It's all about the thrill

Sunday, August 7, 2022

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

About the book:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs.

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.

Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.

After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.

As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.

In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.

MY THOUGHTS

It’s official!!! You are AWESOME!! This book is on 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Thank you so much @atriabooks @atriathrillers for putting this in my hands!! Pub date is right around the corner!! Out August 9th!!! 🥳🥳

I LOVED The Family Upstairs so much when I read it last month… yes I was late to the game… 🤫…I couldn’t wait to see what happened to our little family next… 😳 If you remember how the last book ended.. you will know why I was anxiously awaiting..😏

Dark..sinister… twisted… the gang is back! Lucy…Libby…Phin…Henry.. Rachel… Birdie 😳😳😳

Let’s just say @lisajewelluk absolutely KILLED it!!👏👏👏 On my Top 10 of the year? ABSOLUTELY!!! 😍 Look 👀… if you aren’t a slacker like me… and you read The Family Upstairs when it came out… no worries… @lisajewelluk does an excellent job of refreshing your memory!! 😉 If you haven’t read it.. well …🤔…sure this could be read as a stand alone.. but The Family Upstairs was so flipping good that I highly suggest doing what I did and binge both!!!

Okay can you tell I Loved it?? 😂 I am now a fan girl 👱‍♀️…I am running 🏃‍♀️ out to get her backlist!! I currently have The Night She Disappeared and can’t wait to read it!! 😍

❤️❤️❤️ Are you excited to read this one? If not… you should be!!! 😂 What is your favorite @lisajewelluk book?? Did you read The Family Upstairs?

LISA JEWELL was born in London in 1968.

Her first novel, Ralph's Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another twenty novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and The Night She Disappeared.

Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.

Sunday, July 31, 2022

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

About the book:

The Secret History meets Ninth House in this sinister, atmospheric novel following a circle of researchers as they uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters.

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.

Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.

A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

MY THOUGHTS

Well well.. what do we have here?? I admit that I was SOLD at the cover alone..😍 Gothic vibes.. NYC…better yet.. The MET… tarot cards 🎴… a garden 🪴 full of deadly plants… GOTHIC VIBES…need I go on?! 😂

When Ann gets a chance to spend a summer as an intern at The MET she jumps at the chance… bye bye Walla Walla, WA… 💼 🏃‍♀️…she literally couldn’t get out of her hometown fast enough..

Except when she gets to The MET they assign her to a gothic freestanding museum called The Cloisters… that is known for their research in divination. Sooo not what she expected! 😳 Which BTW I goggled it and the photos are stunning. 😍

She became fast friends with Rachel… who basically was an “IT Girl” …👜👱‍♀️👠 💰 … then things got very interesting…I wasn’t sure if these two were really friends or frenemies..🤔

The writing was beautiful and so atmospheric… I could see the old walls of the office… the creepiness of the garden… and the darkness of the night. These girls were crazy to go there at night in my opinion.😳 I wasn’t sure what to expect…😬

As the story unfolds.. I was shocked at how the twists hit .. 🤭… they unfolded slowly as the story came together.. they were shocking to say the least. I did not see that coming…

A slow burn that drew me in and made me appreciate every detail. Beautiful writing.. very unique premise… a wonderful debut. I can’t wait to see what @heykatyhays comes up with next! 😍

Thank you @atriabooks for my gorgeous gifted copy!! Pub date is November 1st! 🥳🥳

Katy Hays is a writer and adjunct art history professor in California, where she teaches
rural students from Truckee to Tecopa. She holds an MA in art history from Williams
College and pursued her PhD at UC Berkeley. Having previously worked at major art
institutions, including The Clark Art Institute and SF MoMA, she now lives with her
husband and their dog, Queso, in Olympic Valley, California.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Finding Tessa by Jaime Lynn Hendricks

About the book:

Jace and Tessa appear to be a young couple in love with nothing to hide. But looks can be deceiving.

When Jace Montgomery comes home late from entertaining clients, he discovers that his wife Tessa is missing. There’s broken glass at the back door. Clumps of her hair. Blood. The cops in their small New Jersey town have him pegged as a suspect, especially after he explodes at a reporter during a press conference. Jace maintains his innocence despite the mounting evidence against him, but when a coworker he's accused of having an affair with also disappears and a search warrant turns up an illegal gun in Jace’s home, all signs point to him as the culprit. What is he really hiding?

Finding Tessa is a smart domestic thriller where nothing can be taken at face value, where every twist reveals a deadlier secret than the one before. Fans of Gillian Flynn, Samantha Downing, and incisive, fresh psychological suspense won't want to miss it.

MY THOUGHTS

Have you met Tessa yet? 😍 So once again I am way late to the party…but wow!! 🥳This did not disappoint!! ❤️ I have heard this compared to Gone Girl… 👱‍♀️… and before you roll your eyes 👀….because we have heard that a million times… I am going to say … it definitely gave off some Gone Girl vibes… which I fricking loved!!!!! However… it was done 💯 % in it’s own unique way… and it was … brilliant… 😉

Listen to this… she dated him for a month… ran off and got married …. Husband and wife💍 for four months… and then Tessa goes missing..🤭… you know it is… always the husband.. I mean it really always is…😂…I don’t make the rules..🤷‍♀️

Okay these alternating POV’s … were fantastic!! When the twist hit…🤔😳🤭🤯…I was completely blindsided… So many times I wanted to say… OMG Tessa…walk away from that dude… Run 🏃‍♀️ girl .. Run.. 🤬…

Oh and the best… there was a dog 🐶.. named Candy…and guess what??? This is the only spoiler I will give you… 😉@jaimelynnhendricksauthor gets extra points for not harming the dog!!! 🙌🙌🙌 In fact… I think Candy had the best life out of everyone!! 🥰

Seriously.. this twist was so sneaky.. so unexpected… I actually had to read it again… because I couldn’t believe it!😳

A fantastic twisted page turner that I couldn’t put down. All the stars for this fantastic debut!! 🤩 How on earth is this a debut??? Looking forward to reading It Could Be Anyone.

❤️❤️ Have you read this one?? Did the twist blow your mind? 🤯If you haven’t read it.. what is the last book that had a twist that completely blindsided you??❤️❤️

Saturday, July 23, 2022

She Wouldn't Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha

Paperback Release Date: June 7, 2022

About The Book:

A second chance is the last thing she wants.

When thirty-nine year old Maria Forssmann wakes up in her seventeen-year-old body, she doesn’t know how she got there. All she does know is she has to get back: to her home in Bienville, Mississippi, to her job as a successful psychiatrist and, most importantly, to her husband, daughters, and unborn son.

But she also knows that, in only a few weeks, a devastating tragedy will strike her husband, a tragedy that will lead to their meeting each other.

Can she change time and still keep what it’s given her?

Exploring the responsibilities love lays on us, the complicated burdens of motherhood, and the rippling impact of our choices, She Wouldn't Change a Thing is a dazzling debut from a bright new voice.

My Thoughts

I can’t wait to tell you about this book!!! OMG! I absolutely loved it!! Thank you so much to @suzyapprovedbooktours for having me along on this book tour! Also thank you @forgereads for this gorgeous gifted copy! 🥰

Where do I even begin? Have you ever been so surprised at how much you loved a book that you had a stunned euphoric feeling when you finished? Right here people…🙋‍♀️that is how I felt. You may say.. I don’t really care for time travel 🧳 books… and I will say… well this is not your typical time travel…. 🤷‍♀️it wasn’t silly and repetitive as ones I have read before… it was amazingly good. I can’t say much without spoilers… but let me try…😉

Maria is a therapist.. life is good with her husband and children.. then one day a patient springs a mind blowing 🤯claim on her.. and Maria ends up back at home with her mother… who is no longer alive… whattt?! 😳 Did I mention Maria is now 17???

Okay I can’t even tell you how brilliant and thought provoking this book is. It involves several different characters… and you are wondering how on earth this is going to come together… and then there was a moment where there was a fishing 🎣 pole… and it all made sense… and it was brilliant… absolutely brilliant!! 💖

From the fishing scene on.. everything fell into place. The epilogue was one of the best I have ever read… it was.. mind blowing…how is this a debut?? I have no idea..😍I have thought about this book for days and will continue to for a long time!!

All the stars 🌟 for this amazing.. creative.. original.. brilliant book!!

💖💖 Have you read this one?? What is the last book that left you stunned and thinking about it for days???

About The Author:

Sarah Adlakha is a native of Chicago who now lives along the Mississippi Gulf Coast with her husband, three daughters, two horses, and one dog. She started writing fiction shortly after retiring from her psychiatry practice. Her debut novel, She Wouldn’t Change a Thing, was a CNN most anticipated book of 2021. Midnight on the Marne is her second novel.Www.Sarahadlakha.com

Social Media:

Instagram : https://instagram.com/sarahadlakha

Twitter: @sarahadlakha

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adlakhabooks/