When She’s Gone by Rea Frey #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and  Thomas & Mercer / Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of When She’s Gone in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer / Brilliance Audio Published: January 14, 2025   Summary: In this haunting story that spans three decades, a young gymnast escapes a kidnapping. Years later, she’s forced to face the past when her own daughter disappears. Cora Valentine has…

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The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / Harper Audio for the ALC and HTP / Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of The Paris Widow in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Park Row Books / Harper Audio Published: June 11, 2024   Summary: A dream vacation turns deadly when secrets from the past catch up to a married couple in Paris in this new edge-of-your-seat thriller from USA Today bestselling author, Kimberly Belle. When…

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Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell #bookreview #upcomingthriller

Thank you Atria Books #partner, for the advanced copy of Don’t Let Him In in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Atria Books Published: June 24, 2025   Summary: From #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Jewell—three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller. Restauranteur Paddy Swann was the life of the party until the day a man pushed him in the path of an oncoming train, leaving his…

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Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Simon & Schuster #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Sweet Fury in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: January 7, 2025   Summary: When a beloved actress is cast in a feminist adaptation of a Fitzgerald classic, she finds herself the victim in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone,…

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Ghost Island by Max Seeck #bookreview #series #translatedbook

Thank you Berkley Books, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Ghost Island in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Berkley Books Pub date: February 27, 2024   Summary: On a secluded island, homicide detective Jessica Niemi must investigate a drowning that is tied to a frightening ghostly legend in this riveting new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of THE WITCH HUNTER. Jessica Niemi is put on leave after…

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Audio Book Roundup #bookreviews #audiobooks #thrillers

Thank you Macmillan Audio, partner for the ALC of The Business Trip and PRH Audio, partner for the ALC of The Note, in exchange for my honest reviews.     There is nothing I love more than a fun, twisty popcorn thriller to listen to while out walking the dogs or getting some things done around the house and these two were perfect for just that!   THE BUSINESS TRIP…

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Conclave by Robert Harris #bookreview #audiobook #moviethoughts

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I listened to this audiobook via my Spotify membership. Publisher: Vintage Books / Random House Audio Published: August 6, 2024 (Originally Published September 22, 2016)   Summary: The Pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. They are…

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Mini Reviews – #NordicNoir Edition #bookreviews #audiobook #translatedbooks

Thank you to the author for the print copy of The Prey in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook of The Night Guest for my collection.   Both these books were readalong picks for the #NordicNoir bookclub I’m part of and I am so glad we chose them! One was by a beloved author–Yrsa Sigurdardottir– and one was by a new-to-me to–Hildur Knutsdottir. ⁣     THE PREY…

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I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books #partner, for the advanced copy of I Need You to Read This in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: August 13, 2024   Summary: The author of the “clever, atmospheric, and creepy” (Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon returns with a sly and addictive new mystery about an advice columnist searching…

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Every Fall by Angela Douglas #bookreview

Thank you to ThrillerBookLovers The Pulse, Rising Action, #partner, for an advanced e- copy of  Every Fall in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Rising Action Published: January 28, 2025   Summary: A chilling thriller, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner, exploring the dark side of police culture and family trauma. Bree knew that life married to a beat cop would be tough, especially in the crime-infested…

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The Mirror by Nora Roberts #bookreview #series

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Mirror in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: November 19, 2024   Summary: #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts continues the hauntingly spectacular Lost Bride Trilogy with book two, The Mirror. When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at…

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The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White #bookreview

Thank you Uplit Reads / William Morrow Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Author’s Guide to Murder in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow Books Published: November 5, 2024   Summary: Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote meets #MeToo in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle…

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The Coldest Case by Tessa Wegert #bookreview #bookseries

Thank you to the author for the advanced copy of The Coldest Case in exchange for my honest opinion. Publisher: Severn House Published: November 5, 2024   Summary: News of a missing Instagram celebrity brings Senior Investigator Shana Merchant to a frozen island community of just eight people. When the visit turns deadly, her hunt for a killer collides with a cold case she’ll never forget . . . It’s February in…

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Perfect Storm by Paige Shelton #bookreview #bookseries

Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Perfect Storm in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: December 3, 2024   Summary: The next installment in the Alaska Wild series a gripping, atmospheric, traditional mystery series with a great wilderness hook. Beth Rivers needs to disappear. Her one-time kidnapper, Travis, is on his way to her town in Alaska, and she’s losing time to get out…

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First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / PRH Audio, for the ALC of First Lie Wins in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the print copy for my collection. Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books / Penguin Audio Published: January 2, 2024   Summary: Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only…

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Mini Reviews – #IndigenousReads Edition #bookreviews #audiobooks

Thank you Libro.fm / Recorded Books, partner for the ALC of Exposure and Berkley /PRH Audio, partner for the  e-copy and ALC of Indian Burial Ground in exchange for my honest reviews. I purchased a print copy of Indian Burial Ground for my collection.     As I mentioned in an earlier post, November was Native American Heritage Month. I shared a stack of books I was hoping to get…

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The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale #bookreview

Thank you MB Communications & Gallery Books, #partner, for the finished copy of The Close-Up in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Gallery Books Published: December 3, 2024   Summary: A struggling author discovers the dark side of fame when a stalker begins reenacting violent events from her thriller in this electrifying and twisty new novel. When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming…

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Everybody is a Liar by Liv Constantine #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Penguin Random House Audio, #partner for the advanced listening copy of Everybody is a Liar in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Published: November 12, 2024   Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of The Next Mrs. Parrish delivers another spellbinding story of betrayal and deceit in this audiobook original, Everybody Is a Liar. When Julie Buckley, a successful mystery writer, suspects her husband of cheating, she…

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The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / DreamscapeMedia, for the ALC of The Lake of Lost Girls in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Dreamscape Media Published: November 5, 2024   Summary: Told in alternating timelines, The Lake of Lost Girls is a haunting novel that will thrill fans of All Good People Here and We Are All the Same in the Dark. Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her…

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Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi #bookreview #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: September 24, 2024 (Originally Published 2023)   Summary: Special Agent Alexandra Martel has put her days on the battlefield behind her. Charming and disarming, relentless and lethal, she earned a reputation as one of the most renowned and decorated Army snipers in the service before stepping away. But when Alex, now an FBI special agent on loan…

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Murder Town by Shelley Burr #bookreview #series

Thank you William Morrow Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Murder Town in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow Published: November 5, 2024   Summary: Gemma Guillory knows her once-charming town is now remembered for one reason, and one reason only. That three innocent people died. That the last stop on the Rainier Ripper’s trail of death seventeen years ago was her innocuous little teashop. She knows…

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Mini Reviews: Thriller Edition #bookreviews #thrillers #minireviews

Thank you Viking Books, partner for the finished copy of Someone in the Attic and William Morrow Books, partner for the finished copy of This is Why We Lied in exchange for my honest reviews. I purchased the audiobook of This is Why We Lied for my collection.   These are two thrillers that I reviewed on my Instagram page the week they came out but realized I never shared…

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The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / Macmillan Audio, for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the advanced copy of The Fortune Seller in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: February 13, 2024   Summary: Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team, but when she comes back from her junior year abroad…

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A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison #bookreview

Thank you Over The River PR, #partner, for the advanced copy of A Very Bad Thing in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: November 1, 2024   Summary: From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a taut thriller about one author at the pinnacle of her career, whose past threatens to destroy everything she has—and everyone she knows. A great writer knows when to deliver a…

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Mini-Reviews – Gothic Mystery Edition #bookreviews #gothicmystery #audiobooks

These are both books from my own collection. I borrowed the audiobooks from the library. I’ve got 2 reviews to share with you – one a reread & one a new-to-me book – both perfect for this time of year! ⁣     REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier Published: January 1, 2006 (originally published in Aug 1938) / Harper Collins   Summary: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley…

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Drop Dead Sisters by Amelia Diane Coombs #bookfeature #bookreview

Thank you MB Communications & Amazon Publishing, #partner, for the finished copy of Drop Dead Sisters in exchange for my honest review.     Publisher: Mindy’s Book Studio Published: November 1, 2024   Summary: “Compulsively readable, Drop Dead Sisters is perfect for readers who love shows like Bad Sisters and Dead to Me. A mystery about three estranged sisters who accidentally kill someone? Yes, please.” —Mindy Kaling Three sisters reunite on a family vacation and…

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The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche #bookreview

Thank you to Kathleen Carter Communications, Park Row Books, #partner, for an advanced copy of The Stone Witch of Florence in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Park Row Books Published: October 8, 2024   Summary: Ancient sorcery. Magic gemstones. Only one woman can save a city in ruins… 1348. As the Black Plague ravages Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile.…

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The Split by Kit Frick #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books #partner, for the advanced copy of The Split in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: February 13, 2024   Summary: Jane Connor is resigned to being the “plain Jane” of her family—pragmatic and dependable—so unlike her beautiful and impetuous younger sister Esme. When Esme calls Jane during a flash summer storm,…

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The Clinic by Cate Quinn #bookreview

Thank you Shelf Awareness/Sourcebooks #partner,  for the advanced copy of The Clinic in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Published: January 23, 2024   Summary: From the critically acclaimed author of Black Widows comes a thriller set in a remote rehab clinic on the Pacific Northwest coast, in which the death of a woman inside prompts her sister to enter the clinic as a patient in order to find the truth.…

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The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins #bookreview

Thank you Mariner Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Blue Hour in exchange for my honest review.  Publisher: Mariner Books Published: October 29, 2024   Summary: The spellbinding new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Girl on the Train. An isolated Scottish island, accessible to the mainland only twelve hours a day. A famous (some might say infamous) artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared after visiting her…

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What the Nanny Saw by Kaira Rouda #bookreview #series

Thank you to ThrillerBookLovers The Pulse, Bookouture, #partner, for an advanced e- copy of What the Nanny Saw in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Bookouture Published: November 13, 2024   Summary: I keep all her secrets. She thinks she can trust me… Cecilia has it all. The house on the beach. The cute figure. The beautiful baby. But she’s a long way from perfect. She’s let me into her gorgeous house…

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The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Penguin Random House Audio for the ALC and MB Communications & Random House, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Puzzle Box in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Random House / PRH Audio Published: October 8, 2024   Summary: It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the ingenious Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan to open the legendary Dragon Box, a mysterious nineteenth-century…

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Red River Road by Anna Downes #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / Macmillan Audio, for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner for the advanced copy of Red River Road in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio Published: August 27, 2024   Summary: Anna Downes’s extraordinary next thriller Red River Road follows a woman desperate to discover what happened to her sister on a solo road trip through the Australian outback. Katy Sweeney is looking for…

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Triple Cross by Alex Cross #bookreview #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: October 31, 2022   Summary: Detective Alex Cross hunts down a serial killer who’s murdering entire families—and who will next be coming for Cross. A methodical killer is targeting multigenerational families in and around Washington, DC—striking under cover of darkness, triggering no alarms, leaving no physical evidence of any kind. Alex isn’t the only one investigating. Also…

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The Briar Club by Kate Quinn #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Briar Club in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection. Publisher: William Morrow/Harper Audio Published: July 9, 2024   Summary: A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era. Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the…

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The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley #bookreview

Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the finished copy of The Midnight Feast in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow Published: June 18, 2024   Summary: Secrets. Lies. Murder. Let the festivities begin… It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor…

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The Doll’s House: A Short Story by Lisa Unger #bookreview #shortstory

I obtained this e-book through my Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Publisher: Amazon Original Stories Published: September 12, 2024   Summary: A widowed mother, ready to give love another chance, moves into her fiancé’s old family home with her teenage daughter. But as they try to build a future together, the past refuses to let go in this haunting short story from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger. When Jules first meets the handsome…

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The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Celadon Books #partner, for the advanced copy of The Sequel in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Celadon Books / Macmillan Audio Published: October 1, 2024   Summary: After the “insanely readable” (Stephen King) and “perfectly told” (Malcolm Gladwell) New York Times bestseller The Plot comes Jean Hanff Korelitz’s equally captivating new novel: The Sequel. Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business—that is to say, she’s taken…

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The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Marysue Rucci Books #partner, for the advanced copy of The Night We Lost Him in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books / Simon and Schuster Audio Published: September 17, 2024   Summary: Estranged siblings discover their father has been keeping a secret for over fifty years, one that may have been fatal… Liam Noone was many things…

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Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass #bookreview

Thank you to Thrillerbookloversthepulse, Graydon House, #partner, for an advanced e-copy of Nothing Ever Happens Here in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Graydon House Published: February 11, 2025   Summary: Nothing ever happens in small towns… When Shelby Dawson survives a harrowing attack that should have left her dead, she tries to move past it—for herself, and for her family. Fifteen months later, with the help of her best…

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Once More from the Top by Emily Layden #bookreview

Thank you to Mariner Books, #partner, for an advanced e-copy of Once More from the Top in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Mariner Books Published: September 10, 2024   Summary: A propulsive, layered novel about the meteoric rise of a legendary pop star and the secret she’s kept hidden for fifteen years, for fans of Megan Abbott and Daisy Jones & the Six. Everyone in America knows Dylan Read,…

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The Summer of Love and Death by Marcy McCreary #bookfeature #guestpost

Thank you to the author for the gifted copy. Please join me in welcoming Marcy McCreary to Always With a Book. Marcy’s latest book, The Summer of Love and Death, came out last month. I hope to read it soon, but for now, please enjoy this guest post where she discusses how she came up with the title – something she is often asked at book events. Publisher: CamCat Books…

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The Examiner by Janice Hallett #bookreview

Thank you Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Examiner in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Atria Books Published: September 10, 2024   Summary: Told in emails, text messages, and essays, this innovative pause-resister follows a group of students in an art master’s program that goes dangerously awry, from the internationally bestselling “new queen of crime” (Electric Literature) Janice Hallett. Gela Nathaniel, head of Royal Hastings University’s new…

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Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jonasson #bookreview #translatedbook

Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Death at the Sanatorium in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: September 10, 2024   Summary: Fresh off his career-changing standalone co-written with Icelandic PM, Reykjavík, #1 Icelandic bestseller Jonasson presents a riveting new thriller spinoff from The Darkness, soon to be a TV series. 1983 At a former sanatorium in the north of Iceland, now a hospital ward,…

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Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Agony Hill in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection. Publisher: Minotaur Books / Brilliance Audio Published: August 6, 2024   Summary: Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s…

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Mud Season by Sarah Stewart Taylor #bookreview #shortstory

I obtained this e-book through my Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: June 11, 2024   Summary: Enter the world of 1960s Bethany, Vermont in this suspenseful short story featuring characters from the forthcoming Agony Hill. It’s mud season in Bethany, Vermont. As spring nears, the thawing ground and melting snow-pack has created muddy, impassable roads. It’s not unusual to see a driver pushing their car or going for help.…

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Flashback by Iris Johansen #bookreview #audiobook #bookseries

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and Grand Central Publishing, #partner, for the finished copy of Flashback in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: June 25, 2024   Summary: Kendra Michaels uses her heightened powers of deduction to draw out a serial killer who has not been seen or heard from in over fifteen years. Chloe and Sloane Morgan were only children when…

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The Return by Rachel Harrison #bookreview #audiobook #bookclubbook

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: March 24, 2020   Summary: A group of friends reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance in this edgy and haunting debut. Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return – except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out…

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Dangerous Play by Elise Hart Kipness #bookreview #bookseries

Thank you to ThrillerBookLovers The Pulse, Thomas & Mercer, #partner, for an advanced e- copy of Dangerous Play in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: September 17, 2024   Summary: After a tumultuous murder case that almost cost more than her job, sports reporter Kate Green is back on assignment covering women’s Olympic soccer. Between her experience with athletic stardom and days playing with Savannah Baker, head…

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Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton #bookreview #audiobook #blogtour #bookseries

Thank you Berkley Books, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Talking to Strangers in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: August 27, 2024   Summary: Detective Elise King’s investigation into a woman’s murder is getting derailed by a reporter who insists on doing her own investigation in this nail-biting mystery from the author of Local Gone Missing.…

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