Thriller Thursday Reviews: Murder Road & The Teacher
/7 Comments/by Sharon
Happy Thriller Thursday! Sharon here with two awesome books that I have recently read. Murder Road by Simone St. James and The Teacher by Freida McFadden. Both of these books were so good and I know that my reviews do not do them justice. I highly recommend both of these books as well as these authors. 😀
Murder Road Goodreads
Author: Simone St. James
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Simone St. James’ newest book, Murder Road, follows April and Eddie, a young newlywed couple who end up in the middle of a murder investigation. Throw in a creepy small town, great characters and supernatural forces and we have another winner by Simone St. James.
April and Eddie are on their way to a small resort town for their honeymoon, but they take a wrong turn off the interstate and end up on a deserted road, called Atticus Line. While traveling down this dark road they spot what they think is a hitchhiker who appears to be drunk. When they pull over to see if they need help, they realize that this person is not a hitchhiker, but a wounded young woman, Rhonda Jean. As they rush to the hospital in ColdLake Falls with Rhonda Jean bleeding in their back seat, a pickup truck comes speeding behind them, as they take the turn to the center of town, Eddie sees what appears to be a ghostly figure in the back of the truck. Rhonda Jean dies at the hospital and the detectives that show up, rather quickly I may add, immediately suspect Eddie and April as her killer. As Eddie and April work to clear their names, they find that Atticus Line has had many unsolved murders in the past nineteen years. There is a legend that the road is haunted by the Lost Girl. It is said that if you see her, you will be the next one dead on the side of the road. I got goose bumps just writing that. LOL!
I loved everything about this book. From the great characters to the eeriness of Atticus Line and the mystery of the Lost Girl. Simone St. James did an exceptional job of capturing everything in the book and making the story just jump off the pages. Every time the Lost Girl showed up I got goosebumps.
I really liked April and Eddie. When the police tell them they can leave ColdLake Falls, they find they are unable. As they are driving down Atticus Line they encounter a freak rainstorm as well as the Lost Girl and end up right back in town. April and Eddie then realize that they need to figure out who the Lost Girl is and put her to rest. I loved watching them follow clues starting with Rhonda Jean and work their way back to the Lost Girl. They were better than the police and detectives.
In addition to April and Eddie, I loved the secondary characters as well. Rose is the owner of the B & B that April and Eddie are staying at while they are stuck in town. I loved Rose, she had a rough exterior but underneath she was a nice lady and she cared for April and Eddie. Beatrice and Gracie Snell are two teenagers that are all about the ‘conspiracy theory’ and have been trying to solve the mystery about Atticus Line and the Lost Girl. They end up teaming with April and Eddie and brought some humor to the story.
Murder Road was an engrossing, spine tingling, supernatural thriller. Simone St. James knocked this one out of the park and I definitely recommend it. 4 ½ stars
The Teacher Goodreads
Author: Freida McFadden
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
I love when a book starts with someone digging a grave, I just know it is going to be a good one and the whole time I am reading I am trying to figure out who is digging the grave and who is going to be buried. That is exactly how Freida McFadden’s newest book, The Teacher, starts out and I loved it.
Eve Bennett and her husband, Nate, are both high school teachers. Eve teaches Math and is a very strict and hard teacher. Nate teaches English and is more easy going and all the girls love and have a crush on him. Their marriage on the outside looks perfect, but on the inside it is a different story. While they both love each other, they are not very loving. As Eve states, they kiss three times a day, a quick kiss when they leave in the morning, a quick kiss when they get home at night and a quick kiss when they go to bed. As for their sex life, well that only happens the first Saturday of every month. Such a loving couple. LOL!
Addie Severson is a sixteen-year-old junior at the school that Eve and Nate teach at. Last year a teacher at the school was involved in a student-teacher affair and the teacher was fired. Addie was the student in question and even though she denied she and this teacher had any kind of relationship no one believed her. So now Addie is more of a loner at school. When Nate takes her under his wing, Addie is more than thrilled. As their relationship grows, Eve starts to suspect there is more going on with them than teacher/student, and she will do whatever she has to to keep her husband and herself from living the scandal from last year. And Eve and Nate are willing to do whatever they have to to keep their relationship a secret. But Eve also has another secret, one that could destroy her. How far will she go to keep her secrets safe?
Wow! This was a fast-paced book, that had a bunch of unlikable characters that I still cared about. LOL! I started off really liking Addie. The more I learned of what happened last year as well as what her home life was like, I had a lot of sympathy for her. She was also being bullied at school, which made her all the more sympathetic to me. But as her actions progressed I flipped to not liking her very much and then flipped to having sympathy for her again.
Eve was always stand-offish for me. She came across with an “I am better than you” attitude. And she was not so innocent herself when it came to their marriage vows. I never liked Nate and kept that attitude through the whole book. I kept hoping that he was going to get what was coming to him.
If you are a fan of Freida McFadden then I think you will really enjoy The Teacher. 4 stars
Top Ten Tuesday – Books on My Spring 2024 TBR
/16 Comments/by Suzanne
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Books on My Spring 2024 TBR. Almost all of my 2024 most anticipated releases come out this spring or early summer, so those will feature predominantly with this list, along with a romantasy series I’ve been wanting to start. The second book comes out soon so I’m featuring the first book in hopes that it will give me the kick in the pants I need to finally start reading it. I also have a couple of thrillers in the mix by authors I’ve been wanting to try for a while now.
* * * * *
Books on My Spring 2024 TBR
2. THE PARADISE PROBLEM by Christina Lauren
3. A HAPPIER LIFE by Kristy Woodson Harvey
4. A NOVEL LOVE STORY by Ashley Poston
5. JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez
6. THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center
7. THE VACANCY IN ROOM 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass
8. SUMMERS AT THE SAINT by Mary Kay Andrews
9. A DAWN OF ONYX by Kate Golden
10. GOOD HALF GONE by Tarryn Fisher
* * * * *
Are any of these on your TBR?
Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Other Mothers & The School Reunion
/8 Comments/by Sharon
Welcome to another edition of Sharon’s Thriller Thursday! I hope everyone is getting in some great reading. I know I have, pretty much every book I have read so far this year has been a hit for me. 🙂 This week I am reviewing, The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner and The School Reunion by Shalini Boland.
The Other Mothers Goodreads
Author: Katherine Faulkner
Publication Date: December 5, 2023
Publisher: Gallery Books
I read Katherine Faulkner’s first book, Greenwich Park, a couple of years ago and while I liked it, it didn’t knock my socks off. So, I didn’t go into her new book, The Other Mothers, with high expectations. Well, I am happy to report that I loved The Other Mothers.
In July 2017 a young nanny named Sophie Blake was found drowned in a reservoir in London. After the coroner’s inquest, her death was deemed a likely accident. Sophie’s mother does not believe her daughter’s death was an accident and a year and a half later she approaches Tash James, a freelance journalist to look into Sophie’s death. Tash is eager to jump start her freelance career, so she takes on the job. Tash’s two-year-old son Finn is having a tough time adjusting to his new playgroup, but then she befriends three other mothers, Laura, Clare, and Nicole, and as their kids’ become friends, Tash has finally found a happy balance to work/motherhood. As Tash starts her investigation into what happened to Sophie, she realizes that her new friends have a connection to her, and they are keeping secrets.
The story is told in a dual timeline. We get Tash’s POV in the present as she works her investigation into Sophie’s death. We also get Sophie’s POV that starts fifteen months before her death and works its way up to the night she died. I loved having the story unfold this way. I loved getting information as Tash would uncover it and then get Sophie’s POV on that information. Sometimes what Tash thought was the truth, we learned from Sophie to not really be the case. And at times what we learned from Sophie turned out not to be truthful. I loved reading and not knowing what really to believe.
I really liked Tash. I was so engrossed in following her as a journalist and watching her investigate Sophie’s death, and also, as she navigated her relationship with her new friends. Tash and her husband, Tom, did not have a lot of money and Tash got herself into some financial trouble trying to keep up with the other mothers. I liked that Tash had the support of her husband though. A lot of times when I read these types of books, the husband is so quick to blame his wife for everything that happens and not support her. So, it was very refreshing to see them as a supportive couple.
I liked Sophie as well. She was young and naïve to start, but as the book progressed she became a stronger woman. Though she was not without her faults, and I soon realized that she was not so innocent after all.
There is not a lot I can say about what happens in this book because I don’t want to spoil anything. But as I was reading I found myself jumping all around on who I could trust.
The Other Mothers was full of twists and turns. The end of the book had so many twists, that I was getting whiplash. LOL! 4 stars
The School Reunion Goodreads
Author: Shalini Boland
Publication Date: January 16, 2024
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Shalini Boland is a go to author for me. Her books are always fast paced reads, that keep me glued to the pages. So, it is no surprise that her latest book, The School Reunion, was another winner for me.
When Chloe Flynn graduated from high school fifteen years ago she never thought she would go back. Even when she got the invitation to her reunion she didn’t plan on going. But Chloe is recently divorced, has a job she hates, no real friends, and is bored with her life. Maybe turning back the clock could be just the thing Chloe needs to start her life over, and the chance to reconnect with her high school crush, Nathan Blake, is what makes Chloe decide to attend the reunion. Once she accepts the invitation though, Chloe starts getting anonymous e-mails warning her about attending. Though these emails have rattled Chloe, she is not going to back down. Chloe figures her ex high school boyfriend; Chris Tamber sent them, and she plans to confront him and put the past to rest once and for all. But going back could become a fatal mistake for Chloe. As past secrets emerge, things take a deadly turn.
OMG guys! There is not much I can say as this book is best to go into blind. I did love the Mean Girls / Romey and Michele’s high School Reunion vibe I got while reading. Though this book in no way is anything like either of those movies, that was just the feel I kept getting while reading.
The story is told from the POV of Chloe as well as Dean Bradley, a contractor who has a beef with Chris Tamber. Dean did some work for Chris, and Chris stiffed Dean the money that was owed, so now Dean is about to lose his contracting company as well as his reputation. I really liked Dean, not only is he trying to salvage his company, but he is also a single dad to 5-year-old Ellis (who is just such a cutie pie), and he just lost his mother a few months ago. Dean is also carrying around the grief of losing his sister when she was sixteen years old. Seeing everything he had on his plate I just wanted to punch Chris in the face for him. LOL!
Chloe is also dealing with issues of her own. Her mother never seems to have a positive word to say to her, and not only is she trying to avoid Chris at the reunion, but she is also dealing with trying to avoid her old high school enemy Abigail, who has her sites set on Nathan and has told Chloe in no uncertain terms to back off. Chloe also has secrets she wants to keep hidden.
The School Reunion had so many twists and turns. Just when I thought I may know what is going on, Shalini Boland would throw in a twist that made me stop and process what I just read. At the end of the book there was a twist that literally had my jaw drop. 4 stars