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Showing posts from March, 2020

For Whom the Book Tolls

Jenna Quinn has gotten into some trouble in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Her uncle has reached out and offered her a place to stay in exchange for some help in his antiquarian bookstore. But not long after she arrives in the small town of Hokes Folly, she finds her uncle's body at the bottom of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore. Jenna learns that she has inherited almost everything her uncle owned - she is now a millionaire. And the police believe that is a good motive for murder. I debated reading this one but the cover won me over. I liked this book more than I thought I would. At the beginning Jenna had a lot of lumps in her throat. But I grew to like Jenna and the old bookstore and the small town of Hokes Folly - I especially enjoyed learning about the history of Hokes Folly. I thought the friendship developed fast between Jenna and her neighbour, Rita, but I can't even complain about that - I really like their friendship and may even be a

The Girl from Widow Hills

Arden Maynor was only young when she was swept away while sleepwalking. She was missing for days and was eventually found alive, clinging to a storm drain. She was a living miracle, but fame took its toll and when she was old enough she changed her name and disappeared from the public eye. She's now known as Olivia and is living hundreds of miles away from the place she grew up. But the twentieth anniversary of her rescue is coming up and the media will no doubt have something planned. She feels like she's being watched, she begins sleepwalking again - something that hasn't happened in a long time. One night she wakes up outside her home and finds a corpse at her feet. I'll admit I had trouble getting into this one at first. The writing seemed abrupt and disjointed. But I kept plugging away and eventually I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I'll also admit that I did not read the part about the corpse on the blurb so I was really excited when I read about tha

The Girl with the Kitten Tattoo

Lara Caphart's best friend is getting married. Sherry and her fiancé, David, are going to get married in Sherry's family's coffee shop. Lara couldn't be happier for them, but she can't help but wonder when her boyfriend, Gideon, will pop the question. It's business as usual at High Cliff Shelter for Cats. Lara and her aunt Fran take in and look after cats in their old Folk Victorian until they find loving homes for them. As if Lara didn't have enough going on, Gideon's ex, Megan, has just showed up, and to make matters worse for Lara, Gideon has never mentioned her before. When Megan's ex-boss is found dead, suspicion falls on Megan. But thanks to Lara's spirit cat, a cat named Blue that only she can see, she knows it couldn't have been Megan and she knows she has to help. I didn't find this one as enjoyable as the others. I thought it was a bit juvenile. Lara's always worrying about her boyfriend, and wondering if it's over a

You Can't Catch Me

Jessica Williams has just been fired from her investigative journalism job for plagiarism. She decides to go to a resort in Mexico to escape the press coverage. While waiting at the airport, she finds a woman with the exact same name. After playing a game of twenty questions to see what other similarities they share, they exchange contact information. When Jessica returns home from Mexico, she discovers large cash withdrawals have been made from her bank account and that Jessica Two is the one who took the money. After doing some digging, convinced she's pulled this scam before, Jessica is determined to catch Jessica Two by reaching out to other Jessica's on Facebook. When she gets some responses from other victim's, she sets a plan in motion. I love when I read the first few words of a book and already know I'm going to love it. Everything this author writes is so good, she has such talent! Everything about this novel is interesting - Jessica's upbringing, all the

Don't Look for Me

Molly Clarke's car is found abandoned miles from home, her phone is left behind. She has left a note at a nearby hotel. She has simply walked away from her life, her family. But someone isn't convinced that's what really happened. I love the cover. This is an author, for me, that I already know the book is going to be good before I even crack the cover. I wasn't disappointed. I loved everything about this one - the characters are three-dimensional, the setting is a little eerie, the situations are heartbreaking. The writing is great and the whole story flows well. I couldn't wait to find out what was going on! It was twisty and I didn't see anything coming. A page-turner that kept me reading until early morning. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC. 5/5.

5:00 Breakout

After I read book one in the author's Paige Comber series, I signed up to receive her newsletter and also received this short story. In this, two workers are finding the last 15 minutes of work to be 15 minutes too many. Can they break out? Well-written and humourous.  4/5.