Review: When I Kill You by B.A. Paris

Title: When I Kill You
Author: B.A. Paris
Format: audiobook
Length: 7 hours 52 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: February 17, 2026

I listened to this last year so it counted for last years challenges.

When I Kill You is another gripping, emotionally charged thriller from B.A. Paris, and I was hooked from the very first page. The tension builds beautifully throughout the story, with Paris’s signature blend of atmospheric suspense and deeply personal stakes. I found myself completely immersed, not just in the plot but in the way the story unfolded with such precision and psychological depth. I did guess the plot twist before it happened, but it did not ruin the book for me.

If you’re looking for a thriller that keeps you on edge while delivering strong character insight, When I Kill You is absolutely worth the read. 

I received a complimentary ALC through NetGalley.

Review: The Picasso Heist by James Patterson and Howard Roughan @jamespattersonbooks #JamesPattersonStreetTeam

Title: The Picasso Heist
Author: James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Format: Paperback
Length: 372 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Publication Date: October 13, 2025

Challenges:

Review: I loved the pacing of this book… short chapters, lots of cliffhangers, and little lulls with practically no filler. The world building of the art world, auction houses, fashion, crime bosses, and high society are all vividly depicted in this book. The twists were cleverly done. Not all totally predictable, and the resolution ties many threads together in satisfying ways.

It was a little hard to keep track of all the conspiracies and the competing subplot, but overall didn’t ruin anything for me.

This book is for fans of heist stories, thrillers, and strong leads with emotional as well as tactical stakes. It’s bold, clever, fast‑paced, and satisfying. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary paperback copy. Thank you to Little, Brown for allowing me to read this book. #JamesPattersonStreetTeam

Publication Day: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jónasson @ragnarjo @macmillan.audio #macmillanaudio #macaudio2025 #netgalley

Title: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer
Author: Ragnar Jónasson
Narrator:  Cicely Whitehead, Jane Slavin, Rufus Wright 
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 283 pages / 5 hours 54 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 9, 2025

Challenges: Audiobook, COYER, HRCYED 2.0, NetGalley

Review: We get to meet up with Helgi Reykdal again, as he solves the case of a missing crime writer named Elín S. Jónsdóttir. As Helgi interviews the people closest to her (a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge) he realizes that Elín’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than the fiction she wrote. I was totally invested in this story and could not believe the ending!

If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie type books, with a Nordic flair, this one is for you! 

I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to Sara Beth at St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC via Netgalley widget, and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC.

Review: Death At The Sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson @ragnarjo @StMartinsPress @macmillan.audio #DeathAtTheSanatorium #macmillanaudio

Title: Death At The Sanatorium
Author: Ragnar Jónasson
Narrator: Sam Woolf
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 279 pages / 6 hours 42 minutes
Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Challenges: Audiobook, Beat The Backlist, COYER, HRCYED 2.0, Mount TBR, NetGalley

Review: Ragnar Jónasson’s love for Agatha Christie shows in all of his work. This book was a rather good representation of that. It was all slowly building up to who the murder was at the very end. I enjoyed getting to know Helgi also. Another Christie-like detective you are rooting for.

I will recommend this to all my friends who enjoy mystery novels.

I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to Sara Beth at St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC via Netgalley widget, and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC.

Publication Day: Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda

Title: Jill Is Not Happy
Author: Kaira Rouda
Format: eBook / audiobook
Length: 256 pages / 7 hours 11 minutes
Rating: 3 stars

Some secrets keep a couple together.

If you ask Jill Tingley, she’ll tell you she and her husband Jack are college sweethearts living the dream in Southern California. Wealthy, popular and genetically blessed, theirs is an enviable life, though they’ve grown distant in recent years. Newly empty nesting with their daughter Maggie away at college, Jill suggests a road trip to reconnect.

Jack would rather do anything else than drive to Utah with his wife. He’s only stayed in this marriage because of a shared secret, a tragedy in the past he wanted to keep buried. And for his daughter’s sake. But Jack is finished with the charade of his marriage. He’s filing for divorce as soon as they return, no matter what.

But he doesn’t realize what else Jill is hiding.

So begins a cat-and-mouse road trip as a cunning wife–think Ripley in yoga pants–and a reluctant husband match wits and drive each other to the edge. But everything will be fine. Jill still loves Jack and believes he’s the only one for her. She’ll do anything to keep him. Anything. She always has.

Challenges: Audiobook, COYER, NetGalley

Review: This was a wild ride! Jill is delusional in her relationship with Jack. Jack wants out of this marriage and keeps getting trapped into staying by Jill’s words and actions. The more the story goes on the more unhinged Jill becomes. A really good thriller I would recommend to people who read the genre.

I would like to note that I feel this book could of used another narrator, a man, for Jack’s chapters, instead of Marnye Young reading both Jack and Jill’s chapters.

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse for allowing me to read and listen to this book. I received a complimentary eBook and audiobook.

Review: So Happy Together by Olivia Worley

Title: So Happy Together
Author: Olivia Worley
Narrator: Michelle H. Lee
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 304 pages / 8 hours 47 minutes
Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: June 3, 2025

Challenges: Audiobook, Backlog Board of Books, COYER, NetGalley, Read For The Stars

Review: This book kept my interest, as Jane is pretty much a stalker girl obsessed with her ex boyfriend Colin. You could see exactly where the plot is heading for most of the book, so it was sort of annoying. The characters are in the mid 20s but I feel like they act immature at times. I did not mind the narrator, Michelle H. Lee. This is the first time I am hearing her voice, and it fits the story perfect. This is a good thriller book and most readers will probably enjoy it. I gave it an average three stars because it just felt average to me.

I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press Early Readers for allowing me to read this ARC and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC, which I used Netgalley to listen to.

Publication Day: Skin and Bones by Paul Doiron

Title: Skin and Bones
Author: Paul Doiron
Format: eBook
Length: 368 pages
Rating: I have not read it yet

For the first time in print, Skin and Bones features a collection of eight gripping original short stories in the bestselling Mike Bowditch series—including one brand new, never-before-published story—from Edgar-award nominated author Paul Doiron.

In THE BEAR TRAP, legendary Maine woodsman and bush pilot Charley Stevens tries to convince young Mike of the dangers awaiting rookie game wardens.

RABID draws Mike into the story of a gruesome case involving a bat with rabies from his Charley Steven’s past (2019 Edgar award nominee for Best Short Story).

When a visiting hunter goes missing in the middle of a snowstorm, a young Charley Stevens sets off to rescue him—but begins to suspect the man may not want to be found in BACKTRACK.

In THEIMPOSTER, Mike is confronted with a baffling case of stolen identity when he discovers a dead body whose driver’s license claims he is none other than Mike Bowditch himself.

Mike tracks down a sinister prowler who turns a couple’s dream vacation home into a nightmare in THE CARETAKER.

An investigation into the killing of a bald eagle in SKIN AND BONES unearths an old case of a missing young man whose physically abusive brother might have murdered him.

In SNAKEBIT, Mike must hunt down a killer who uses the unlikeliest of murder weapons: rattlesnakes.

(Brand New!) Mike suspects there’s more to a grisly murder-suicide than meets the eye in SHEEP’S CLOTHING.

Critically acclaimed for his brilliant crime novels, Paul Doiron proves he is also the master of short story in Skin and Bones

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press Early Readers for sending me a complimentary ebook.

Review: Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay

Title: Parents Weekend
Author: Alex Finlay
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Format: eBook / Audiobook
Length: 320 pages / 7 hours 24 minutes
Rating: 3 stars
Publication Date: May 6, 2025

Challenges: Audiobook, COYER, NetGalley, Read For The Stars

Review: I have listened to other Alex Finlay books and really liked them. I am also a big fan of Brittany Pressley as a narrator. But this story wasn’t holding my interest at times and I found my mind wandering a good amount. I wish the college students had more backstory at the beginning, because I honestly was not invested in their lives and did not emotionally care what happened to any of them by halfway through the book. I think other readers will enjoy the book, and it wasn’t a bad story, so this is why I gave it an average three stars rating.

I received two complimentary copies. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press Early Readers for allowing me to read this ARC and Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for sending me an ALC.