Make Up Reading

4 out of 5 stars Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books books for allowing me to read this novel for an honest review. Astrid, a recovering alcoholic has moved home to live with her Mother in her small village.  She is trying desperately to leave her past behind but it won't be that easy. Astrid thinks someone is following her, at first she thinks that maybe she is imaging it. Just maybe it is her imagination but then she swears that she sees her ex boyfriend's shirt in a consignment shop and she starts getting threatening letters. Astrid keeps it to herself at first because she doesn't want to upset her Mother and doesn't want to risk messing up her new relationship. This was a very well written novel with a likable character that you really want to root for.

3.25 stars out of 5 Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for allowing me to read an advanced cop on this novel in exchange for an honest review. Sam,her husband Mo and their toddler Caleb move have recently moved back to her seaside home town after 23 years. She should be overjoyed. After all she has an understanding and kind husband and a child that they went through so much to have. She is also a successful mystery writer. For anyone looking in from the outside she has a wonderful life. The truth is Sam and Mo are falling apart. Having to go through the IVF treatments to have their beautiful baby put a strain on their marriage,,love life and has put them in debt. If all of that isn't bad enough Sam has to finish almost a whole book by late September and we are in late August.  Then there are the letters...... You see, when Sam was a teenager she and her best friends played a game called "Never Have I Ever".  We have all played but Sam and her friends to...

4 out of 5 stars Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer  Alice is happy living in her small town and working at the paper. Life seems to be going pretty well until one Wednesday when she gets a whispered phone call tell her that they will use a cheese wire on her. Of course she is freaked out, I mean who wouldn't be? Her boss, work friend's and boyfriend to her not to worry.  That she is a reporter and there are all kinds of people that harassing reporters with whom they do not agree. Alice does her best to move on and not think of it too often. That is until the next Wednesday when the stalker contacts Alice once again. After this Alice's boyfriend Tom contacts Matthew Hill a private investigator to protect Alice. As the stalker intensifies we begin to find out that Alice herself has been keeping a secret or two from the police and Matthew.  I really enjoy Theresa Driscoll novels. She does something a little bit different than most authors, she has recurr...

5 out of 5 creepy strangers!  Clare Cassidy teaches English at Talgarth High School former home of  famous author R.M. Holland and his beloved wife Alice who met her untimely death from a fall or perhaps a push? It is said that sometimes you can see the Lady in White as she roams the school.  Clare also happens to be writing a novel about the author. R.M. Holland is known for one short story "The Stranger" and was said to have hated it.  One Fall day shortly before Halloween Clare's best friend and fellow teacher Ella is found dead. She was murder and "Hell Is Empty, and All the Devils Are Here ". Just like what is written in Holland's one famous book. This is the perfect book leading up to Halloween. It's is a lovely blend of Gothic Victorian writing and a contemporary mystery sure to capture you and not let you go. I have never read an Elly Griffiths novel before but she has a new fan. Her writing is beautiful. You can picture the old, Victorian ...

A big 5 out of 5 stars! Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am just going to say that I totally loved this book! Samantha Hayes really knows how to create an atmosphere.This book is set in a small little Village in the UK and you really can picture every detail from the cottage that the Libby, Sean and  their 4 year old daughter live in. The book takes place in the Fall and you can actually FEEL the Fall all around you as you read. Okay, enough of me ranting about how much I enjoyed this! Libby believes she has the perfect life. She lives in an adorable little cottage with a renovated barn that has been turned into a kitchen for her growing catering business. She has a wonderful husband who is a Vet, an adorable little girl and a sweet stepson.  On a chilly October morning things change as she finds a note on her windscreen telling her that her husband is having an affair. It chan...

3.75 out of 5 Stars The story opens in 1986. For years Beth and Doug have wanted a baby that has only led to a heartbreaking miscarriage. They are finally blessed with a beautiful baby girl they name Hannah. Everything seems perfect but as Hannah begins to grow Beth begins to see that Hannah is not like other children. She not only begins to bully other children but she also displays a certain calculating cruelness.  Doug refuses to accept that Hannah is as cruel as Beth says even when she tries to tell him that him that Hannah is responsible for the death of her pet bird. As Hannah gets older her problems become worse.  One morning in 2017 Clara awakens to the realization that her live in boyfriend Luke has not returned home last night. At first she is not too worried assuming that he had too much to drink the night before and slept it off at their friend Mac's place but when Mac informs her that Luke was not there she begins to really worry. As Clara starts to delve into...

5 stars for me! This is the second Teresa Driscoll novel that I have read, the first being " I Am Watching You"  and I really enjoyed this. I listened to it via audio and I enjoyed the narrator, Henrietta Meire's choices. I loved the interpretation of each character. They all distinctly had their own voices. If you are a fan of audio thrillers I would suggest you pick this up.   The story follows several POVs with Sophie being the main POV and the only first person. As the thriller gains momentum we meet more characters but Driscoll manages to not confuse us. We meet sweet, soft and rather quiet Sophie as she is on a train ride hours from home when she gets a message telling her that her 4 year old son Ben who was staying with her friend Emma and Emma's three year old son have all been rushed to the hospital.  From there the story goes back and forth from then to now telling the story of the friendship between Emma and Sophie. Leading us slowly to the truth behin...

I would first like to thank Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read an advanced reader's copy of this novel for an honest review. 4.75 Stars In 1983 smart,thoughtful,quiet and beautiful 14 year old Aurora disappears on a Summer camping trip with her older sister and her sister's friends. It's been thirty years and Aurora's body is finally found. It's up to DCI Jonah Sheens to sift through the secrets that bind the friends after 30 years. Jonah was a casual acquaintance of the group all those years ago. More like an observer really. He always wondered what is was like to be in the popular group, to really know them but now that he is investigating them he is not all that impressed. I love a good detective series and this novel is a perfect introduction to Sheens and his group of detectives. The novel did feel a bit long and it took me longer than it normally does to read this kind of novel. That being said I really enjoyed this ride, this mystery w...

I think this is definitely a book that is made to be listened to. The narrator was really good and as I listened to this it felt like I was listening to someone's secret confessions.   My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:  1. I’m in a coma.  2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.  3. Sometimes I lie.  The story begins as Amber realizes that she is in a coma. She can hear everything going on around her for short periods of time before she fades again.  As Amber tries to gather her memories to figure out just how she ended up here we go from her present to a week prior as well as a trip in the past where we are treated to diary entries from 1991/92.  This is the type of book that I feel an in depth review would end up giving too much away so I just want to say a few things. Amber is not always a likeable character and yet you will find yourself rooting for her anyway. The imagery as Amber struggles wit...

5 Stars I am one of those people that just does not get people that are not fans of Ruth Ware. I really do find her books to be so atmospheric. She really knows how to paint a picture. This was the best book I have read from her yet! Harriet (Hal) is in deep and she doesn't know how to get out of it. She has barely been able to keep her head above water since her death of her Mother. Hal makes her living the way her Mother did, doing Tarot readings on the pier. The problem is Hal owes a lot of money and loan sharks are at the door threatening her. Then one day out of the blue a letter arrives that could change everything. It seems that Harriet Westaway is an heir to an estate. Is she the Harriet Westaway they are looking for? Maybe not but after spending her whole life struggling she feels like maybe passing herself off as the proper heir is pretty much a victimless crime. A quick search shows that the Westaways have so much, she is certain that they could spare a little money....

A solid 4.75 star rating from me! Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book for an honest review. Charlotte's longtime friend Harriet has always been overly protective of her 4 year old daughter Alice. So protective she seems to never allow Alice out of her site. So when Harriet approaches Charlotte to ask her to watch after Alice and take her to a school faire so that Harriet attend a bookkeeping course Charlotte is honored to be asked. It seems like an easy task, after all she has been planning to take her three children to the faire anyway. What could go wrong? It turns out a lot actually. As Charlotte waits outside a bouncy run with her littlest daughter for her son,eldest daughter and Alice to finish it ends up only her children come out. Alice is nowhere to be found. As Harriet begins to live through the worse nightmare a parent can live through and things are not much easier for Charlotte. None of Charlotte's fri...

A solid 3.75 Stars Divorced, single Mom Louise comes home one day, checks her e-mail messages and sees that she has a new friend request. Simple enough, right? Not really when the request if from someone who has been dead since 1989. Not really when you were partially responsible for her death.   A lot of things run through Louise's mind. Could Maria Weston have survived? Could she be planning her revenge on Louise and her ex friend Sophie for what they did on Prom night? Louise has no idea, all she knows is that she is being watched, followed by someone. Someone is sending her threatening messages. A date her friend set her up with through an online dating app turns out to be a sick prank from Maria. As Louise tries to sort things out everything seems to get worse and worse until her ex highschool best friend and fellow mean girl Sophie ends up dead. Louise then realizes that her life is in danger and she needs to get at the bottom of this before it is to late for her. ...