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Review: Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing
Lat week I shared a special feature for Samantha Downing’s latest suspense novel, Twisted Love Story. So far I have loved Downing’s books and I had no reason to think that Twisted Love Story would be any different. Downing writes such great suspense novels that I couldn’t wait to check this one out and even though my summer reading schedule was really full, I knew I couldn’t pass on this one! One of the things that appealed to me about this book (besides the fact that Downing was the author) is that the story sounded a little more modern and different. In My Lovely Wife, it was an interesting study…
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Special Feature: A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing
When Samantha Downing made her debut, I knew then that she was going to be an outstanding thriller writer! I loved the book, My Lovely Wife! It was such a psychological read that I read it once when it came out and another time for my book club! I sometimes like re-reading books when they are especially good or when it’s part of a series that has a new book coming out and it’s been a while in between books—–so obviously I don’t do that often so that should be a testament to how much I enjoyed her debut novel! Then I read her second release—I wasn’t sure if I…
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Review: Who Cries for the Lost (Sebastian St Cyr #18) by C.S. Harris
Over the years I have jumped around in the Sebastian St Cyr series, until I finally decided about a year ago to go back and read all the books in order. Some of the books can be read out of order, others not. This book has some carry over from the last book so I would say this is probably not the one to start with if you are new to the series. I have loved this series and I am so glad to see that it’s going strong. If you love historical mysteries but want something with a bit more grit, this is an excellent option. Every spring I…
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Review: Deep Tide (The Texas Murder Files #4) by Laura Griffin
I completely binge read all of Laura Griffin’s books late last year into 2023. I fell in love with her fast paced thrillers that also contained some romance to keep things interesting. Needless to say I had this one on my radar for months before it came out. I loved the other books in the series and was excited to see which characters from previous books would get their own story in this one. These books do not need to be read in order but you will see a few familiar characters making appearances thought out the series. For example, this book features Layla Breda who owns a coffee shop…
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Special Feature: The Seaside Library by Brenda Novak
There are a few ‘beach read’ authors that I love featuring and reading as the sunshine starts peaking out in the spring and one of them is Brenda Novak! I have enjoyed her books and while she also write holiday themed books, I have a special place in my heart for her summer beach reads. Novak is a prolific writer and has many many many novels under her belt most of which are women’s fiction/romance but some have elements of mystery as well. I am super excited to share this one with you guys today, as it sounds like it’s going to have her trademark women’s fiction/romance blend but also…
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Special Feature/Excerpt: The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright
If I was just looking at this book cover I would have thought two things—-it was set in France and it was a historical romance novel. Well I am semi right, it is a historical romance BUT it also has some Gothic elements with a bit of mystery. Though it is not set in France as I suspected but rather a Wisconsin castle. Random. I haven’t really been to the Midwest and it’s decidedly not the setting I was expecting or can even wrap my mind around but here we are. Even if the setting sounded a bit random for me, I was excited about this one all the same.…
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Special Feature: Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
This is author, Ella Burman’s, second novel and at first glance it looked like it was going to be more women’s fiction. The cover implied a carefree summer with friends. But then upon reading the summary I was like—-oh—-not that. This book promises some fun carefree summer of innocence but it also promises to have that illusion dispelled with a mystery! This book will follow three friends who have a life changing experience on a Greek island in their teens. The tragedy will follow them into adulthood and readers will get to explore what kind of impact that tragedy has on them. I loved the sound of this one. It…
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Special Feature: How I’ll Kill You by Ren DeStefano
I love when I see a thriller come out that sounds different from the rest. There is kind of this theme in the thriller genre where many have ‘surprising’ femme fatale or it’s billed as a ‘psychological’ thriller—but I have yet to see where it’s a group of women killers on the hunt for their next mark. This book sounded really interesting, plus it had a strong romance angle which is often unheard of in the thriller genre as a focal point. I thought this book sounded really different and like it would stand out from a crowd. It screamed unconventional to me so naturally I want to get it…
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Review: Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft
Normally I don’t like reading books with swindler female leads. I read Pretty Things a few years ago and I didn’t love it. Since then I have been a little gun shy when it comes to books featuring female swindlers but something about this book just kept nudging me to pick it up. Maybe it was the cute title, maybe it was tiger sexy looking cover. Who knows by I finally decided to take a chance and read this one. After all, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover or by other books that might be entirely different than what the current book promises to be. This is also…
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Special Feature: Bright and Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott
Murder in the French Alps? YES PLEASE! That was the first thing that caught my eye about this book. I didn’t need to read much more into the summary to know that this would be a book for my TBR list! This book is set in a remote area of the French Alps and I couldn’t think of a more tantalizing location to set a murder mystery. As we move into what I like to call the longest shortest month of the year (February), I think this is just the book that I need to read! February is always cold, dreary and depressing in the PacNW. It rains, it’s cold…