Title: Stranded Author: Sarah Goodwin Format: eBook Length: 398 pages Rating: 4 stars Publication Date: September 16, 2021
Challenges: Beat The Backlist, COYER, Library Love, Virtual Mount
Review: I flew through this book. The premise of people stranded on an island for a reality TV show, and not everyone making it off the island, sucked me in. I did not see where the story was going, and I did not guess any of the twists. This book was recommended to me and I am so glad I read it. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thriller books.
Title: You Are Fatally Invited Author: Ande Pliego Narrator: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Alejandro Ruiz , Victoria Villarreal, Feodor Chin , William Damron, John Lee , Dawn Harvey , Jeremy Carlisle Parker Format: eBook / Audiobook Length: 363 pages / 11 hours 02 minutes Rating: 3.5 stars Publication Date: February 11, 2025
Review: This story has definite And Then There Were None vibes (and even a very small Clue (the movie) reference early on), so while it absolutely started off slow… it got more interesting once the characters were being killed off. I guessed the murderer incorrectly, and did not see any of the twist coming. I like how each character had a different personality and it felt like a real writing retreat (minus the murders lol).
I enjoyed each narrator and am glad they gave each characters chapter their own narrator. It helped keep the story flowing.
Note: I gave this one 3.5 on Storygraph, but will mark it as 4 stars on NetGalley because they do not use half stars.
I received a complimentary e-copy. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC. I borrowed the audiobook through my local library to immerse myself into the story.
Challenges: Amazon First Reads Backlist, Beat The Backlist, COYER, Mount TBR
Review: This book was a good read, except for the ending (which was literally two sentences long). Felt it needed just a few more pages to give the story better closure. My first Elin Hilderbrand book and I can see why people enjoy her work.
I received this book for free as part of Amazon First Reads program.
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.
Title: The Safari Author: Jaclyn Goldis Format: eBook Length: 320 pages Rating: 2 stars Publication Date: May 20,2025
Challenges: COYER, Netgalley/Edelweiss
Review: SOME SPOILERS WILL BE IN THIS REVIEW- Honestly, I probably should of DNFed this one. The beginning of the book had different POV chapters so you get to know the characters. I didn’t really feel the suspense of a typical thriller book. Most of the characters annoyed me, so I wasn’t invested into their backstory or what was going on with them. Odelia is murdered and a family member is missing. When that family member is finally located, the explanation as to what happened is so preposterous I literally paused and scratched my head. It was badly explained away with ‘I left my cell phone behind so I couldn’t call for help’. I could not take the rest of the book seriously after that.
This is my honest review, and all opinions are my own.
This book is about a Jewish family, and a lot of Orthodox Jewish rituals and customs are mentioned throughout the book. I thought it was important to mention this fact to my blog readers.
I received a complimentary e-copy. Thank you to Aleaha Reneé from Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC through Edelweiss.
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.
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.
I saw Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena while browsing through my library. I ended up not grabbing it off the shelf, but instead decided to borrow the audiobook through Libby. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had borrowed The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson from the library. I fully immersed myself (eBook from Libby, physical book and audiobook from Hoopla), but mostly read the eBook. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A friend recommended I read The Affair by N.A. Cooper, so I borrowed the audiobook from Hoopla. ⭐⭐⭐
The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry I found on Amazon and used my No-Rush Rewards to pay for the entire price of the book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I wanted to start reading the Eddie Flynn series, so I started with The Defense, the first book in the series, from Hoopla. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Q: Have you read any of these? Any of them are on your TBR?
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.
Title: Dead Of Night Author: Lisa Gray Format: eBook / Audiobook Length: 267 pages / 7 hours 11 minutes Rating: 4 stars
Challenges: Audiobook, COYER, NetGalley
Review: While I was not a fan of the narrator, I was hooked into the story. The plot is real simple, a writer vacations in a small town with a rental property whose previous renters disappeared. Of course the author has to investigate what happened and figure out why they disappeared. You also get the POV from Ruby, a young mom whose child is missing. The stories intertwine, and the plot twist at the end comes out of nowhere! Four stars!
Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse for allowing me to read this ARC, and listen to this ALC.
