge that the OCD is needed? Will Elena and Logan hook up? Will Lafayette ever get his birds logged on the app? And why does Logan have such weird dreams? The answers to all of those questions are answered in the book!!

I loved Elena even more in Catnip & Curses. She was still a hot mess, and she was still very passionate about her work. So, I didn’t blame her for her “strong” reaction to the auditors. I would have had the same response. Her hotheadedness was also in full force. I laughed at some of the things she said to Logan, the Sherriff, and the auditors. Her character didn’t exactly grow during this book, but I was OK with it.

Logan, on the other hand, experienced tremendous character growth during the book. Heck, he had grown since book 1!! I won’t ruin it, but there is a neat twist in his storyline that I didn’t see coming. I should have seen it coming, especially when Elena mentioned something about his smell, but I didn’t. I also liked how devoted he was to his father and Layfayette.

There is sex in Catnip & Curses and man, was it freaking hot. I did an internal cheer when Logan and Elena got together. It was a whole book coming, and that sex scene exploded. I did get a giggle when Elena saw the size of Logan’s package. Her reaction was the same as mine.

The storyline with the poltergeist was sad. The man behind the poltergeist wasn’t very good, but he didn’t deserve what happened to him. I would have been pissed, too, if I was tied to one place and could only watch as time went on. So, I didn’t blame him for lashing out. I thought the end of this storyline was sad with what Elena said to him and what the medium did for him.

It did annoy me that the two auditors were almost rabidly nonbelievers. It got to the point where Agent Johnson was trying to pin everything the poltergeist did on fellow officers. So, I didn’t feel bad when the poltergeist messed with him.

The storyline with Logan and his dreams was interesting. I wasn’t expecting it to go in the direction it did. Of course, things made sense once Elena and Logan sat down and discussed it (after the big reveal). I am curious to see where this storyline is going to lead in upcoming books.

The end of Catnip & Curses was interesting. I liked how the author wrapped up some of the storylines (like the poltergeist) but left others open (Logan and his dreams). I can’t wait to see where book 3 takes me!!

I would recommend Catnip & Curses for anyone of the age of 21. There is language. There is mild violence. There are somewhat graphic sexual situations.

Wiretaps & Whiskers (The Faerie Files: Book 1) by Emigh Cannady

Publisher: Black Feather Publishing

Date of publication: February 24th, 2021

Genre: Fae, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy

Series: The Faerie Files

Wiretaps & Whiskers—Book 1

Catnip & Curses—Book 2

Hexes & Hairballs—Book 3 (expected publication date August 10th, 2021)

Purchase Links: Amazon

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Author

Goodreads Synopsis:

Got a faerie problem? I’m your girl.
Magic gone awry? Not a problem.
But when kids go missing and the search comes up dry, my boss decides I need a partner.
The pain in the ass kind.
Now I have a problem.

As a field agent in the FBI’s ultra-elite Occult Crimes Division…aka the OCD, it’s my job to investigate cases of the magical variety. I’m the best at it, but it seems my employer doesn’t share my confidence when he pairs me up with the bureau’s newest golden boy. Turns out he’s the biggest tool I’ve ever met.

Logan Hawthorne.
Arrogant. Attractive as hell.
Oh yeah–and human.

I don’t have time to teach this smug & straight-laced suit about the shadow realm of faerie that exists below our feet. I’ve got a list of missing kids a mile long and no time to waste in finding the creature who’s snatching them.

Now if only there was an explanation for this talking cat…

First Line:

“Watch out. Harris is on the warpath,” Allan warned me as I swiped my FBI badge and walked into the office of the Occult Crimes Division.
Wiretaps & Whiskers by Emigh Cannady

The plotline for Wiretaps & Whiskers was interesting. Elena is an FBI field agent with the Occult Crimes Division (also called the OCD). She is briefed on a case that centers around hundreds of missing children in the Smokey Mountains. Her boss also tells her that she is getting a new partner: Logan. Logan is on the fast track to becoming upper management in the FBI, so he is confused when he is placed in the OCD and partnered with Elena. He is also a non-believer in everything paranormal, and it is up to Elena to clue him in fast. Because what is happening with those kids is amping up. But Elena is also hiding a huge secret of her own. Can she solve the case, make Logan a believer, and keep her secret?

Wiretaps & Whiskers is the first book in The Faerie Files series. Usually, I would say it can or can’t be read as a standalone book. But, seeing that it is the first book in the series, I will not do that.

The plotline for Wiretaps & Whiskers was fast-moving. There was some slight lag in the middle of the book. It didn’t affect the book’s pacing at all; instead, it gave me a minute to breathe and digest everything that happened up to that point. Then it took back off and kept up the fast pace until the end of the book.

I liked Elena but thought she was a little prickly at the beginning of the book. But, as the story progressed, her prickliness disappeared, and her true personality started to show. I also liked that she didn’t immediately tell Logan what she was. She told him when she felt he could handle it.

I liked Logan, and I felt terrible for him. I couldn’t imagine coming home and finding my boyfriend with someone 50 years older than him. I felt that was why he came across the way he did when he first met Elena. He did adapt pretty well once he was given a chance to absorb everything. In the end, he was there for and supporting Elena when she took down the bad guy. He also handled Lafayette pretty well….lol.

The author wrote the storyline with the missing children very well. She did a great job of keeping who was behind the disappearances until the last chapter. When that was revealed, it was exposed as a twist, and I couldn’t believe who it was!! Talk about the last person I thought it would be!!!

The storyline with Elena and her background was terrific also. I liked that the author let bits and pieces of who she was through. Of course, her being a Faery was the most obvious thing. The other stuff (like her parents and how she came to Earth) dragged out.

I loved the secondary characters in the book too. They were all written in such a way that you couldn’t help but love them.

There was no romance in Wiretaps & Whiskers. Instead, there were hints of an attraction between Logan and Elena. I liked that because Logan was getting over his ex, and Elena didn’t want a relationship (she did want to have sex with him, though). And the chemistry between them. OMG, I had to fan myself because it was that intense!!

The end of Wiretaps & Whiskers was action-packed. The author did a great job of ending most of the storylines in the book. But she also left open enough for book 2.

I would recommend Wiretaps & Whiskers for anyone over the age of 21. There is mild violence. There is mild language. There are sexual innuendos but no sex.

When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses: Book 3) by Olivia Drake

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Date of publication: July 27th 2021

Genre: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction

Series: Unlikely Duchesses

The Duke I Once Knew—Book 1

Forever My Duke—Book 2 (review here)

When a Duke Loves a Governess—Book 3

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | WorldCat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

Tessa James has worked and planned tirelessly to open her own millinery shop. All she needs now is a loan from the lord who sired and abandoned her. The only problem is, she doesn’t even know his name. What’s a woman to do to find him but enter the aristocratic world by becoming a governess?

Guy Whitby, the new Duke of Carlin, has returned to London after years abroad to discover that his young daughter Sophy has become a wild-child known for scaring away every governess who’s crossed his doorstep. When Tessa James applies for the job, he hires her in desperation despite his misgivings that she’s too bold and beautiful–and that she might be fibbing about her qualifications.

Their blooming attraction leads them on a completely unexpected path to love that neither wants to deny. But when an old enemy threatens Guy’s family, their forbidden romance goes up in flames. Can they still learn to love and trust each other as forces try to tear them apart?

First Line:

“Wait until you hear the news,” Lady Farnsworth said to a friend who had just entered the millinery shop.
When a Duke Loves a Governess by Olivia Drake

When I read the blurb for When a Duke Loves a Governess, I knew that I needed to read it. I have read the previous two books in the series and was curious to see what this book would be like. I wasn’t disappointed. It was a fantastic romance.

When a Duke Loves A Governess is the 3rd book of the Unlikely Duchesses series. It can be read as a standalone. But, I would highly suggest that you read the previous two books to get backgrounds on characters that pop up in this book.

When a Duke Loves a Governess has a fast-moving storyline. There was a tiny bit of lag right before the reveal of the bad guy. Other than that, the book flowed amazingly.

I loved Tessa, but I didn’t agree with some of her actions. She was raised by a single mother who was killed when Tessa was 6. After that, she grew up in a foundling home until she was 14 (there was a sad reason why she left). At 14, Tessa became an apprentice to a millinery shop but left there to fake her way into being Guy’s governess. She was a spirited woman who lived life on her terms. Her spirit showcased that over and over in the book, and I loved it. The author didn’t attempt to have Tessa change when she found out about her lineage (a huge substory about that). It made for a refreshing read.

I liked Guy, but I found him a little “meh” while reading. He didn’t scream hero to me during the first half of the book. He was too involved in his studies. But, during the second half of the book, he more than made up for his “meh-ness.” His studies took a backseat to raise Sophy, wooing Tessa, and trying to figure out who stole from him (which lead to who killed 5 “heirs”). I loved it!!

I wasn’t surprised by how the storyline with Tessa and her father was resolved. It was typical, and I called it right from the beginning. But, I was surprised that the author added a whole new element to that storyline.

The storyline with Sophy was sad. The pain and confusion just poured off the page during her scenes. I don’t blame her for acting the way she did. When it came out what Sophy was being told about Guy, I was furious. No wonder she was so afraid of him!!!

The storyline involving Guy, his missing research, and eventually the deaths of the previous heirs was indeed a mystery. This storyline didn’t gain traction until the middle of the book when Guy’s research went missing. Then it snowballed into this huge mystery. The author did a great job at keeping the bad guy in the shadows. So when the big reveal came, I was a little shocked. I honestly thought it was the other person mentioned. Of course, I did pity that person once the story was told.

The romance angle of the book was well written. I liked seeing Tess and Guy falling in love. I did think it was cute. I loved the sex scenes. They were very steamy!!

The end of When a Duke Loves a Governess was interesting. Everyone had their version of a HEA (except the bad guy….lol). The author did a fantastic job of wrapping up all the plotlines. She also left hints for book 4, which I can’t wait to read.

I would recommend When a Duke Loves a Governess to anyone over the age of 21. There is mild violence. There is somewhat graphic sex.

A Dead Man’s Eyes (Lisa Jamison: Book 1) by Lori Duffy Foster

Publisher: Level Best Books

Date of publication: April 13th, 2021

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Series: Lisa Jamison

A Dead Man’s Eyes—Book 1

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple Books

Format Read: ARC

Received From: Author

Goodreads Synopsis:

Lisa Jamison has done well for a single mom who got pregnant at fifteen.
She’s a reporter at a well-respected newspaper and her teenage daughter is both an athlete and honors student. Though their relationship is rocky these days, Lisa has accomplished what she set out to do. She has given her daughter the kind of life she never had.
But all that changes when Lisa sees her daughter in the eyes of a dead man.
The cops call it a drug killing, but Lisa doesn’t believe it. She knows her ex-boyfriend was no drug dealer even though she hadn’t seen him in sixteen years. Lisa ignores warnings from her medical-examiner friend. She fails to heed barely veiled threats from the sheriff of a neighboring county. Instead, she risks her life and the lives of her daughter and their closest friend on a dangerous quest for answers.
The investigation leaves Lisa fighting for her family in a morbid, black market world she never knew existed. She learns that trust is complicated and that she, despite her cynical nature, has been blind. She trusted the wrong people and now she might have to pay with her life.

First Line:

It pays to be friends with the medical examiner.
A Dead Man’s Eyes by Lori Duffy Foster

I was intrigued when I read the plot for A Dead Man’s Eyes. A reporter shows up at the city morgue to view the body of a man she hadn’t seen in 16 years. That man is her ex-boyfriend and the father of her 15-year-old daughter. When told that his death was drug-related, she refuses to believe it. That starts her down a path where she soon finds that trusting the wrong people will kill her and the people she loves. Can she find out why he was killed?

A Dead Man’s Eyes is the first book in the Lisa Jamison series. Since it is the first book in a series, readers can read it as a standalone.

A Dead Man’s Eyes does get off to a somewhat slow start and stays medium pace until a little past halfway through the book. Don’t let the slow start and the pacing fool you; the author packs a lot into those chapters. Once Lisa watches the DVD, and the incident happens at the animal clinic, the book picks up pace. That pace doesn’t let up until the end, and then it explodes into something huge. Something I didn’t see coming and took me 100% by surprise.

I admired Lisa. She had overcome so much in her life to get to where she was now. She was the child of addicts and a teenage mother. She had made a good life for herself as a reporter. But, I wasn’t surprised when she decided to investigate Marty’s death. I mean, he was the father of her child. I would have done the same thing. I also like that while she was tough, she was also vulnerable. While it didn’t show at the beginning of the book, her vulnerability showed in the middle and end.

The mystery angle of the book was well written and gripping. The author did a fantastic job of keeping who killed Marty under wraps until the explosive climax. I couldn’t put the book down; it was that good.

I will warn that there is some gore in the book. There are a couple of scenes that made me shudder while reading them. The author also has in-depth explanations about the black market for human body parts. It was eye-opening and saddening.

The book didn’t end when the killers were caught. Nope. Instead, it amped up for a second, slightly less explosive climax. I figured something would happen with that person; I wasn’t expecting what happened to happen (if you know what I mean).

I am looking forward to reading book 2, even though the author didn’t leave any clue about what it was going to be about.

I would recommend A Dead Man’s Eyes to anyone over the age of 21. There is language. There is violence.

Robin’s Hood: A Tale of Sherwood Forest (HighTower Fairytales: Book ) by Jacque Stevens

Publisher:

Date of publication: January 1st, 2021

Genre: Young Adult, Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy

Series: HighTower Fairytales

Winter Falls: A Tale of the Snow Queen (Review here)

Cry Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast—Book 1

Lone Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast—Book 2

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast—Book 3

Between Dog and Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast—Book 4

Wolves at Bay: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast—Book 5

Depths—Book 6

Graves: A Tale of the Little Mermaid—Book 7

Storms—Book 8

Robin’s Hood: A Tale of Sherwood Forest—Book 9

Marian’s Man: A Tale of Sherwood Forest—Book 10

Lion’s Heart: A Tale of Sherwood Forest—Book 11

Letters by Cinderlight: A Tale of Cinderella—Book 12

Wishes by Starlight: A Tale of Cinderella—Book 13

Purchase Links: Amazon

Format Read: ARC

Received From: Author

Goodreads Synopsis:

The King of Thieves is dead. Long live the Queen.

Orphaned at five and widowed at sixteen, Marian is the sole heir of Locksley keep and the Earldom of Huntingdon. Her husband, Robin of Locksley, never returned from the crusades, leaving her at the mercy of the sheriff. He chooses her a new husband among his brutal lackeys and taxes her people to rags and starvation.

Marian is sidelined and powerless, but rumors spread of a charismatic thief who could change everything. Clever, brave, and strong, his followers claim that the hooded rogue is Robin’s spirit back from the grave.

Only Marian knows the truth. Her husband is dead, but under his hood, she could be invincible.

ROBIN’S HOOD is the first novella in the High Tower Robin Hood YA medieval fantasy series. If you like strong female characters, friends-to-lovers romance, and non-stop twists and turns, then you’ll love this gender-bent twist on the Legends of Sherwood.

First Line:

I have heard ballads of our adventures already. A few favor the sheriff, saying we’re all cutthroats and devil worshipers, but most speak of the merry outlaws doing clever deeds.
Robin’s Hood: A Tale of Sherwood Forest by Jacque Stevens

Out of all the fairy tale retellings I have read, I don’t think that I have read a retelling of Robin Hood. So, when I saw that Jacque Stevens had written a feminist retelling of Robin Hood, I was intrigued and I decided to read it. I am glad that I did because Robin’s Hood was a homerun for me.

I liked seeing a woman in the role of Robin Hood. It threw an exciting spin on the myth, one that, truthfully, I haven’t bothered to imagine. I was always stuck on Robin Hood being a man. I never thought to imagine a heartbroken woman who was trying to do what she thought was right in the role. The author was able to do that and more.

Robin’s Hood is set in medieval England, and the book reflects that. Women were often viewed as property and treated as such. So, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that Marian’s guardian decided to marry her, at 5, to his eight-year-old son. He did that to secure his son’s claim to her lands. I also wasn’t too surprised when the Sherriff of Nottingham decided to marry her to his cousin (for the same reason). There are also other examples. A woman was sent to a convent for her “confinement” (women were not allowed to be seen during pregnancy). Marian’s maid was beaten when she refused the advances of the Sherriff of Nottingham.

I enjoyed reading about Marian’s exploits as Robin Hood. I loved how she recruited her band of merry men. That one scene with Little John made me laugh, including how she tried to save him after knocking him into the river. The same goes with her scenes with Friar Tuck. I think he had no clue who Marian was because he was toasted 95% of the time.

The last few chapters of Robin’s Hood did send me into a tailspin. Everything happened so fast!!! But I still loved it. The author wrapped up most of the storylines for this book but left them open enough for the next one.

I enjoyed reading Robin’s Hood. This story was an enjoyable retelling of the myth.

I would recommend Robin’s Hood to anyone over the age of 13. There is mild violence.

The Sinful Live of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller

Publisher: Random House Publishing Books – Ballantine, Ballantine Books

Date of publication: July 20th, 2021

Genre: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | World Cat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Got Book From: Publisher

Trigger Warnings: Domestic Violence, Cheating

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mystery writer Brooke Davies is the new wife on the block. Her tech-billionaire husband, Jack, twenty-two years her senior, whisked her to the Bay Area via private jet and purchased a modest mansion on the same day. He demands perfection, and before now, Brooke has had no problem playing the role of a doting housewife. But as she befriends other wives on the street and spends considerable time away from Jack, he worries if he doesn’t control Brooke’s every move, she will reveal the truth behind their “perfect” marriage.

Erin King, famed news anchor and chair of the community board, is no stranger to maintaining an image–though being married to a plastic surgeon helps. But the skyrocketing success of her career has worn her love life thin, and her professional ambitions have pushed Mason away. Quitting her job is a Hail Mary attempt at keeping him interested, to steer him away from finding a young trophy wife. But is it enough, and is Mason truly the man she thought he was?

Georgia St. Claire allegedly cashed in on the deaths of her first two husbands, earning her the nickname “Black Widow”–and the stares and whispers of her curious neighbors. Rumored to have murdered both men for their fortunes, she claims to have found true love in her third marriage, yet her mysterious, captivating allure keeps everyone guessing. Then a tragic accident forces the residents of Presidio Terrace to ask: Has Georgia struck again? And what is she really capable of doing to protect her secrets?

First Line:

Pain is the first thing I remember.
The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller

Review:

I will be the first one to admit this: I judged The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by the title of the book. Since Kristin Miller is a new author to me, I assumed that this book would be something like Joan Collins writes. So I wasn’t surprised when I started reading TSLOTW and realized that this book was nothing like Joan Collin’s books. Instead, this was a psychological thriller.

The Sinful Lives of Trophy Lives follows three women: Brooke, Erin, and Georgia. Brooke moves into the gated community with her husband, Jack. Erin is married to Mason and has just quit her job to focus on her marriage. Georgia, also known as “Black Widow” because of the deaths of her previous husbands, is engaged to be married. There are dark secrets that the three women keep. These secrets could destroy lives if revealed. What are they, and will they be revealed?

The plot for The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives is fast-paced. This book starts with a literal bang and doesn’t stop until the last page. The author was able to keep the pacing of the book up, even with the three separate POVs. I loved it!! I also loved that there was a slight lag too.

I loved Brooke, Erin, and Georgia, and I loved how the author kept me on edge with their characters. Just when I thought I knew those ladies, the author threw a tidbit or had them do something that made me go, “Really!!” It made for a good read because I didn’t know how these characters would end up.

The mystery/thriller angle of the book was well written. There were red herrings all over the place, and nothing was what it seemed. As soon as I thought I figured out what was going on, the author did a 180 and changed things. I loved it!!!

The secondary characters made the book too. Mason, Jack, and so many others. There were ones I loved and ones that I loathed.

There was a secondary storyline that involved Brooke and her past. I did predict what happened, but I didn’t expect what grew out of it. That took me by surprise!!

I wasn’t surprised at what was revealed about the deaths of Georgia’s husbands. I guessed that pretty early in the book. But I was surprised at who was involved and why that person got involved. So that made me look at that character differently.

I am going to warn that domestic violence is discussed at various points. For example, there are scenes where a woman gets beat by her husband in front of a child and another scene of a husband smacking his wife where the bruises couldn’t be seen and covered up with makeup.

The end of The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives was insane. I almost couldn’t keep up with everything that the book revealed. There was a huge twist that shocked me. I did not see it coming, and it blindsided me. But, once it was announced, it made perfect sense.

I enjoyed reading The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives. This book hooked me from page one, and I couldn’t put it down.

I would recommend The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives to anyone over the age of 21. There are trigger warnings, which I discussed above. They are domestic violence and cheating. There are also scenes of pill-popping, sexual harassment (Erin’s male boss told her to get on her knees and beg for her job), and lots of drinking.

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