Sulari Gentill is a master of the literary thriller game!
About the Book
Theodosia “Theo” Benton has dropped out of law school in Australia to pursue a Sulari Gentill is a master of the literary thriller game!
About the Book
Theodosia “Theo” Benton has dropped out of law school in Australia to pursue a career in writing. She arrives unannounced at her brother Gus’s door in Lawrence, Kansas (and finds him at a slightly compromising moment) to ask if she can stay with him while she works on her writing. Gus is an attorney himself, but offers her a place to stay and support, though he encourages her to leave the apartment each day to write.
It is on one of these excursions that Theo happens to meet a famous writer named Dan Murdoch. Even more unexpected, the two have a wonderful conversation and over the following months Murdoch becomes a mentor to Theo on her writing. Despite their age difference, Dan and Theo share an intimate night together. When Gus learns that Theo has more than a casual relationship with Dan, he asks to meet him. However, when Theo arrives at Dan’s apartment she discovers he has been murdered.
In the wake of this terrible crime, things begin to get much more complicated. Theo is approached by Dan’s former literary agent who has expressed interest in her work, which she got from Dan. The publishing agency is known as one of the best in the world, but that comes with a rather strict contract should Theo sign with them. Meanwhile, the police are questioning how Theo came to be at Dan’s apartment and whether she knows more about his murder than she lets on.
Several strange occurrences seem to link to Dan’s murder, but Theo isn’t sure how. A neighbor drops off a letter that was mistakenly delivered to his house. The letter is from Dan to Theo and must have been sent before his death. Meanwhile Dan was involved in an anonymous underground conspiracy community that he says he was using for research, but they seem to know his real identity and that his unpublished manuscript may be the key to what they are searching for. Gus worries that Theo’s life may be in danger and asks his friend Mac, a private investigator, to keep an eye out when another murder happens that appears to tie into the web of mysteries surrounding Dan’s death. And that is only the beginning of what Theo will have to go through to understand what is really going on…
Review
This is an intricately plotted story. I can’t even begin to describe how many different threads pull in seemingly-opposite directions, until the end when everything is expertly laid out to show that not a single thread was extraneous to the conclusion. I don’t think this book will be for everyone—for those familiar with Gentill’s writing, she is an expert at an outlandish over-the-top literary plot. Nothing about this is a straight forward murder mystery. But don’t forget the title—this is at its core a story about a mystery writer and all will eventually tie into that when the mystery comes together.
Theo is an infuriatingly naïve character and that leads Gus and eventually his friend Mac to be a bit over protective of her. But based on some things that happen, it seems they may not have been protective enough! Gus is an intelligent and funny person, and the backstory that you’ll learn about him and Theo and why they are living in different countries adds quite a bit of texture to the story.
I loved this novel! I was fascinated by the direction the plot went in after Dan’s death and the investigation gets moving. At some point it switches perspectives and jumps in time. Gentill has a way of crafting her stories that always make the reader feel slightly off-kilter, which adds to experiencing the story. After all, her stories are twisted and feeling off-kilter matches what the characters are experiencing. The ending is intense and I suspect it may be polarizing for some readers! I’ve seen a few reviewers that thought this story went too far off the rails, but I felt the opposite. The story is a high-speed ride with no seatbelt on and I loved every minute of it!
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for my copy. Opinions are my own....more
I had been waiting to read Stacy Willingham’s Only If You’re Lucky because it was the February pick for my book club, and it was worth the wait! I’ve I had been waiting to read Stacy Willingham’s Only If You’re Lucky because it was the February pick for my book club, and it was worth the wait! I’ve read and enjoyed all of Willingham’s books, but this was my favorite. A twist-filled story about female friendships gone wrong!
About the Book | Only If You’re Lucky
Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year, a year Margot spent studying and playing it safe, and asks her to room together, something in Margot can't say no—something daring, or starved, or maybe even envious.
And so Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace. (Synopsis from Goodreads)
Review | Only If You’re Lucky
This is the sort of story that so expertly drops tidbits into the narrative that you almost don’t notice them until suddenly you realize what a clever, wicked, twisted story this is! Only If You’re Lucky focuses heavily on female friendship and obsession, but presented in a fresh and inventive story told in dual timelines that speed towards one another with a shocking conclusion.
Margot is a shy freshman at her South Carolina university when she meets Lucy Sharpe. Having tragically lost her best friend Eliza the summer after high school, Margot spends most of her first year of college hiding in her dorm with her roommate, Maggie (who couldn’t be a more supportive friend). At their first dorm meeting in the all-girls dorm, Lucy steps forward and pulls out a backpack with a case of beer. She’s beautiful, magnetic, and funny. Margot can’t help but be reminded of Eliza when she observes Lucy that first year.
As fate would have it, Margot is on the lawn at the end of her freshman year when Lucy approaches her and offers her the fourth bedroom in a house on campus she is renting with two friends. Margot immediately accepts, and after an awkward parting with Maggie (whom she was supposed to be rooming with the following year), Margot moves into the house with Lucy and two of their floormates—Nicole and Sloane.
Over the summer, Margot is happier than she can remember in a long time. Lucy is as charismatic in friendship as Margot observed from afar, Sloane is sarcastic and witty, and Nicole is kind and dating the president of the fraternity that owns the house they are renting. The four become close, spending days and evenings curled up on the couch together, going to parties with the boys from the fraternity, and partying after hours at a local bowling alley where Lucy works. Life is good, and Margot can almost forget the hole in her life where Eliza was.
Things are going great, until one of the fraternity boys next door is brutally murdered. The campus is in a frenzy, hounded by the press and police trying to find out what happened to the student. Meanwhile, Lucy has vanished without a trace. Are Lucy’s disappearance and the murder a terrible coincidence, or are they somehow linked?
This book was gripping from start to finish. The timelines alternate between the events of that summer and the beginning of sophomore year and the days after the murdered student is discovered and Lucy’s disappearance. After moving out of her dorm with Maggie, Margot becomes more alive but also more disturbed. Her friendship with Lucy comes with binge drinking, occasional recreational drug use, and hangovers that can last days. All of this lends a small air of unreliability to Margot, particularly in the present timeline.
Margot’s grief is overwhelming for her, and throughout the book we learn more about Eliza and her death, particularly when a student at the fraternity is someone linked to Eliza from their hometown. He’s the last person Margot wants to see and a constant reminder of Eliza. And he also happens to be the student who winds up murdered, adding another layer of complexity and suspicion to Margot. People in her life seem to wind up dead, it turns out.
At the same time, Margot is vulnerable and meek. She has a strong desire to fit in, but in her head she questions so much of what she does. Margot explains at one point how she always feels invisible, but when she was with Eliza (or later Lucy), she felt like someone. People noticed her and they could place her. The friendships in this book are exciting and dysfunctional.
This is a dark and alluring portrayal of female friendship, but at the same time I think many women reading this will find a glimmer they can relate to. Those days when you’re young and your friends are the most important and exciting thing in your world. The feeling that you don’t want things to change or worry that someone new will come in and tear your friendship apart.
The sweltering heat of the southern campus becomes an atmospheric backdrop for this tantalizing story. The events of the book and the setting feel like a nod to southern gothic—where flawed characters swarm around a disturbing and twisted story. Each page adds to the tension, and the story becomes almost oppressive as Margot spirals further and further away from who she is. From the beginning the reader knows this is all heading towards a murder and a disappearance. But so many other pieces of the story are missing.
At about two thirds of the way through the book, Willingham begins to drop twists in that pick up seemingly forgotten loose threads and twist them together. By the end of the book the reader has the whole interconnected web of secrets and buried truths. The ending is jaw-dropping and one that completely surprised me.
A gripping and tantalizing story of obsession, loyalty, friendship, and murder!...more
I wanted an easy audiobook listen while I had some driving and chores to get done so Carrie agreed to do a buddy read with me. We picked The Silent WoI wanted an easy audiobook listen while I had some driving and chores to get done so Carrie agreed to do a buddy read with me. We picked The Silent Woman because I’ve read Minka Kent before and I find her books bingeable and typically satisfying. There wasn’t anything groundbreaking in this thriller but it is easy to get into and the main character is likable, rational, and proactive (which honestly now that I mention it can be a rarity in this genre!).
Jade Westmore has recently married Wells Westmore, the grandson to the famous late actress Viviette Westmore. Wells is looking for a biographer to write his grandmother’s memoir, and hadn’t found the right person until he happened upon Jade’s work in an airport bookstore and had his agent contact her. It was love at first date, and the two wed not long after.
However magical it seems for Jade to get to live in the ancestral home of this amazing actress with her thoughtful husband, their marriage has a shadow over it in the form of Wells’ first wife, Sylvie. Three years ago Wells discovered Sylvie face down in their pool with a wound on her head. While they were able to save her, Sylvie has been mute ever since. Now, though Wells divorced her, he keeps her with round the clock care in the guest home. ‘Til death do us part, and all!
Now Jade leaves Sylvie to her care per Wells instructions. Until one day when Wells is out of town, Sylvie’s nurse has to leave suddenly. Jade agrees to help with her breakfast and medication until the replacement shows up, but it is clear her presence disturbs Sylvie when Sylvie notices her engagement ring. Jade feels awful about upsetting her. Just as she is preparing to leave, Sylvie suddenly grabs a pen and paper and scribbles three letters—R-U-N.
Is it possible Sylvie is more with it than the doctors and Wells led her to believe? Jade is determined to help Sylvie and find out what she was trying to say no matter what the consequences…
This was an easy read. The twists are a bit predictable but not necessarily in a bad way. I loved the nextdoor neighbor Portia—she is such a classic wealthy LA suburb type, talking about her plastic surgery and all of the neighborhood gossip. Jade is likable and takes Sylvie’s warning seriously. She handles the information pragmatically without dismissing it, and keeps the note to herself until she can find a way to communicate more with Sylvie.
There were several different ways this could have unfolded and I did enjoy not knowing who was going to be behind everything. Overall a quick and breezy thriller that had a great audio narrator and a bingeable story!...more
A twisty, fun trip deep into the mind of Jane—a delightfully delusional and seriously twisted housewife in Orange County. I seriously LOVED this book!A twisty, fun trip deep into the mind of Jane—a delightfully delusional and seriously twisted housewife in Orange County. I seriously LOVED this book! An unreliable narrator, a twisty plot, and a completely terrible character who I sort of wanted to succeed anyway? Perfection!
Jane is certainly not a likeable character, nor even a reliable one. But she sure is a blast to follow along with! A year ago Jane’s elder daughter Mary died in a tragic accident. Jane has been grieving ever since. When her therapist encourages her to connect more with her family—sit down to meals together, begin the process of finding their new normal—we learn that things may not be as they seem in this family. There are some secrets yet to be revealed, but I’ll let you find those out for yourself!
Jane’s husband David is wealthy and pays for their affluent Orange County life. But David has a few secrets of his own. His biggest problem isn’t the secrets, though, it is that Jane has discovered them. And that’s where we begin! Jane also has a second daughter, Betsy, set to graduate from high school. Betsy is not the favorite daughter. That was Mary. Mary was so much like Jane, the apple of her eye. Betsy is different, she dresses in black, she wants to be an artist, she has a tattoo, and she doesn’t put up with Jane’s efforts to mother her.
But it turns out Betsy has secrets too… And pretty soon Jane knows those as well. As they say, one of them lied, one of them died. And Jane will get to the bottom of all of it. After all, Jane always gets her way.
I actually ended up listening to the audiobook for this one and I can’t recommend it enough. The audio narrator, Kathleen McInerney, did an outstanding job with her narration of the story. Jane tends to have a lot of inner monologue (her “real” thoughts) and then her carefully crafted responses to others. This was so easy to follow in text, but is a structure that can be much more challenging in audio format. Kathleen nailed it, though! She had a tone for Jane’s monologue, and a different tone for dialogue. She really brought Jane to life!
This is the sort of book that is begging to be a movie. How could it not be? Jane is a character that deserves her own film. And ironically, that would make Jane in the book very happy. She wanted to be an actress, after all. And perhaps this book will allow her to finally be one! I loved this one!
Thank you to Harlequin for my copy. Opinions are my own....more
YOU’VE NEVER READ A LOVE STORY AS TWISTED AS THIS.
You can find my full review and more at PhDiva.blog!
You know when you read a book and you know wYOU’VE NEVER READ A LOVE STORY AS TWISTED AS THIS.
You can find my full review and more at PhDiva.blog!
You know when you read a book and you know who you are supposed to like and dislike, and somehow you feel the exact opposite? That describes how I read The Perfect Girlfriend in a nutshell!!! This book is T-W-I-S-T-E-D!!! I sat down to write this and I wasn’t even sure how to begin because this is one of the strangest and most entertaining books I’ve read in ages—in a good way!
Told in first person narrative, Juliette tells the story of what happens after the love of her life breaks up with her. Ok, so maybe she didn’t handle the break up that well. But now she is giving him exactly what he asked for—space! So he will come back to her at the end, right? He will definitely understand what she did to meet his needs.
Juliette is playing the long game. She could arrange a meet-up at any time if she wanted to, but she has this planned out. Slow and steady. Stick to the plan. Everything will work out if you stick to the plan. And so we see her applying for Nate's airline, going through the long flight attendant trainings (seriously, flight attendant training at many companies takes about 8 weeks), and then building up her seniority on her flight schedule.
“Perseverance always pays off. It never, ever fails.”
Juliette should have friends to show she isn’t needy, right? So she makes a friend. Their friendship was SO entertaining! Amy’s reactions to a few odd things Juliette does are spot on, and then in Juliette’s monologue we hear her “I guess it was a bit odd…” Juliette is at a minimum a bit odd, and more accurately she is off her rocker.
And this brings me to who I should like and dislike, and I oddly found myself rooting for Juliette and all of her crazy ideas! She was just SO entertaining and persistent. And even though she is absolutely someone who needs serious help, everyone who has been cruelly dumped, bullied, or mistreated will find a small amount of delight in her revenge plots.
“You think you can use people and discard them when it suits. Like I was nothing. Like I meant nothing. Like we meant nothing.”
The writing on this book is divine. So much of this book happens inside of Juliette’s head, and yet she often doesn’t clue you in on her plan in advance, so we see it unfold in shocking real time. And here is where we should give all of the credit to Karen Hamilton’s writing. Her story is gripping and hard to put down, though much of it is inner monologue. And she also finds a way to humanize and make Juliette sympathetic, despite the fact that she is absolutely vindictive and crazy.
Thank you to Harlequin Books for my copy. Opinions are my own....more
Seriously unputdownable—I am buzzing with energy over my obsession with The World Breaks Everyone by Lauren Clark! Can I gush for a moment? This book Seriously unputdownable—I am buzzing with energy over my obsession with The World Breaks Everyone by Lauren Clark! Can I gush for a moment? This book was one of my favorite of 2018 (and I have read some AMAZING books in 2018). I picked this one up to do a mini book club read with my besties Jennifer and Berit. We got this about a month ago, and I’ve been going along with my scheduled reads until all three of us could read this together. And can I just say, I was expecting to enjoy it, but I ended up blown away! We were literally texting late into the night about how we couldn’t put this book down! For a virtual book club, a book that can bring that level of excitement across the country (east coast, Midwest, and west coast representing here) is truly an amazing experience. If you are a thriller lover, choose The World Breaks Everyone for your next book club pick—you won’t regret it!
About the Book
Olivia is on the cusp of her 17th birthday, but fading away from her life…
Just two years ago her mother passed away, and Olivia can barely cope with the knowledge that it was her fault. Now, her father Theo is truly making it in the culinary world of New Orleans with his much-anticipated restaurant opening. On the night of the opening, Olivia plans to take a break from her life for good—she’s heading to Baja with her boyfriend Gabe. That is the plan, anyways. But when an attack on herself and her father occurs, Olivia finds herself on the run.
Kate is excited to finally meet her boyfriend Theo’s daughter…
On the night of Theo’s restaurant opening, Kate arrives as scheduled, but finds herself caught in the middle of a drunken fight and ends up with a black eye. When Theo and his staff rush to take care of her, Olivia finds out about their relationship in the worst possible way. Kate leaves for work at the crisis center, only to learn about the attack on Theo and Olivia later that evening.
Theo tells Olivia to run…
In the wake of the attack, Olivia runs. She doesn’t know who to trust, or where to go. But she does know one thing—someone is after her and her father, and they are willing to take out whoever is in their path to get to them. And though Olivia doesn’t know Kate, she may be the one person Olivia can trust.
Reflection
I mentioned this was a book club read with two of my besties, Berit and Jennifer. What I didn’t mention is that Jennifer is already a big fan of this author. In fact, Jennifer is the one to recommend this book to us. I cannot be more excited that she did, because I absolutely loved this twisty cat-and-mouse thriller! This is the best part about the book community—I took a chance on something new that a friend told me about, and now I have a new favorite author to follow!
The tension that Clark built in this story is the reason that thrillers are a top genre. From the moment Olivia ran that night, I couldn’t stop reading. I felt uneasy when she was alone, and paranoid when someplace she turned for help didn’t feel quite right. I felt tempted to trust characters and not trust others, based on their words and actions. It felt like I was on the run along with Olivia!
And then the alternating storyline with Kate was fantastic. I absolutely loved Kate as a character. First, Kate is a psychologist and that alone gave me an initial connection. But Kate is so much more than that—she has a vulnerability and damage to her, that through her authenticity and raw emotions displays a strength of character I admired. Kate feels jealousy, but admits her irrationality. She isn’t perfect. She isn’t without basic human mistakes. But Kate is also humble and strives to constantly be more empathetic by reframing her thoughts to understand what others are going through. She’s a beautiful person and a joy to read about. Her chapters were so important, not just because of how great she is, but because she kept us informed of the search of Theo and Olivia.
I can’t say much more without spoilers, but I want to say that the twists through the characters and plot delighted me! I trusted and mistrusted every single character as events unfolded, switching back and forth. I was right along with Olivia as she followed her gut instinct, in the absence of a trusted advisor or even a good night’s sleep to make rational decisions with. What a ride!
I recommend this book fully and I know readers will love it!
What a tangled web of lies J. T. Ellison has created!!! The more I read in this book, the more shocked I became with the twisted trail of deception thWhat a tangled web of lies J. T. Ellison has created!!! The more I read in this book, the more shocked I became with the twisted trail of deception that was uncovered by a single incident. Ellison is a favorite author of mine, and I noticed she liked to play with the reader a bit. She doesn’t mind having flawed characters. In fact, Ellison’s work thrives on flawed characters! But her characters feel real because of that. They feel like they make mistakes, they forgive those they shouldn’t, they lie in ways that are understandable and even ways you can empathize with. And then she hits you with those final twists and everything suddenly falls into place and you wonder how these characters got to this point! This book was a fun, twisty read that I completely loved!
About the Book
Mindy Wright is a young star in the competitive skiing world, with a real shot at making the national team. Mindy has two parents who adore her, Lauren and Jasper Wright. They live in a gorgeous mountainside home, close to her training facility. They homeschool her so she can compete and train to make the team. And they love and support Mindy in every way.
When Mindy takes a fall on her last qualifying run, her parent’s are devastated. Rushing Mindy to the hospital to have her broken leg fixed, they discover something shocking: Mindy has cancer and needs a stem cell transfusion. Desperate to help any way they can, Lauren and Jasper offer to be tested, only to discover something even more shocking: Mindy is not biologically related to them.
With Mindy’s life on the line, Lauren and Jasper will do anything they can to protect their daughter. But what if their lies are the barrier to finding the match for Mindy? Is it possible her parents know more than they let on? Or is this a terrible mix-up with devastating consequences?
Reflection
I’ve mentioned that J. T. Ellison is one of my favorite authors, and there is a reason for that. Ellison does not ever take the easy road through her novels. There is never a quick and easy twist, never a moment where a character gets off the hook, and she doesn’t baby her characters. We see her characters with all of their flaws, their lies, and their regrettable moments. And they are ALL liars to an extent. They lie to us, they lie to themselves, and sometimes they lie to eachother.
I think many authors struggle with falling in love with their characters. And when that happens, it can be very difficult to show them with all of their good and bad traits. Ellison takes the reverse approach. Most of her characters seem awful at first, and then the more you know them the more human they become, and the more rootable. Her characters impression manage to an extreme degree—hiding themselves from the reader, the other characters, and sometimes even from themselves.
Lauren and Jasper are such fascinating characters. You’ll go in finding them boring a bit entitled and overbearing of Mindy. But they love her so much, that its hard not to cheer them on. And as each other them become more real, I was drawn into the story. Then we have a mysterious third narrator with a seriously dark story. I was dying to know who this third narrator was and how she fits into the story! She has her own cast of characters way back in time, and each one fascinated me. Ellison uses this parallel story so effectively, laying out all of the pieces at just the right times.
There are a lot of other great characters, but I don’t want to spoil the ride so I’ll keep them to myself. Except to say that there is a pretty great dog in the book named Kat (lol) and she is so cute and loveable, even over text!
This is truly a story about the immense love of a mother and father for their daughter, and the horrifying secret that threatens to tear the family apart. Those lies we tell for the greater good come back to haunt us. And because we are all human, the lies tend to build. Instead of living in our truths, we bury ourselves in the lies we’ve created. To save Mindy’s life, a lot of lies need to be exposed. What a twisted tale!!!
This was a buddy read with Melisa and Berit and we LOVED this book!!! See my blog post here!
Many thanks to Harlequin MIRA and to J. T. Ellison for a copy of this book to review....more
Heart-warming, emotional, and thought-provoking…Rush is not what I expected—it is better! I’ve always been fascinated by the Greek system. My own undeHeart-warming, emotional, and thought-provoking…Rush is not what I expected—it is better! I’ve always been fascinated by the Greek system. My own undergraduate didn’t have a Greek system, so who knows if I would have Rushed a sorority myself, but I am intellectually and socially intrigued by the whole process. I started this book knowing I’d like it—who wouldn’t? Sorority rushing, an old southern legacy campus, teenage girls putting their hearts on the line for a welcome into a social system they’ll have their whole lives. Who wouldn’t love that? But Rush is very much more than a book about sororities. It is a book about race, class, family, sisterhood, and the search for respect and belonging. I encourage everyone to go out and read this book! You won’t regret it!
About the Book
A new rush season has settled in upon the Alpha Delta Beta house on the historic Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Mississippi. House Corp President Lilith Whitmore finds herself unable to be a rush advisor due to her position, and with a daughter set to begin sorority rush this fall. When Lilith appoints her old sorority sister Wilda Wilcox to the Rush Advisory Board, Wilda can’t say no. Her own daughter Ellie will be rushing at Ole Miss this fall as well, and Wilda finds herself on the precipice of an empty nest. She’ll do anything to stay involved with her only daughter’s life.
Ellie Wilcox and Lilith’s daughter Annie Laurie are both legacies at Alpha Delta Beta, meaning their mothers were members. Lilith coordinates for them to room together, and Wilda thinks this may be the final push Ellie needs to get a bid from Alpha Delta Beta. But Ellie rooming with Annie Laurie has it’s own problems—Wilda begins to understand the true implications of wealth and status in the south, and she and Ellie may not be able to keep up.
Cali Watkins lives in the dorm room next door to Ellie and Annie Laurie. Cali is smart, hard-working, and has a big heart—spending her time caring for those around her. She’s everything a sorority should want in a member. But she doesn’t have a pedigree. Cali’s family is full of secrets and scandal—the one thing that could prevent her from getting into a sorority. But all Cali wants is to find sisters of her own and belong, and she enters rush hoping no one finds out about her mother.
Miss Pearl has been the housekeeper for Alpha Delta Beta for over twenty years, ever since she had to drop out of Ole Miss Herself at nineteen. Miss Pearl is black in a nearly all-white sorority. But Miss Pearl loves her job and her babies in the house. When an opportunity becomes available to be even more involved with Alpha Delta Beta, Miss Pearl knows that the color of her skin may prevent her one again from the life she’s earned.
Can these powerful women change a social system that prioritizes status and skin color over substance of character??
Reflection
At the core of this book is a conversation about what it means to have respect and trust from others, and what it means to belong. I recently was reading a book about a person’s reputation being a form of social currency, and that reputation can give someone advantages that someone without that reputation may not be able to get. Some people, like the wealthy and high-society members of this book have a built in reputation from their status in life. But others that came in with nothing—Cali and Miss Pearl—were able to build that reputation by strength of character, kindness, and trustworthiness. I felt inspired seeing that reputation in this book looked superficial at the outside, but the book really ended up being about people caring more about who you are than where you come from.
The book is told from three narrators, and what I loved about that was we had three different social subgroups of the larger Alpha Delta Beta social system. Wilda connects us to the legacy of ADB, and the previous generation of sisters. Wilda, though decades out of her time at the sorority, still feels insecure and desires to fit in with the perceived status members of the group. Though Wilda doesn’t really even like Lilith, she is desperate for Lilith to accept her. She wants to feel like she beautiful enough, wealthy enough, and classy enough to deserve Lilith’s friendship. But Wilda herself has something Lilith doesn’t—kindness and morals, and people who love her despite what she may or may not have.
Then we have Miss Pearl. Oh, how I loved Miss Pearl! Miss Pearl is our portal into the primarily-black support staff of the house. The people who feel happy just to be a part of the system, even as the lowest ranking members. There was such a pureness to Miss Pearl. She didn’t begrudge others for having more than her, but she had the self-respect and confidence to stand up for what she wants as well. Through Miss Pearl, we see that despite all of the progress we think we have made for racial equality, there are still so many opportunities that aren’t equal or fair. I can’t imagine a reader on this planet who won’t love Miss Pearl, and cheer her on throughout this book.
And finally we have Cali leading the charge as our window into the new generation of sorority rushees. It would be so easy for this book to be critical of sororities—portraying the girls as vapid or shallow. But what we see is that all of the shallowness of sororities exists only to outsiders. Every girl in this book struggled to belong to a sisterhood for the purpose of support and friendship, not for status. The generation of girls in Alpha Delta Beta were such wonderful characters. Cali herself has a strength and a vulnerability that is charming. As Cali befriends Ellie, we see that Ellie herself is more impressed by someone’s character than their status. Ellie, in fact, is the one that shows her mother Wilda how much Wilda’s own values were in the right place. How Wilda passed to Ellie a sense of kindness, not elitism, despite Wilda’s own insecurities.
I read this with my friend Berit and one thing Berit said that resonated with me was that these were characters she would miss as soon as she stopped reading this book. I whole-heartedly agree with her! I feel completely in love with these women and I won’t soon forget them or the message of this book. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did!
I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway :) See my blog post here!...more
This book is a deep character study of two women connected by a thread that spans time, secrets, and loneliness. Elisabeth Carpenter has written a stoThis book is a deep character study of two women connected by a thread that spans time, secrets, and loneliness. Elisabeth Carpenter has written a story in 11 Missed Calls that feels as though it needed to be told. Spanning two different time periods, with each woman at the same age in their story, there are both parallels and contrasts between the mother, Debbie, and the daughter, Anna. This is a book driven by the characters and their search for answers and wholeness.
I always struggle with the industry-standard to pair “Mysteries and Thrillers” together as a book category, because though many books involve both, others involve only one. I went into this thinking it might be a thriller, but it is actually what I would call Women’s Fiction with a subgenre of Mystery. It’s a book about the missing piece in one woman’s life, and how 30 years later that has led to a missing piece in her daughter’s life. It is a book about the search for belonging.
About the Book
In 1986 Debbie gives birth to her daughter Annie. But ever since Annie’s birth, Debbie has struggled to feel like herself again. When her husband Peter offers to take Debbie and their kids on a holiday to Teneriffe with their best friends Monica and Nathan, Debbie finds herself dreading the vacation. She doesn’t feel quite right, and a holiday is the last thing she wants.
And then Debbie goes missing…
In 2017, Annie (now going by Anna) is turning 30 with a husband and daughter of her own. Anna loves her father Peter and step-mother Monica, but she’s always felt the hole in her life of her biological mother. Anna can’t understand why her mother would abandon her. Though Debbie is most likely dead as her father and Monica tell her, Anna can’t accept that.
And then a strange email arrives…
Someone hasn’t told Anna the whole story, she’s sure of it. And with or without her family’s help, she’ll do whatever it takes to find the truth.
Reflection
The most interesting part of this book for me was Debbie. I wouldn’t say I related to her character, but I did relate to the feeling that you just don’t feel like yourself, but you don’t know how to tell people what’s wrong. You don’t actually know what’s wrong yourself. Debbie was such an honest, raw character. At times her chapters were hard to read, because I felt so empathetic for her situation. The paranoia that others are talking about you, but being unable to defend yourself is so true for many people at different points in their life. Debbie feels at times like a liability. Like she can’t be the mother to her children she wants to be, or the wife to her husband that he deserves.
Debbie is a completely root-able character. I found myself wanting everything to work out for her! Of course, as we know from the teaser, Debbie goes missing. The tragedy of knowing that and reading the weeks leading up to it is so compelling. You know that it is headed towards disaster, but you still hope she pulls out of it!
And then we have Anna in the present. Anna was only a month old when her mother went missing, so she has no memories of her. But that doesn’t prevent Anna from knowing there is a piece of her missing. I felt for Anna, because the rest of her family (her father, her step-mother, and her older brother) do remember Debbie. And they expect things to be easier on her because she never really knew her mother. But for Anna, that isn’t the case. Even still, Anna questions whether she has the right to ask questions. In a way, Debbie’s disappearance has created isolation for each of the family members, as they cope with it in their own way. For Peter and Monica, there is the guilt that they moved on. For Robert, there is the pain of abandonment. And for Anna, there is the yearning for answers.
This is a slow build. The mystery of what happened to Debbie is an interesting one, but if I’m honest it took a back seat for me to the story of these two women. I found the book driven by Debbie and Anna as characters. I wondered if they’d ever find that feeling of wholeness that they seek. I won’t tell you what they find, but I do recommend trying this one if you’re a fan of women’s fiction.
A dark and twisted book about the complexities of sisterhood and the scandals that can rock a small community! This is my first book I’ve read by MichA dark and twisted book about the complexities of sisterhood and the scandals that can rock a small community! This is my first book I’ve read by Michele Campbell, though I have been wanting to read her first book, It’s Always the Husband, and I really loved it! I read a Q&A with Campbell where she talks about the inspiration behind her first book being her fascination with the concept of frenemies and what the implications are for that type of relationship as they mature. In this book we see the concept of frenemies escalate, as the love and jealousy between two sisters compounds into a complex relationship that ultimately ends in tragedy and scandal.
What would the mash-up term for sister frenemies be?? I need to put some thought into this…
Sisterhood is a fantastic and terrifying relationship for a thriller. Sisters love more intensely and also fight more intensely than even best friends do. The bond of sisterhood can so easily be tainted by jealousy. The sisters in this book, Bel and Rose, are fascinating! They both admire and covet a quality in the other, and neglect to appreciate the things about themselves that are enviable.
About the Book
In the wake of their parents’ deaths, teenage twin sisters Bel and Rose are sent by their grandmother to the prestigious boarding school where their parents met, The Odell School. Though the school is full of opportunities, Bel and Rose are having trouble adjusting to the social pressures of boarding school. Rather than drawing the sisters closer together, the school intensifies their ongoing rivalry, ultimately ending in tragedy.
Sarah and Heath seem like the perfect couple: attractive, married with two young kids, former students at The Odell School, and current teachers and dorm supervisors at the school. But all isn’t as perfect as it seems. A group of senior girls has a bet that one of them will seduce Heath by graduation. Heath would never cheat on Sarah, and yet Sarah can’t help but wonder if there is something Heath is keeping from her. Does she really know her husband?
And then scandal rocks The Odell School—one of the sisters has been murdered, and the list of suspects is as long as the school roster. Who had a grudge against the sisters??
Reflection
Given that Bel and Rose are teenagers and the setting is a boarding school, I did wonder if this would verge on a Young Adult novel. It didn’t at all though! While young adult readers may enjoy this book, this is definitely an adult fiction/suspense book. The settings were so fun to read about! Campbell herself lives in a New England college town, so she writes about the school and town very effectively.
Poor Bel and Rose! If these sisters could learn to support one another instead of fighting, what a difference it would make! Of course, in the wake of personal tragedy and the pressures of the social system in the boarding school, these sisters never had a chance. Their rivalry is quickly intensified by the opinions of those around them. The things that make them each unique—Bel’s beauty and Rose’s intelligence—become the weapons they throw at one another. Talk about frenemies!!
Sarah and Heath’s storyline was fascinating. The doubts that they harbor, unspoken in an effort to support one another, almost overwhelm them. Theirs is a marriage that has survived some major hurdles, but what they face this year at The Odell School is beyond anything they’ve experienced. Beware of teenagers with an agenda!!!
This book is not one filled with twists, though the epilogue has a nice little twist that left me smiling as I finished the book. This is a book that is driven by the darkness and suspense of a scandal and the unraveling of a fragile social system as secrets come to light.
I read this book with some of my book besties, Kendall and Holly—we had such a fun time reading and discussing this book! I am excited to see what other readers think. It is completely salacious fiction!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Michele Campbell for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a candid review....more
When everyone knows you are a liar, don’t expect them to believe you when you tell the truth…
4.5 telling-lies stars!
Wow, what a twisty read The PeWhen everyone knows you are a liar, don’t expect them to believe you when you tell the truth…
4.5 telling-lies stars!
Wow, what a twisty read The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite is!!! About 20% in, I found myself thinking, what is this book? And then by 50% in I could barely put the book down! This was my first book by Copperthwaite, but several reviewers who’ve read her other work say that readers should always expect twists and secrets and lies. And boy, were they right!!!
About the Book
Alex is trying to rebuild her life. Her husband has left her. Her kids won’t speak to her. And alone in the world, Alex turns to restricting her eating in order to gain some semblance of control over her life. And then she makes friends with Carrie. Carrie is the best friend and daughter that Alex desperately wants back in her life. And Carrie also has terminal cancer... Alex finally feels needed.
Alex is the perfect friend for Carrie, but Alex is also a self-proclaimed liar. Alex becomes more and more dependent on her relationship with Carrie. But is Carrie the friend Alex thinks she is??
Reflection
I hate to say this, but I actually can’t say much about this book! I know, I know, it drives me nuts when reviews say that. But this one will go in its own direction and I am terrified of spoiling it! Just enjoy it. Get through the beginning (which is covered in my recap). Once the twists start, they won’t stop. I’m actually so excited for people who haven’t read this book yet!
Alex is a fascinating character. She calls herself a liar. She says she can’t be trusted. But she also is incredibly honest at times. Alex is so vulnerable. She is a person who is almost overwhelmed by life. She uses external control to manage her darkest demons. She has almost too much love to give. Her relationship with Carrie is completely bonkers. But there is something sweet about their friendship. There is something hopeful about two lost souls finding one another at their time of need.
But then, you can throw all of that out the window once those secrets start coming out! No one is telling the full truth. But the key is figuring out what are the secrets and what are the lies!!
Thank you to Bookouture and to Barbara Copperthwaite for a copy of this book to review....more
I have heard the best things about Minka Kent from other book lovers, so I was beyond excited to read my first book by her, The Thinnest A3.5 Stars!!!
I have heard the best things about Minka Kent from other book lovers, so I was beyond excited to read my first book by her, The Thinnest Air! It was a fast-paced thriller that was hard to put down! Kent is an incredible writer, and I really enjoyed the central characters in this book. This was a buddy read with Kendall and Holly, and we all had different theories about what was really going on throughout the book—and none of us were correct!
About the Book
Meredith Price has a gorgeous, rich husband, two high maintenance step kids, and a dream home in the mountains. But what she doesn’t have are friends. Meredith comes from a different world than the other wives—she’s nearly a decade younger, didn’t come from money, and not accustomed to the social scene they circulate in. But Meredith loves her husband, and she is so grateful for how kind and attentive he is.
And then one day, Meredith goes missing…
Her car is found outside the grocery store with her keys, purse, and cell phone still inside and the door wide open. Where is Meredith? As the police begin an intensive search, the gossip mills start to churn. Why would a women who is happy in her life disappear? Was she taken? Did she run? Or is something more sinister going on?
Meredith’s sister Greer knows something is wrong…
When the police don’t find anything after 24 hours, Greer knows that all is not as it seems with her sister’s disappearance. Why haven’t the police been interviewing the neighbors and friends of Meredith? Why does her husband seem so calm? As Greer begins to look deeper into her sister’s life, she realizes that Meredith kept many secrets. And one of them may be the key to finding her…
Reflection
The book is told from two points of view—Meredith’s story about meeting her husband Andrew, their marriage, and ultimately up to the day of her disappearance, and Greer’s story starting the day Meredith disappears. I always find this works well, because we got a lot of Greer in the past through Meredith’s story, and learned more about what Meredith may have shared or not shared through Greer.
Greer is definitely the breakout star of this book! She was sassy and loving—tough on the outside but tender underneath. She is also an incredibly awesome big sister. I think we would all be glad to have a big sister like her! Hearing about how she felt more like a mother to Meredith than their own mother was so touching. Greer and Meredith have an incredible bond that was apparent even through the difficult times.
And there were some other characters that were fun additions! The boyishly-handsome detective, Ronan, the mysterious, sarcastic ex to Greer, Harris, the thin and retouched ex-wife, Erica, the bratty step kids, Isabeau and Calder (those names!!!), and the reserved best friend, Allison. Many of these characters were a bit clichéd, such as the ex- and the step kids, but I think that is because it was told from Meredith’s perspective. She feels like an outsider still in this pampered world, so I don’t know that she was able to see the depth to those individuals who shunned her.
I mentioned earlier that the big twist really did get me! I do wish that there had been a bit more substance to the fallout of the twist at the end. Things were tied up all neat-and-tidy, which I think will appeal to some readers. I like a bit of mess with my thrillers, and that feeling of “what just happened??”
I am looking forward to reading more from Minka Kent!
Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Minka Kent for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Wow, what a read!! This was my first novel by Jess Ryder and as soon as I finished I added her previous two to my Amazon cart because I am so excited about this book. Jess has an incredible gift with story telling, and so I looked her up to learn a bit more about her. Jess Ryder the author is actually a pseudonym for Jan Page, a screenwriter, television producer, and novelist. I do think that explains her gift with crafting a good psychological thriller—it isn’t so different from how television producers and screenwriters create the elements that guide the viewer through the story they want to tell.
About the Book
Natasha is a barista struggling to make ends meet, when she is struck by a car with a handsome businessman driving it while biking to work. After a whirlwind courtship, Natasha and Nick are married and have a beautiful daughter named Emily. Natasha is so happy being a mother. In fact, everything would be perfect if it weren’t for Nick’s ex-wife, Jen. Nick is patient with Jen, and Natasha lets him be because her and Nick’s relationship is strong and stable.
And then one day, Nick leaves to take Emily to daycare while Natasha has a lie-in. When Natasha goes to pick up Emily from daycare, she discovers that Emily never showed up. Frantically, Natasha runs home, calling local hospitals. But when she arrives home, she notices something unexpected—all of Nick and Emily’s things have been packed up and taken from the home.
Natasha is struck by confusion, grief, and anger. She doesn’t know how to reach Nick, but she has an idea. Swallowing her pride, Natasha reaches out to the one person she thought she’d never need anything from—Jen. After everything that has happened, can Natasha really trust Jen? And does she have a choice?
Reflection
Can you imagine how crazy that would drive you??? To come home and realize your husband has disappeared with your daughter, and you had no idea it was going to happen. The lack of answers and closure alone (aside from missing your daughter and husband) would honestly drive me mad! I felt infuriated on Natasha’s behalf during this sequence.
I loved the way Jess used the present story of “Anna” on the run to counterbalance where we were at in the main story. We know SOMETHING happened that led to a life on the run, but getting there is the fun part.
Jess has a gift with plot structures and twists. I was confused as to what was going on for about the first 30% of the book, but by 40% the book was just mind-blowing twist layered upon lies layered upon story developments. I was captivated! I was actually reading Jess’s blog and she has a fascinating piece about writing twists in psychological thrillers.
In her own words:
"I’d describe [twists] as the deliberate misleading of the reader, encouraging them to make false assumptions and draw wrong conclusions about the narrator/s, the plot, the identity of the characters, their motivations and ambition, or how they are connected to each other. As the book progresses, the reader creates a fictional world in their own imagination and then, at a time of their choosing, the writer brings it crashing down.”
I’d never thought of a twist as a way of the author misleading of us! Of course, that is absolutely what a twist is. But what an interesting way of manipulating our imaginations. To help us create a richer backstory through subtle clues, only to then tear that apart with a simple shift in perspective or additional detail—one small missing piece of the puzzle with enormous implications. I loved this description!!!
I will be reading more from Jess Ryder, and I hope other readers find her book as captivating as I did!
Thank you to Bookouture, Jess Ryder, and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Mackenzie - PhDiva Books
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