Book Review: One Perfect Morning by Pamela Crane

Publisher: Avon

Published: August 2020

Pages: 377

Summary

The deadliest secrets lie closest to home.

Mackenzie, Robin and Lily have been best friends since college. Twenty years on, they all live in the same neighbourhood with their perfect homes, perfect families, perfect lives...

It would seem nothing could come between these three women. Except for a betrayal.

Nothing could turn them against each other. Except for a terrible past mistake.

Nothing could tear them apart. Except for murder.

One dead husband. Three best friends who tell each other everything - apart from the truth...

ARC Book Review: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Published: September 2017

Pages: 267

Summary

From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel -- the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.

Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.

A bad romance, or maybe three.

Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, villains.

A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.

A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

ARC Book Review: Time to Die by Caroline Mitchell

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Bookouture

Series: Detective Jennifer Knight #2

Published: September 2015

Pages: 338

Summary

He will predict your life... and your death. Don't ever cross his palm with silver. He will reveal your most shameful secrets. He will predict your death. He is hiding a secret. He is hiding a monster. And all his predictions come true. Investigating a series of chilling murders, Detective Jennifer Knight finds herself tracking a mysterious tarot card reader known only as The Raven. As the death toll rises, Jennifer and her team build a picture of a serial killer on the edge of sanity, driven by dark forces. But these are not random killings. And the method behind the madness could be the most terrifying thing of all... Especially when it seems the death of one of their own is on the cards. Time to Die is an absolutely gripping serial killer thriller with a breath-taking supernatural twist.

Book Review: Mistress of Justice by Jeffery Deaver

Publisher: Rizzoli

Published: March 2012 (first published 1992)

Pages: 466

Summary

Taylor Lockwood spends her days working as a paralegal in one of New York's preeminent Wall Street law firms and her nights playing jazz piano anyplace she can. But the rhythm of her life is disrupted when attorney Mitchell Reece requests her help in locating a stolen document that could cost him not only the multimillion-dollar case he's defending, but his career as well. Eager to get closer to this handsome, brilliant and very private man, Taylor signs on... only to find that as she delves deeper and deeper into what goes on behind closed doors at Hubbard, White & Willis, she uncovers more than she wants to know - including a plentitude of secrets damaging enough to smash careers and dangerous enough to push someone to commit murder. Yet, who is capable of going to that extreme? With her life on the line, Taylor is about to learn the lethal answer...

Book Review: Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Publisher: Vintage Books

Published: March 2014

Pages: 336

Series: Veronica Mars #1

Summary

Ten years after graduating from high school in Neptune, California, Veronica Mars is back in the land of sun, sand, crime, and corruption. She's traded in her law degree for her old private investigating license, struggling to keep Mars Investigations afloat on the scant cash earned by catching cheating spouses until she can score her first big case. Now it's spring break, and college students descend on Neptune, transforming the beaches and boardwalks into a frenzied, week-long rave. When a girl disappears from a party, Veronica is called in to investigate. But this is not a simple missing person's case. The house the girl vanished from belongs to a man with serious criminal ties, and soon Veronica is plunged into a dangerous underworld of drugs and organized crime. And when a major break in the investigation has a shocking connection to Veronica's past, the case hits closer to home than she ever imagined.

ARC Book Review: The Magician's Daughter by Judith Janeway

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Published: February 2015

Pages: 231

Summary

Magician Valentine Hill always introduces her act by announcing "Reality is an illusion. Illusion is reality, and nothing is what it seems." When Valentine is reunited with her grifter mother, "nothing is what it seems" becomes true in real life. A wealthy socialite turns out to be a ruthless criminal, a cat mechanic a psycho killer, and a cab driver a seductive gangster. When an FBI agent who'd befriended her is killed, Valentine takes on the hated role of a con artist to get evidence to put the criminals away. Will her skills as a magician prove enough to help her maintain the illusion?

ARC Book Review: Don't Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 318

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Summary

You don't know him. But he knows you.

Soon he would be able to touch her, to feel the warmth of her blood. And when the time came, nothing would stop him.

As D.C. Jennifer Knight investigates a routine stabbing in the quiet town of Haven, she is shocked at what seems like a personal message from beyond the grave. When more bodies are found, Jennifer is convinced the killings are somehow linked. What she discovers is more chilling than she could possibly imagine. The murder mirror those of the notorious Grim Reaper - from over twenty years ago. A killer her mother helped convict. Jennifer can no longer ignore the personal connection. Is there a copycat killer at work? Was the wrong man convicted? Or is there something more sinister at play? With her mother's terrifying legacy spiralling out of control, Jennifer must look into her own dark past in a fight not only to stop a killer - but to save herself and those she loves.

ARC Book Review: Cannonbridge by Jonathan Barne

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Solaris

Publication Date: 10 February 2015

Pages: 272

Challenges: Around the World Challenge 

  

Summary

Flamboyant, charismatic Matthew Cannonbridge was touched by genius, the most influential creative mind of the 19th century, a prolific novelist, accomplished playwright, the poet of his generation. The only problem is, he should never have existed, and beleaguered, provincial, recently-divorced 21st Century Dr Toby Judd is the only person to realise something has gone wrong with history. As bibliophiles everywhere prepare to toast the bicentenary of the publication of Cannonbridge's most celebrated work, Judd's discovery will lead him on a breakneck chase across the English canon and countryside, to the realisation that the spectre of Matthew Cannonbridge might not be so dead and buried after all...

ARC Book Review: A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: 24 February 2015

Pages: 288

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 3/5

  

Summary

It's just another day at the office for London book editor Samantha "Sam" Clair. Checking jacket copy for howlers, wondering how to break it to her star novelist that her latest effort is utterly unpublishable, lunch scheduled with gossipy author Kit Lowell, whose new book will dish the juicy dirt on a recent fashion industry scandal. Little does she know the trouble Kit's book will cause - before it even goes to print. When Police Inspector Field turns up at the venerable offices of Timmins & Ross, asking questions about a package addressed to Sam, she knows something is wrong. Now, Sam's nine-to-five life is turned upside down as she finds herself propelled into a criminal investigation. Someone doesn't want Kit's manuscript published, and unless Sam can put the pieces together in time, they'll do anything to stop it.

With this deliciously funny debut novel, acclaimed author Judith Flanders introduces readers to an enormously enjoyable, too-clever-for-her-own-good new amateur sleuth, as well as Sam's Goth assistant, her effortlessly glamorous mother, and the handsome Inspector Field.

ARC Review: The Family Girl by Katherine Brankin

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Vook Inc.

Published: 9 October 2014

Pages: 222

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 3/5

  

Summary

Ice-cold assassin Catalina Bennett wants a Faberge egg. A CIA funded venture-capital investment firm wants to get the mysterious product they’ve been funding. Mother, Catalina’s handler, wants her dead. CIA operative Jim Campbell wants to catch her. And all her father Frank, a retired assassin, wants is for his daughter not to shoot his neighbors. 

The Family Girl introduces Catalina Bennett as one of the deadliest and most effective assassins in the world, bred to kill by a quiet and secluded Sicilian Famiglia. Her success is illustrated by an extensive collection of art and Christian Louboutin shoes. Her latest job seemed like an easy way to procure a fabulous Faberge egg for her extensive collection, but Catalina ended up opening Pandora’s Box when she learned that the mark was an asset for ICtech, a venture-capital investment firm funded by the CIA. Soon she is on the run, being hunted by the veteran intelligence agent, Jim Campbell. 

She takes refuge with her father in the suburbs of Chicago, and discovers that dealing with the neighbors can be just as dangerous as dodging bullets. Using her network of connections, spearheaded by the imposing Eddie Washington – her childhood friend turned arms dealer – Catalina begins putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Her journey takes her from Chicago to New York, Washington D.C., and finally Miami, where she aims to settle all her affairs… or go out with a bang.

Book Review: Jennifer Government by Max Barry

Publisher: Abacus

Published: 5 February 2004

Pages: 352

Challenges: Library Challenge; Around the World Challenge

Rating: 4/5

  

Summary (from Goodreads)

In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious and terrifying vision of the near future, the world is run by giant corporations and employees take the last names of the companies they work for. It's a globalised, ultra-capitalist free market paradise. Hack Nike is a lowly merchandising officer  who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 trainers. Hack goes to the police - but they assume that he's asking for a subcontracting deal, and lease the assassination to the more experienced NRA. Enter Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a personal problem with John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). And a gun. Hack is about to find out what it really means to mess with market forces.

Book Review: Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase

I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Monty's Tale Press

Published: 3 November 2014

Series: Harley Hill Mysteries #1

Pages: 252

Rating: 4/5

  

Blurb from Goodreads

Look out London, there's a new investigator in town! Harley Hill is a twenty-five year old woman in need of a new identity. Until now she's been known as many things: Thief, Bandit, The Girl Dressed Like a Ninja... 

When she's offered an investigative position at the Silvers Finders Agency, she decides it's time to go straight. But when a jewelry store break-in she's investigating turns into a murder case, Harley will need all her skills to find the killer and avoid the attentions of a Russian crime boss.

With the help of her new friends, and some from her underworld past, Harley faces a race against the clock. She'll need to uncover the secret behind the artifact left at the jewelry store if she's to catch the murderer. If she fails, it won't just be the job she loses - but her life.

Book Review: The Orphan of Torundi by J.L. McCreedy

I received an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 28 November 2014

Publisher: Penelope Pipp Publishing

Pages: 300

Rating: 2.5/5 

 

Summary

Sam is an orphan, raised by a pharmaceutical research mission in the little jungle island of Torundi, located somewhere between Oceania and Southeast Asia. Her life is quite peacefully divided between assisting the mission in their research and providing the occasional medical care to the local population. Until, after an unexpected encounter with a stranger, Sam is sent to an American boarding school in Malaysia, with no explanation whatsoever and strict instructions not to contact anyone back on Torundi. Determined to discover the reasons behind her banishment, Sam must learn how to juggle life as a high-school senior and her search for the truth, which might just include a secretive but very attractive lab assistant, an enigmatic corporation with illicit designs on Torundi, and a possible civil war in her beloved island.

Book Review: The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Title: The Midnight Palace

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Series: Mist Trilogy #2

Format I Read/Publisher: Paperback, Mondadori

Pages: 299

Rating: 3/5

Summary (from Goodreads):

Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life...

Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere's sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night - and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.