Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
Seems everyone thinks this book is great. A thriller about twins. One dead, one alive. One in NY the other in London. What could possibly have happened.
Twins Katie and Molly could not be more different. Yes they are identical physically in every way possible. They are both intelligent but they are so very different. One is outgoing and loves life. The other is very introverted and afraid of almost everything. She believes in being prepared for anything that can possibly happen. Molly knows the stats on anything and if she needs she can look it up. Katie is a college girl who has been murdered.
The first half of this book was great. A bit aggravating, but still great. Then I read the one sentence at the end of one chapter that messed it all up. I found it totally unbelievable. I have to admit I was stunned. I did not see it coming. It made me catch my breath. But I also just didn’t believe it could have happened. The rest of the book was all about the how and why. I can see how it could maybe happen but still just didn’t buy it. It was just not the way things work as I have seen it. I can’t explain why or I’ll give it all away and I don’t do that.
The ending was also another part that I found lacking reality. As careful as a person is how can another overpower them. Or outsmart them. Or do what was done. Albeit I honestly enjoyed much of this book there was also much that really left me shaking my head. Parts that just didn’t do it for me at all. I could not connect with any of the characters. From two-timing friends to a bad professor who likes young ladies and I mean young. As in college students.
This book was very well written. It was interesting. I just didn’t buy it. I tried to believe that this was possible. I enjoyed parts of it very much. I was let down though. Not to say that I won’t try this author again. I’ve heard and read very good things about his books. It was just this one. Twins are attached in ways that us regular people don’t and never will understand. First Born is definitely an edge of your seat thriller. You will learn a lot about things that can happen and maybe ways to prepare. I felt bad for Molly with all her problems and fears. But still she was not a very likable character. To me anyway.
Thank you #NetGalley, #WillDean, #Atria for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
3.5/5 stars for me. Read it and judge for yourself. You may love it. Most it seems do.
SYNOPSIS
From the acclaimed author of The Last Thing to Burn, a psychological thriller about the dark secrets that emerge when a woman’s twin sister is murdered, with his signature “intense, gripping, taut, terrifying, moving, and brilliant” (Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author) prose.
Sisters. Soulmates. Strangers.
Molly Raven lives a quiet, structured life in London, finding comfort in security and routine. Her identical twin Katie, living in New York, is the exact opposite: outgoing, spontaneous, and adventurous.
But when Molly hears that Katie has died, possibly murdered, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. As terrifying as it is, she knows she must travel across the ocean and find out what happened. But as she tracks her twin’s final movements, cracks begin to emerge, and she slowly realizes her sister was not who she thought she was and there’s a dangerous web of deceit surrounding the two of them.
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
I usually am blown away with D. J. Palmer’s books but this one was just ok. It just didn’t have that WOW that his books usually leave me with.
This story is told from two povs. A husband and wife. Michael and Natalie. Also from different timelines which I usually love. It goes from before Natalie disappeared to the present. Also back to when Michael was young in parts. Michael is in my opinion a bit of a jerk. But does that make him a murderer? The wife suffers from horrible insomnia. Does that make her a murderer?
This book takes you on somewhat of a chase when Michael returns with pizza for his family and they have disappeared. What happened to his wife and children? Were they taken or did his wife, Natalie, take the children and leave him. He has no idea where they are or why she would leave. He is worried about them all. He loves his family with above everything else. He would do anything for them. He’s worried because of Natalie’s intense insomnia. It could be dangerous for her to be out there alone with them. Lack of sleep can cause delusions. Make a person do things they would never dream of doing. What has she done and why?
Natalie is terrified of Michael. She needs to protect her children no matter what. She knows what he did and who he really is. She knows what he has done in the past and the present. Or so she thinks. Could it be her delusional mind seeing things wrong? She even thinks about that but is not willing to take the chance. After all he has lied to her so many times. Or has he?
This book could have been so much better. It starts out so strong. Really pulls you in and makes you want to know what happened to Michael’s family. Were they kidnapped and if so why. Did she run and if so why. Michael eventually calls the cops and reports his family missing. The main cop takes this case personal it seems. He really seems to want to find out exactly what happened. Who is he and why does he care that much?
I found this to be a bit unbelievable though. I mean what are the odds that a cop from twenty-five years ago gets wind of this case and wants to help Michael find his family. He makes it his top priority and travels to Michael’s home. Of course without him there may not even be a story. Then there is the murder from Michael’s past. That and the fact that the two victims are tied together.. possibly. Is Michael capable of murder? Or is it Natalie in her delusional state that did this? Or maybe someone else all together.
I did figure out who did it. There were little signs that gave it away for me. It didn’t take away from the story though and there were things that I had no idea about. As from the affair did it actually happen? Who knows. Well if you read this you will know, right? lol I do believe that this book was a bit to long for what it was. The story focuses a bit too o much on some things and not enough on others. I loved the timelines and the back story that was there. The very last was perfect also. I was very happy that that part was addressed. But it seemed to lag in places also. From the great pull you in start to the much needed and great ending with things tied up quite nicely. But the between parts just dragged in places for me. Too much of the same thing being said over and over.
3/5 stars and I do recommend you read it for yourself. It’s good, just not his best by far.
Synopsis
When a woman disappears with her two children, one husband will do anything to find them–even confront the secrets of his own past–in D. J. Palmer’s My Wife Is Missing, a twisty thriller from the author of The New Husband.
A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers his wife and two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police—the truth about his past.
While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it could also be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he’s been hiding. Natalie thinks she has Michael all figured out and has hatched a plan to escape from him permanently. One detail, though, threatens to derail her efforts: sleep—or more accurately, the lack of it. Since the moment the shocking revelations about her husband came to light, Natalie’s insomnia has worsened to the point that she now suffers from delusions.
Are her fears about Michael valid—or a symptom of her condition? With her children’s lives at risk, the stakes for Natalie could not be higher. On her own, running low on energy and resources, avoiding increasingly close calls with Michael—who is on the hunt and closing in fast—Natalie needs someone to turn to for help. But who can she trust when she can’t even trust herself?
This is a debut novel and I hate that I’m writing this. I don’t see how anyone can compare this to WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING.. No comparison what so ever.
This book did not do it for me. I read the whole thing and truly was left scratching my head. The young lady telling this story, Kay, is only twelve years old. She’s rude to everyone. Has the vocabulary of a sailor. Treats her family like they are less than dirt. There is absolutely nothing about her was likable. She talks about getting married multiple times so she can have different experiences. She says things that no twelve year old I have ever met or read about. If the author had made her sixteen or even fifteen I would have found it more believable. This kid was horrid not funny or feisty. She was very disrespectful and hateful. She was also sneaky and had no respect at all for her parents, who are another whole mess. The parents were for the most part useless. A dad who would not work and the mother who was “tired” all the time. Not because she did anything either. Just useless. One time it mentions the dad working and all he did was put the mom down while complaining about his back and the hard work he did while it took her all day to cook potatoes. No wonder Kay was useless.
I didn’t like any of characters in this book. Maybe the son Freddy and only because he was super smart and wanted to go to a special school for gifted kids. This book is told strictly from Kay’s pov and boy does she have a lot to say. Her biggest problem is her mouth. She never shut up and she wanted to be the center of everything. Anything and everything.
I don’t get where the title came from and I must have missed something because I don’t get what the very beginning was all about with the two different things about the swamp and people being in it. Were they dead? Murdered? Still alive? What? I thought the couple was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing and that was not murder. If you get my drift. lol
I just didn’t enjoy this book. I kept turning the pages all the way to the very end hoping something would happen to make me understand why everyone seems to think it’s so great. I’m so sorry but it’s not. It was just ok. A brat with a gutter mouth. Parents who were useless. Siblings that I felt sorry for. Neighbors who had secrets and I still am left wondering about. A cop that talked to a twelve year old like she was an adult. A lost child that I missed something about because I still wonder who did what to her. I know she was found but what happened. Or who happened I should say. I just didn’t think this book was that good. It was just ok.
If this kid would have been older it would have been a good book. Still lacking, but good. It just left me scratching my head. I don’t like that.
Thank you #NetGalley, #Sourcebooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
2.5-3/5 stars for me. I up it to 3 because I know it takes a lot of work to write and I appreciate that. I will try this author again if she writes another book. This one was just not for me.
“Many readers are looking for the next Where the Crawdads Sing, and will find The Floating Girls…is a close cousin.” – Augusta Chronicle
The Floating Girls is stunning southern fiction, a wonderfully atmospheric coming-of-age family drama told from the perspective of a feisty 12-year-old girl—reminiscent of a modern-day Scout Finch—as she unravels the secrets that threaten her entire family.
Kay thought she knew everything there was to know about her family and their marsh life. But that was before the new neighbors arrived and her parents became suspects in a murder and a kidnapping.
One hot, sticky summer in Bledsoe, Georgia, twelve-year-old Kay Whitaker stumbles across a stilt house in a neighboring marsh and upon Andy Webber, a boy about her age. He and his father have recently moved back to Georgia from California, and rumors of the suspicious drowning death of Andy’s mother years earlier have chased them there and back.
Kay is fascinated and enamored with Andy, and she doesn’t listen when her father tells her to stay away from the Webbers. But when Kay’s sister goes missing, the mystery of Mrs. Webber’s death—and Kay’s parents’ potential role in it—comes to light. Kay and her brothers must navigate the layers of secrets that emerge in the course of the investigation as their family, and the world as they knew it, unravels around them.
At once wickedly funny and heartbreaking, it is an immersive coming-of-age story narrated by a feisty, smart, yet undeniably vulnerable girl reminiscent of a modern-day Scout Finch—a character who will live in readers’ hearts for a long time to come.
Praise for The Floating Girls:
“A powerhouse of a Southern novel. At once a poignant coming-of-age tale, a murder mystery, and an evocative tribute to the marshlands of Georgia. Lo Patrick is a standout new Southern voice.” —Andrea Bobotis, author of The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt
“Kay is the smartest, funniest, most curious young narrator I have come across in some time. Her voice stuck with me long after I finished reading. If I met Kay on the street, I’d beg her to be my best friend.” —Tiffany Quay Tyson, award-winning author of The Past is Never
“A cracking story that unfolds in gorgeous prose in the stultifying heat of the American South.” —Hayley Scrivenor, author of Dirt Creek
“Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing will love this immersive mystery set against the salty air of Georgia’s marshes. In Patrick’s atmospheric prose, the water and its characters come to life.” —Lindsey Rogers Cook, author of Learning to Speak Southern
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
This is my second book by this author. The first was Cover Your Tracks and it was so good. This one is also good.
This starts out strong and stays that way until the dramatic ending. A woman, Blue, wakes in the hospital with no memory of who she is or where she’s from. She only knows her name is Blue. Officer DeLuca, a cop is sitting at her bedside when she wakes. No one knows if she jumped or if she was pushed. Or if she is a crook or victim. No even her. So many unanswered questions.
Officer DeLuca sticks fairly close to Blue in an attempt to find out what happened. He doesn’t want anything to happen to her yet he also wonders who she is and what she’s done. Only one person comes forward and identifies Blue. Her friend Lorraine. Lorraine says she knows her from the ballet school where her own daughter takes lessons. It seems Blue is a very good dancer.
Lorraine is married and has a family yet she still helps out Blue. Gives her a place to stay while she is recuperating. But are they truly that close? Are they good friends or just acquaintances?
This book is filled with many twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. You will wonder who you can trust. Who is really after Blue and who can she actually trust. You follow her from the US to Canada while her life is threatened several times. She’s apparently in possession of a ruby called the Cassiopeia and someone wants it bad enough to kill for it.
Who will survive? Who is bad and who can you trust? You will have a few questions along the way and they will be answered. This is a book that will have you holding your breath a few times. Maybe even give you a tear to two. Makes you root for Blue to survive. Blue is a tough woman. I could not take a punch like she does. lol She’s a fighter for sure. And maybe a little bit of a crook. But you will like her. I did.
Synopsis
She lost her memory. Now she might lose her life.
A beautiful woman wakes in a hospital bed, shackled and confused. She’s been in a coma for weeks. And can only remember her first name—Blue.
Blue learns she fell from a window on the fourth floor of a hotel. Did she jump? Or was she pushed? To discover the truth, Blue must figure out who she is and what she was doing in that hotel.
And she needs to do it fast. Because someone is out there, hunting Blue down, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Not knowing where to turn or who to trust, Blue must rely on her instincts to survive. Gradually, her memories begin to return, and they’re darker than she could ever have imagined.
Will she put the pieces of her life back together before she’s silenced forever?
The Forgotten Girl – the gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Alex Michaelides, Freida McFadden.
This is one good book. It took me completely by surprise. I did not see it coming. I was shocked. Totally shocked.
Revenge can be sweet I suppose. If you wait long enough. But then who’s revenge? Who was seeking revenge? Things are not at all as they seem in this book. There are so many surprises that you won’t know if it’s happening or not. You may think you have it all figured out… You do not!
This story is told from four povs. Simon, Vicky, Christian, and Jane. Simon and Vicky are married. Christian is a financial advisor. Jane is a detective. They all have something in common. Their lives have all intersected at some point in time. Then of course there is Lauren. Beautiful, dead Lauren. What does she have in common with these people? Or does she? Is she possibly just an innocent victim in all of this?
This book literally took my breath away. When I read the who and what I was left holding my breath. My mouth hanging open. I was shocked. Not many books do this. I usually have some idea who did what. Not this time. It was great. This author weaved a story that will have you scratching your head many times. Have you questioning your abilities to figure things out. He’s great at what he’s done here. I loved it.
This is one book that you do not want to miss. It’s told from before and after. Before Halloween and after halloween. Before Lauren’s death and after. Telling what leads up to the big day and why. I found myself rooting for the “bad guys.” I tried not too but you’ll see. Sometimes things happen for a very good reason. This is one of those times. This book is so good.
Thank you #NetGalley, #DavidEllis, #PenguinGroupPutnam for this arc. This is my own true feelings about this book. IT’S GREAT!
5/5 stars and I highly recommend this one. You won’t regret it I promise.
SYNOPSIS
From the bestselling and award-winning author comes a wickedly clever and fast-paced novel of greed, revenge, obsession–and quite possibly the perfect murder.
Simon and Vicky couldn’t seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. A stable, if unexciting marriage. But one thing’s for sure … absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer.
When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. A secret whirlwind affair. A twenty-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and obsession with revenge. These are just a few of the lies that make up the complex web…and they will have devastating consequences. And while both Vicky and Simon are liars, just who exactly is conning who?
Part Gone Girl, part Strangers on a Train, Look Closer is a wild rollercoaster of a read that will have you questioning everything you think you know.
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday.
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