Bitterroot Lake by Alicia Beckman #CrookLaneBooks #Mystery #Suspense #BookReview

Bitterroot Lake 

by Alicia Beckman

Publication: April 13, 2021 by Crooked Lane Books

Genre: Suspense, Fiction, Mystery 

4 🌠🌠🌠🌠


My Review:

Beckman, pseudo name for Leslie Budewitz is a three-time Agatha Award winner and the bestselling author of The Spice Shop and Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries. In her suspense debut, Beckman brings readers to her native state of Montana and introduces them to protagonist Sarah McCaskill, a young widow who recently lost her husband and childhood sweetheart to cancer. Sarah is encouraged by her mother Peggy to come back to the family-owned Whitetail Lodge on Bitterroot Lake to begin her grief-healing process. Although the lodge has always held a special place in Sarah’s heart, it was also the site of a horrific tragedy and crime that occurred 25 years ago. That night so long ago involved a sexual assault and a devastating car accident that ended in one of Sarah’s friends being killed. Lucas, the driver should have been convicted but instead ended up going scot-free and even became a lawyer in the same hometown. When Sarah returns to Whitetail Lodge, she is met with the same friends of her past and a mysterious murder that may be tied to the tragedy of 25 years ago. Sarah and her friends begin to dig into the murder mystery and in doing so they uncover the secrets of Whitetail Lodge and the McCaskill family from a century ago.

Beckman paints a gorgeous picture of this idyllic small-town Montana setting. With some paranormal aspects, past and present secrets abounding, and a multitude of suspects in a murder investigation this suspense debut is sure to lure readers in. Loved it!! 4 🌠🌠🌠🌠 for me.

#BookReview The Better Sister by Alafair Burke #TheBetterSister #AlafairBurke #Mystery #Thriller #Suspense @harperbooks

Book Details
Title: The Better Sister
Author: Alafair Burke
Publisher: Harper Books
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Pages:311



#TheBetterSister #AlafiarBurke #Suspense #Mystery #Thriller #Fiction #BookReview 

My Rating: 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠

Excerpt from GoodReads: 
From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife—comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments . . . but can they escape their past?

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky was always restless . . . and more than a little reckless—the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed like both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh, and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenaged stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

My Review:

This is my first read of this author and early on in the book I was intrigued. Readers are introduced to the relationship between Adam and Chloe, former in-laws now married. Adam was previously married to Chloe’s sister Nicky and they had a son, Ethan who Adam ended up getting full custody of. Chloe is very successful in her job and makes more money than Adam which she feels he resents. Chloe helps Adam get a prominent job with a fancy law firm and he quits his job as prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office. But Adam hates his job, for him money doesn’t matter. He feels Chloe pressured him into taking a job he never wanted. So their marriage is not perfect and then Adam ends up dead.

The investigation into Adam’s murder begins and the police quickly zone in on Adam’s teenage son as a suspect. Nicky, Ethan’s real mother now shows up in New York to help out but Chloe who is just his guardian worries her sister will try to take Ethan away from her. Will Nicky want custody of Ethan after all these years? Chloe is sure her sister Nicky has never forgiven her from marrying Adam and raising her son. There is not a lot of trust between the sisters.

Chloe has always been the perfect one. She has the perfect job, the perfect husband, the perfect kid, the perfect life. Nicky on the other hand is the screw-up. Nicky can’t find the right man, she had problems with drugs and alcohol, and she lost custody of her only son. But now with problems like murder, her son dealing with drugs and guns, is Chloe’s life really as perfect as it seems?

The pacing of the book is perfect. I love how the author leads the reader along…slowly revealing tiny pieces of the puzzle. Definitely makes you want to keep reading. I can’t wait to read more books by this author. I loved the legal/courtroom proceeding portion of the book. The build-up of waiting on the jury to come back with their verdict…super exciting! I loved reading how the relationship between sisters, Nicky and Chloe, change throughout the book. Usually I can find at least one negative about a novel but not this one. 5 Stars for sure! Thanks to Alafair Burke and Harper for providing me with a copy of advanced reader edition to review.

#BookReview #TheWinterSister by Megan Collins @ImMeganCollins @AtriaBooks #Debut #Suspense #Mystery #Fiction

Book Details
Title: The Winter Sister
Author: Megan Collins
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: February 5, 2019
Pages:326



#TheWinterSister #Debut #Suspense #Mystery #Fiction #BookReview 

My Rating: 🌠🌠🌠🌠

Excerpt from GoodReads: 
In this spellbinding and suspenseful debut, a young woman haunted by the past returns home to care for her ailing mother and begins to dig deeper into her sister’s unsolved murder.

Sixteen years ago, Sylvie’s sister Persephone never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found—and years later, her murder remains unsolved.

In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as she undergoes treatment for cancer. Prone to unexplained “Dark Days” even before Persephone’s death, Annie’s once-close bond with Sylvie dissolved in the weeks after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion all these years later. Worse, Persephone’s former boyfriend, Ben, is now a nurse at the cancer center where Annie is being treated. Sylvie’s always believed Ben was responsible for the murder—but she carries her own guilt about that night, guilt that traps her in the past while the world goes on around her.

As she navigates the complicated relationship with her mother, Sylvie begins to uncover the secrets that fill their house—and what really happened the night Persephone died. As it turns out, the truth will set you free, once you can bear to look at it.

The Winter Sister is a mesmerizing portrayal of the complex bond between sisters, between mothers and daughters alike, and forces us to ask ourselves—how well do we know the people we love most?

My Review:
This book has been in my TBR pile for a few months now and so glad I chose to finally read it. The Winter Sister is the haunting debut novel by  Megan Collins. It’s a story of two sisters, Persephone and Sylvie. Persephone was murdered when she was eighteen years old. After the murder, Sylvie’s mother shut down mentally and wasn’t able to care for her only remaining child. Persephone’s murder was never solved and her sister is now grown up.

Sylvie’s mother now has cancer and Sylvie comes back to town to care for her even though their relationship had fallen apart all those years ago. This is a book of secrets…everyone has them. Sylvie tries to unravel all the threads to this twisting and turning mystery. This is a book of relationships…relationships between teenage sisters, relationships between mother and daughter.

I really enjoyed this beautifully written debut novel. I was hooked from page one and my interest was held throughout. My favorite character was Sylvie. Her pain and guilt throughout the book was heart-wrenching. The author did a wonderful job portraying all that. The mother in the story was pitiful and I had mixed feelings about her. On one hand I felt sorry for her but at other times she made me angry for being so weak. The author did a fantastic job defining the complex family relationships. The characters were not only complex but also damaged by their traumatic experience. The tension and suspense builds up to the shocking conclusion.

Overall I was impressed with this dark, haunting debut. I would definitely read more by this author. Thanks so much to Megan Collins, Isabel DaSilva and Atria Books for sending me a copy to review. I’m giving this one 4 stars and I highly recommend it to all lovers of suspense.

About the Author:
Megan Collins holds an MFA in creative writing from Boston University. She has taught creative writing at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and Central Connecticut State University, and she is the managing editor of 3Elements Review. A Pushcart Prize and two-time Best of the Net nominee, her work has appeared in many print and online journals, including Off the Coast, Spillway, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Rattle. She lives in Connecticut.

#BookReview Little Darlings by Melanie Golding #LittleDarlingsBook #BlogTour #Debut #Creepy #Suspense @CrookedLaneBooks @Joni2345zb @mk_golding

Thanks so much to author Melanie Golding and Sarah Poppe of Crooked Lane Books for inviting me to participate in the #LittleDarlingsBook Blog Tour. 

Book Details
Title: Little Darlings
Author: Melanie Golding
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: April 30, 2019
Pages:312
ISBN: 978-1-68331-997-9 (Hardcover)
#BlogTour #LittleDarlingsBook #Debut #Suspense #BookReview




Excerpt from GoodReads:
 “Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Grimms’ Fairy Tales.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley―to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking―and rechecking―your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
 

My Rating: 🌠🌠🌠🌠

My Review

Little Darlings, is a debut novel by Melanie Golding. A well-written creepy read with a dark fairy tale aspect. What a great debut!! I love reading new authors and this one will definitely be added to my favorites list.  
The main characters are Lauren and Patrick Tranter, new parents of twin baby boys. Lauren is quickly feeling overwhelmed after the birth and gets little help from her husband. Patrick is a little jerk…once the babies are born his true selfish side comes out when he doesn’t want to help Lauren out.  
My favorite character would have to be Detective Sergeant Jo Harper. Jo has issues from her past that haunt her making Lauren’s case something that she couldn’t brush off. When no one else believes Lauren, Jo does. Jo is a “fly by the seat of your pants” kind of police officer. She isn’t a dirty cop but she doesn’t always follow all the correct procedures. She had a chance to try for an inspector job but she likes the hands-on part of investigating, she doesn’t want to be stuck in an office.  
Little Darlings is an atmospheric tale that kept me interested throughout. The build up to the ending was spot-on. I would recommend this book to those who love psychological thrillers mixed with a little supernatural and dark fairy tale. Thanks so much to author, Melanie Golding and Crooked Lane Books for providing me a copy of this book and an opportunity to participate in the #LittleDarlingsBook Blog Tour.

About the Author: 

Melanie Golding grew up in a village in Leicestershire. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions. In 2016, she graduated from the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, with distinction. Little Darlings is her first novel.

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones #Suspense #Thriller #PsychologicalThriller @RealSandieJones @Joni2345zb @MinotaurBooks

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

My rating: 
5 out of 5 stars

Book Details:
Publisher: Minotaur Books  294 pages

Publishing Date: 8/21/18

Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Psychological Thriller

Blurb From Goodreads:

A deliciously disturbing, compulsively readable debut domestic suspense--prepare to meet The Other Woman: there’s nothing she won’t do to keep you away from her son ...

Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.

Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.

The Other Woman is an addictive, fast-paced psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between Emily, her boyfriend Adam, and his manipulative mother Pammie.

My Review
The Other Woman is Sandie Jones’s debut novel and boy is it a good one! This story hooked me right from the beginning. The book is told from first person point of view of Emily. Emily and Adam meet and soon fall in love. Emily thinks all is perfect in the relationship until she meets what may be her future mother-in-law Pammie. Emily soon finds out how far Pammie is willing to go to get rid of her.
 
I loved the book but I had a hard time feeling sorry for Emily. If I were in her position I would have been gone from this relationship as soon as the weirdness started. Emily said she was in love but that early on I would think you would run away…but that’s me…maybe others would have stuck it out??
 
The Other Woman is a very impressive debut novel. The writing style was great. The pacing of the story was spot-on. The author did a wonderful job holding my interest throughout the book. This was well worth reading and I would highly recommend this book to everyone who likes a good page-turning suspenseful thriller and just wait for the ending! WOW!! I am now a Sandie Jones fan!!

About the Author
Sandie Jones has worked as a freelance journalist for more than twenty years and has written for The Sunday Times, Woman's Weekly and the Daily Mail, among other publications. She lives in London with her husband and three children. The Other Woman is her debut novel. 

Author Links
Website 
Facebook:  @RealSandieJones
Twitter:     @RealSandieJones 

#BlogTour Ice A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery by Lauren Carr #MysterySeries @TheMysteryLadie @Joni2345zb

So excited to be a part of the Blog Tour for Ice: A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery by Lauren Carr @TheMysteryLadie and hosted by iRead Book Tour

Book Details
Title: Ice
Author: Lauren Carr
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Publication Date: February 26, 2018
Number of Pages: 363

Buy The Book:  Amazon 
Add to Goodreads

The clues for a close-to-the-heart missing person’s case heat up when Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on the cold case. When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappear, the court of public opinion finds young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot!

My Review
Ice is book #1 of The Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery series and my first Lauren Carr read. The author makes the setting of Charles Town/Shenandoah Valley West Virginia come to life. Great hook at the beginning to pique my interest.

The story starts with 18 year old Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappearing. The main character is Chris Matheson an ex-FBI agent who has recently moved back to his hometown after the death of his wife in a terrorist attack. Twenty-four years ago Chris was a suspect in Sandy Lipton’s disappearance. Sandy had been pregnant and claimed that Christ was the father. Chris denied he was the father and was going to have the baby’s DNA tested when it was born but Sandy came up missing before that. Even though Chris was cleared by the authorities many people thought he had something to do with it.

Chris is asked to join a group known as The Geezer Squad which is a group of retired law enforcement crime fighters who work secretly on cold case files. Once Chris joins the group they decide to investigate the disappearance of Sandy Lipton and to once and for all clear the name of Chris Matheson.

My favorite parts of the book were involving The Geezer Squad. I found the members of the group to be entertaining and pretty funny at times. Dog lovers are also sure to enjoy Chris’s dog Sterling, a former police dog that was wounded in action. Ice was full of mystery and suspense making for a fast and exhilarating read. The dialog between characters was realistic. I hope to read more in this series.
 
Thank you Lauren Carr, Acorn Book Services, and iRead Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book to read.  

About The Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

 ​Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.  
Now, Lauren has added one more hit series to her list with the Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries. Set in the quaint West Virginia town of Harpers Ferry, Ice introduces Chris Matheson, a retired FBI agent, who joins forces with other law enforcement retirees to heat up those cold cases that keep them up at night.
 
Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor. 



Author's Social Media Links
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram




Rafflecopter Giveaway
Enter Here