The Perfect Wife by Blake Pierce
Jessie Hunt, 29 is a newlywed and criminal profiler discovers that dark secrets lurk in her new suburban town; when a body turns up dead, she finds herself caught in the cross-hairs of her newfound friends, her husband’s secrets, her serial killer caseload and the secrets of her own dark past.
The perfect wife is a fast-paced psychological suspense thriller with unforgettable characters and heart pounding suspense, that will keep you up all night.
I picked this one up because the main character had my dream job, criminal Profiler. But I feel like the book wasn’t very interesting until the halfway mark. The first part just played into the ending of the book. It’s marked as a thriller but wasn’t really anything thrillerish until the ending. I feel like it was just strung out and hollow. I think the whole book just fell flat from what the author was intending the book to be. I would not recommend and give it 3 out of 5 stars. Would have been two stars but I am happy that someone wrote a book with the main character being a Criminal Profiler.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Set on a remote island off the Irish coast, this is one guest list no one would want to be on… Will and Jules are the couple that everyone loves to hate. They are rich and everything in their life is perfect. They drag everyone to a deserted island off the Irish coast. They say its for privacy, but is it really? Will is a rising television star and Jules owns a lifestyle magazine. The reader is swept through the day before and the day of Jules and Will’s wedding. We see different points of view from many different characters, who each have an important part of making the ending come together.
I picked this one up early before it’s release date from Book Of The Month. I only bought it because it seemed like the it was a very sought after book. I’ve never read any of Lucy Foley’s books but I figured that if this many people were talking about this book, it had to be good. The hype was real. I started out super excited but slowly lost my will to read. Three weeks in to dragging this one along and I just about DNFed it.
Every guest had a secret. As the alcohol starts flowing, secrets start coming out. And I must say, some of them I was not expecting. I think the twist and turns towards the ending of the book definitely pushed the book from a two star to a three star book for me. Some of the different language threw me off at times. For example, the “loo” was the word for bathroom.
By the time the person that is killed is revealed, you are suspecting everyone of the guest. I mean each one of them had a reason to kill them, or at least wish them the worst. So who did it? This tangled web gets more tangled as we go on through every twist and turn.
The Guest list gave me the same feels of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. All the way down to who dies at the end. I guess it wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t worth all the hype in my opinion either. I feel like I had to many questions still in the end. Like did the person holding the knife when everyone showed up really go down for the murder? And Did Jules ever really find out about the baby? It was just too much left unanswered in my opinion.
I give The Guest List 3.5/5 stars.
What lies between us by John Marrs
They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.
Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.
But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.
Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.
Holy smokes! Talk about dysfunctional. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had recently watched a youtube video with GabbyReads and she recommended reading this book. She said the best thing to do with this book was to go in and not read what it was about and not to read any reviews. So when I got in a slump I went looking for books with audio on my kindle unlimited account and came across this one and thought why not?
One or two unreliable narrators…who do you trust? Who do you not trust?…
Maggie knows when the neighbors forget to check their mail or when the people across the street go on vacation. Why you ask? Because 68 year old Maggie spends her days in the attic watching everyone. To them she doesn’t exist. But she hasn’t put herself up there in the attic. Her daughter has her locked away. A heavy chain keeping her from going anywhere else. Nina’s reasoning for putting her own mother there is simple. She feels her mother owes her for all the things she has done to her. All the time she has lost, 19 years to be exact.
“How can I ask for forgiveness when I truly believe that what I did was the right thing to do.”
This was my first John Marrs book. And it won’t be my last. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much. It got me out of my reading slump. And I couldn’t put it down. The twist and turns I was not expecting. And the ending I didn’t expect. I knew something was going to happen, but wasn’t sure.
There was so many unseen things the reader cannot predict. And the amount of unstable and mental health issues is crazy. It made me wonder if Nina was the crazy one or was it really Maggie. And although this was a five star read for me there was one thing that just killed the beginning of the book. When authors don’t do their research and end up putting something wrong in the book, it annoys me. The following is a passage from the book.
” When we decided we wanted to give them a home, they were aged four and had a lot of behavioural difficulties… They’d been left to run wild by their biological parents. There was neglect, a lack of rules and boundaries, no schooling, they ate junk food, they didn’t go outside and play and they couldn’t read or write. We’ve spent the last three years helping them catch up to kids their own age.”
The passage is talking about a couple that adopted two twins at the age of four. They couldn’t read or write. And if Mr. Marrs had done his research he would have seen that kids at the age of four do not know how to read or write and they aren’t in school til they are five. And that starts preschool. They start learning to read at around age seven. So this passage was just off to me.
However even with this small issue, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.
5/5*
The Other Family by Loretta Nyhan
Ally Anderson is recently separated from her husband. Her finances are stretched thin and her life is up in the air. Her biggest concern is that of her daughter, Kylie, who’s health problems, is a bigger issue. All her symptoms point to a compromised immune system, but every doctor has a different theory. Then they finally get a breakthrough moment. Its possible that Kylie’s illness is genetic. But Ally (Kylie’s mother) is adopted. So Ally takes a DNA test to hopefully find some answers. She finds out that she has an aunt not living far from where they live. This aunt is wild and willing to help out any way she can. Trying out the new ropes of single parenting and dealing with new relatives, things are about to change for Ally. And we will find out what being a mother is all about.
This was a new author for me and a suggested reading from Amazon Unlimited. And I know, I’m not suppose to judge a book by its cover but I do. I’m really bad it. I also enjoy the covers. Sometimes without reading anything else about the book, the cover makes me want to read the book. So this cover caught my attention right away. It did take me a little more time to read this book than usual. That being only because while this was a cute story, definitely a feel good story, it had no features that kept me reading. It had nothing I needed to hurry up and figure out. This author did a great job of connecting relationship and bringing them to life. And I applaud her for writing about something I don’t see a lot of books about; autoimmune disease and all the struggles with it.
Overall The Other Family is a very uplifting story.
3/5 stars.
Annie Mercer’s new rule is no new people. Recently jobless, (well unless you count her house cleaning business) due to sexual harassment from her boss. After her fiance, Jon ask for space and runs off to Paris, Annie is left questioning if she is doing the right thing in all of this. While living with her mother after her father passed away she decides that she needs space from everyone. So she makes the rule, no new people.
Then Harper moves in next door and Annie can’t help but keep a watchful eye on her. But keeping an eye on Harper means teaming up with Mo, a maddening optimistic amateur detective who is investigating Harper for a reason that Annie can’t quiet figure out. Soon Annie has let more new people into her life than she intended to. Then Jon reappears and he wants her to come to France and see him. Will she go choose to take a risk?
Camille Pagan has done it again. I have read many of Pagan’s books and must say they always leave me with a smile on my face. She writes about love, loss, and figuring out life. Her books are just outright fun. I’ve been wanting to read this book before it came out just because I knew it would be good. And it didn’t disappoint. This was a fun fast paced read and kept me wanting to find out what happened with Annie.
Pagan often writes about how sad endings can lead to happy beginnings. And a lot of her quotes in this book stuck out to me. Not just for the meaning they had in the book, but also that they were just great quotes that resonate in my own life.
“When I close my eyes one last time , I’m counting on us all being together again. Each word was slow and labored, but she continued. It’s the only way I know how to keep on living without the people I can’t live without.”
what an awesome way to think about the ending of life. The loss of someone.
And lastly I cracked up out loud at the marketing angle from Leesa, Annie’s friend. She kept sending out emails about trying to sell her weight loss product and Annie like many of us were getting annoyed at her friend’s level of irritating sales pitches. I know that no matter what the book is about, if it’s written by Camille Pagan, then I will something relatable somewhere in that book and it will leave me with a smile on my face.
5/5*
The Ink Drinkers 