The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
Publisher: Minotaur Books August 21, 2018
Review copy from publisher, thank you!

A deliciously disturbing, compulsively readable debut domestic suspense--prepare to meet The Other Woman: there’s nothing she won’t do to keep you away from her son ...

Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.

Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.

The Other Woman is an addictive, fast-paced psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between Emily, her boyfriend Adam, and his manipulative mother Pammie.

When I first read the blurb for this novel I was already thinking it was another girl after her man, but it is really about a psychopathically over protective mom. Everything that Emily does just perturbs the heck out of the mom-in-law-to-be, but Adam doesn't ever witness any of the sabotage that his mom does to his girlfriend. It is a basic storyline that builds up to a diabolic ending ~ another fast yet suspenseful read that really helped get me out of the reading slump after some tedious books. I stayed up late one night so I finished it within 24 hours :0

This is a book that really helped boost the number of books read for the Goodreads reading challenge, as of now I am at number 32!



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Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding
352 pages Gallery/Scout Press (July 10, 2018)
review copy via Goodreads giveaway

The author of the bestselling novel The Party—lauded as “tense and riveting” by New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda—returns with a chilling new domestic drama about two women whose deep friendship is threatened by dark, long-buried secrets.

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat.

A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world. But after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before.

Until she meets Kate Randolph.

Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart.

Because one of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.

In her masterful follow-up to The Party, Robyn Harding spins a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal, asking the question: Can people ever change? And even if they can, is it possible to forgive the past?

I won this one via Goodreads so I put it on my to-review list of reads for the summer and it did the trick as a interesting but quick read. Read in one day it was an intriguing storyline with multiple points of view. The main character Frances just wants to belong in a world of catty moms and loves that the beautiful newcomer Kate pays attention to her. Two families become intertwined as their children become close friends, and then the parents.

The summary does not set the tone properly as it feels like it is more of a dark creepy read channeling the undertone of a Law & Order SUV episode as we try and decipher all the deep dark secrets everyone seems to have. When Kate's daughter doesn't mind meeting up with a stalker things get exciting and the secrets start to reveal themselves and then Frances is scared for her life when she discovers how twisted Kate really is. But is she really twisted or was her past transgressions just a mistake? Can she change? Who can Frances trust? Can Kate be forgiven for things she has done years ago? Good storyline, quick read recommended to fans of the suspense genre.


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Lies by T M Logan
Published September 11 2018 St. Martin's Press MacMillan
review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!

What if you have the perfect life, the perfect wife and the perfect child--then, in one shattering moment, you discover nothing is as it seems? Now you are in the sights of a ruthless killer determined to destroy everything you treasure.

It's the evening drive home from work on a route Joe Lynch has taken a hundred times with his young son. But today, Joe sees his wife meet another man--an encounter that will rip two families apart. Raising the question: Can we ever really trust those closest to us?
Joe will do whatever it takes to protect his family, but as the deception unravels, so does his life. A life played out without any rules. And a cunning opponent who's always one step ahead.
T. M. Logan's Lies is an unputdownable thriller that will keep readers guessing until the jaw-dropping finale.

This was a well-written thriller that kept me guessing until the end. When Joe Lynch happened to see his wife where she was unexpected, things unravel all around him and his mundane life of being a teacher is never the same. He suspects his wife of cheating on him but doesn't have real proof and one confrontation with her supposed boyfriend spins completely out of control and social media wreaks havoc on his life.

Aptly titled Lies there is no way to know if the wife is telling the truth and the reader has no idea either. Joe follows along on a path of one mistake to another however as the boyfriend disappears but yet continues to contact Joe. Then Joe is suspected of murdering the boyfriend. With a small cast of characters it is pretty easy to think you know what is going on behind the scenes but the story unravels slowly until the surprise at the end that was wicked but amazingly fun.

An intriguing read and I am looking forward to the next book from T.M Logan.


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The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
Review copy via netgalley
Atria Books, October 2018

From the bestselling author of The House at Riverton and The Secret Keeper, Kate Morton brings us her dazzling sixth novel, The Clockmaker's Daughter. 

My real name, no one remembers.

The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing, and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins. 

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing a drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river. 

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?

Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a story of murder, mystery, and thievery, of art, love, and loss. And flowing through its pages like a river is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter.

It took me a month to read this book. July 17th I was enthralled with the amazing lyrical first sentences and I was so excited to begin another adventure from Kate Morton's mind! The writing style is definitely something to be envious of, but this actual story was so long and slow going that I was so relieved when I was done with it. I definitely could have lived without this cobweb of forgettable characters and not to mention the fact that the house was a character, too...

In a nutshell as I understood it is that a few artists meet at the spooky house and something crazy happens and the artist's lives are never the same and now the current generation tries to unravel what happened. Schoolgirls, siblings, parents,  and lovers' lives all intermingle into this story of a house and a rare blue stone.

My status updates on Goodreads while reading this reminded me of how I kept falling asleep while reading it. I think if the main character Elodie was an actual main character instead of disappearing from the plot for chapters on end it may have helped with the transitional periods but I don't know. Somehow it was all supposed to come together but it never did for me and it seemed that the author was so tired of the story that she finally just ended it, the end. Definitely a novel you're going to really get, or really hate.

I adored The Lake House and The Forgotten Garden, so all hope is not lost as I still have some others from Morton's backlist to read.


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