Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of Publication: August 10th, 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | World Cat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received: Publisher

Trigger Warnings:

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more–even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy–the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways–her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

First Line:

I saw the marquee first, jutting out onto West Forty-second Street with bright white lights – Ziegfield Follies Of 1927 – all full of light bulbs and ready to illuminate the street when the sun began to fade.

The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison

Review:

The Show Girl captured my attention from page one. I had expected the author to jump right into Olive’s story as a Ziegfeld Girl. But, instead, it started with something painful to read. I know that what happened to Olive and the consequences were not uncommon for that era, but still. My heart broke for her.

I loved how the author gave a peek into what being a Ziegfeld Girl must have been like. Florenz Ziegfeld had insane requirements for his girls. They had to be a specific body shape, have particular hair color, certain shoe size, and keep a certain weight. Plus, they had to be somewhat talented. I know this; I would have never been a Ziegfeld Girl….lol.

Olive was a relatable character, which surprised me. For that era, she was headstrong and knew what she wanted. Olive wanted to be a performer with Ziegfeld Follies. But even when she was performing with Ziegfeld Follies, she still did things her way. Olive didn’t conform to Florenz’s standard of beauty. Instead, at one point, she became a flapper. She didn’t bow down to the overt sexism of that time. An example of that was her relationship with her father. He expected Olive to conform to what society dictated at the time and was enraged when she didn’t.

Olive’s relationship with Archie was the only thing I didn’t care for in the book. It started with him lying to her about his relationship status and then morphed from there. I didn’t doubt for a minute that Olive loved him, but I did have my doubts about Archie. Plus, Olive’s secret was always there, and it got worse when they got engaged.

The Show Girl takes place a couple of years before the stock market crash of 1929. The author did a fantastic job of showing how lavishly the well-to-do people lived. But the author also weaved in whispers of the impending crash—a line here, a paragraph there. Even though I knew it happened, it was still a shock for me to read. People lost everything in that crash.

The Show Girl also took place during the Prohibition Era. The author did a fantastic job of showcasing speakeasies, the horrors of bathtub gin (look it up, people died), and the raids the Federal agents did. There is one scene where a raid happens during one of the shows. Agents raided the show. They dumped out/smashed hundreds of bottles of wine/champagne and then left.

The last half of The Show Girl didn’t live up to the first half. But that was a good thing. The first half of the book had almost a frantic pace to it, with Olive’s lifestyle. The second half was a lot slower and more reflective. Olive had time to reflect on the things she did (and didn’t do). She also spiraled. That was well written, and I liked how the author brought Olive out of that spiral.

There was a big twist that took me by surprise. I was not expecting what was revealed. I didn’t blame Olive for reacting the way that she did. Because if I had found that out, I would have had the same reaction. But, I also liked how she overcame her shock and wanted to help.

The end of The Show Girl was almost fairytale-like. While I liked it, I didn’t believe it. Olive got everything she wanted and then got to walk away. It was almost too good to be true.

The Show Girl was a fast-paced, exciting look into what life was like in late 1920. The storyline was good, and the writing was fantastic.

I would recommend The Show Girl to anyone over the age of 21. There is one scene of rape, one scene of a traumatic birth, drinking, smoking, and some mild language.

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.

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.