#BlogTour for Beneath The Surface by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn @RevellBooks @Joni2345zb #BookReview

I'm delighted to be sharing my review on the Revell Reads Fiction Blog Tour for Beneath The Surface. Thank you to Lynn H. Blackburn and Revell Books for a copy of this book and the opportunity to take part.

 About The Book

Leigh Weston thought she'd left a troubled past behind when she moved back home to Carrington, North Carolina. But when dive team investigator Ryan Parker finds a body in the lake near her home, she fears the past hasn't stayed where it belongs.
 
My Rating:  
3 out of 5 🔍🔍🔍
 
My Review:

Beneath The Surface by author Lynn H. Blackburn is the first installment in the Dive Team Investigations series and my first read of this author. I noticed AFTER receiving my copy in the mail that it was a romantic suspense which truthfully I never read. I didn’t pick up on the romance while reading the blurb so this one was a surprise. But I decided to take the plunge…into Beneath The Surface! Lol!

One of the main characters is Leigh Weston a nurse practitioner living in Carrington, North Carolina. Leigh is sort of alone right now in life as both her parents have died and her only sibling lives far away. Leigh has recently moved to Carrington because of some problems in her past. Ryan Parker is a homicide investigator and volunteer underwater investigator for the Carrington Sheriff Department. Leigh and Ryan have known each other since high school and you can probably guess the romance part of the romantic suspense involves these two. It wouldn’t be fair for me to critique the romantic part of the story for a couple of reasons. One, as I stated earlier I never intentionally read a romance unless I agree to review one thinking it was a genre that does interest me. For that reason I don’t have many to compare to. The other reason is most romances to me feel cheesy, unrealistic, and just over-the-top. So I will instead focus on the suspense side which is what I usually review.

Lynn H. Blackburn does a good job grabbing the reader’s attention right from the start with the discovery of a dead body while dive team investigators were doing a practice dive. Pieces of the puzzle are spread nicely throughout the book and I never did figure out who was responsible until the end. The ending could have been wrapped up a little better. I was left with a big “why”? that was never really answered. There were hints but the why was never explained or I somehow missed it. For a reader that cares more about the suspense and mystery, leaving that part out was sort of a big deal.

Overall I liked the book, the mystery was interesting and I did find myself wanting to keep reading to find out “whodunit”, it was just sort of a let-down for me at the end with some unanswered questions. Fans of the Christian Romantic Suspense genre will enjoy this the most. At the end of the book there is a sneak peek at In Too Deep Book two in the series, expected publication November 6, 2018.  I give this one 3 out of 5 🔎🔎🔎!

Thank you Lynn H. Blackburn and Revell Books for providing me with a review copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Child by Fiona Barton

The Child by Fiona Barton
Book Details
Publisher: Berkley Books, Kindle,336 pages
Publish Date: June 29, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Source: Penguin First-to-Read digital edition
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby? As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss. But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell… ~Goodreads

My Review

I totally LOVED The Child by Fiona Barton. This mysterious and suspenseful story unfolds over a period of about a year (2012-2013), with flashbacks added from the 1970’s and 80’s. Each chapter alternates between four characters: Emma, Kate, Angela, and Jude.

Emma is the main character and her chapters are told in first person point of view. Emma is a troubled young married woman who has a dark secret that haunts her and has practically taken over her entire life. She rarely leaves her home and forces herself to even work from home. Emma is married to an older gentleman named Paul. Paul feels bad for her and tries to help but he is totally unaware of the burdensome secret Emma is carrying. I didn’t like Emma at first but as the story progressed I had a different view of her.

The next character in the story is Kate, a reporter working for a newspaper called The Post. Kate is an old-school investigative reporter who finds herself in the middle of a mystery…trying to identify a newborn baby skeleton that was found on a local building construction site. Kate’s chapters are told in 3rd person. I really liked Kate, she is pretty tough and wasn’t just after the story as a reporter. You could tell she actually cared about the people she was writing about.

Another character is Angela Irving, the mother of a newborn baby named Alice that disappeared from the maternity ward soon after her birth in the 1970’s. Angela has spent many years trying to keep herself together for her surviving family…husband Nick and now two grown children. Angela has obviously never forgotten Alice and agonizes over what had become of her baby. You can’t help but feel for Angela. Her chapters are told in 3rd person.

The author kept me interested throughout. The multiple points of view worked well, was easy to follow since the chapters were fairly short. The ending…wow didn’t see that coming. I love books that throw you for a loop and this one surely did. I would highly recommend this book and I would definitely read more by this author.***** 5 STARS *****

Thank you Fiona Barton, Berkley Books and First-to-Read for providing me with a digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: The Dollmaker by Mary Burton

The Dollmaker by Mary Burton
Book Details

Publisher: Montlake Romance, Paperback, 342 pages

Publish Date: November 15, 2016

Genres: Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Romance, Suspense, Thriller, Crime

Source: Library

Series: The Forgotten Files

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The library labeled this book as a romance but it sure didn't read like any romance I want to be a part of. Ha! The book cover gives you a clue that it is pretty creepy. It's one of those books that make you think you hear things outside at night. More than once I got up and turned the outside light on to see if anything was there. So if you are jumpy at night, read this one in the daytime. The bad guy is a real creepazoid. It was sort of easy to figure out the identity of the weirdo but you didn't know for sure until the very end. I got it right for once.

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