Make Up Reading

5 out of 5 stars Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a wonderful Gothic historical fiction that will reel you into this beautiful, chilling world. Set in London 1850, The Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and all of London is excited! Twin sisters Iris and Rose spend much of their time working, They paint and dress expensive China dolls for Mrs. Salter, their laudanum addicted mistress.  Life is rather bleak for the sisters but then Iris meets Louis Frost a fantastic painter and she agrees to pose for him in exchange for painting lessons. Iris desperately wants to be a painter but as a woman she is nit taken seriously. She is a pretty girl, an object for men to gaze at.  Iris then meets Silas, a taxidermist who becomes obsessed with Iris and will do anything to make her his. As the story goes on and Silas' obsession grows the book becomes darker and darker. Thi...

I would like to thank Atria Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Blanche Potter is an acclaimed documentary film maker but she also happens to be the daughter of cult leader Chuck Varner. In 1996 when Blanche was a child he took her to a mall and told her to go find her Mother, began to shoot up the mall and ultimately turned  the gun on himself. After Blanche's mother is murdered she must return home and face the demons she has been running from for years. I really am a huge fan of psychological thrillers and though I went into this novel expecting to fall in love but I ended up just walking away entertained. I really enjoyed the writing style of Nathan Ripley but there is just something about this book that didn't hook me the way I wanted. Blanche was fine as a character but I really didn't care for her the way that I wanted to.  I would say that this is much more of a slow burn kind of novel. I ...

3.5 Stars First  off I would like to thank Netgalley and  Atria Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel for a fair and honest review. Leigh Huyett and Pete Conley are the perfect couple with the perfect blended family until tragedy strikes leading to the death of fourteen year old Chrissy, Leigh's daughter and the glue that holds the family together.  At first they are told by both Chrissy and Kip that he was behind the wheel but after the funeral and Kip getting arrested for the death of his stepsister he confesses that it was not him driving but instead it was Chrissy behind the wheel. Leigh just doesn't buy the story Kip is telling. There is no way that Chrissy would lie about something so important.  Kip explains that because he was drunk and slightly high, that Chrissy  refused to let him drive. After the accident they changed seats and he took the blame. From there the family completely falls apart. I feel that Bonnie Kistler did...

First off I would like to thank Netgalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have heard of Lisa Jewell but have never read any of her books. Well, that is going to change because I truly enjoyed this novel!  We first meet newlywed Joey shortly after she and her new husband Alfie has moved from Ibiza to Melville Heights to live with her older brother and his pregnant wife Rebecca. Joey finds herself almost immediately attracted to Tom  Fitzwiiliam a middle aged married man whom she first sees with his wife Nicola and son Freddie as they get out of their car. Though ordinary by most standards there is something so charismatic about Tom Joey finds herself crushing on him without even saying a word.  The story switches from three POVs and police interviews after a murder has taken place, flashing back to a few months prior to the crime. Joey's story, Freddie's story and one of Tom  Fitzwi...