Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Fall & The Silent Bride
Hi everyone! Welcome to another edition of Thriller Thursday with Sharon. I hope you all are doing well. I am good, glad the weather is starting to get a bit warmer here. This week I am sharing my thoughts on Louise Jensen’s, The Fall and Shalini Boland’s, The Silent Bride. Both of these books are twisty psychological thrillers and I really enjoyed them.
The Fall Goodreads Author: Louise Jensen
Publication Date: April 27, 2023
Publisher: HQ
Louise Jensen has a knack for writing twisty psychological thrillers and her latest book, The Fall, is no exception.
Kate Granger and her twin sister Beth are celebrating their fortieth birthday with a party and everything is going great. Kate feels like the luckiest woman in the world. But the day after the party, Kate’s world comes crashing down. Her fifteen-year-old daughter, Caily, is found unconscious under a bridge near their home and now lies in a coma. The police do not think it was an accident and as they investigate what happened to Caily, they find that not everyone in the family was where they said they were at the time Caily was hurt and that they all are hiding secrets. As the secrets are revealed, the once close family starts to be torn apart and all of their lives are in danger.
This book is told from multiple POVs and I loved getting bits and pieces of information from each person. The more secrets that were revealed the more I suspected everyone of attacking Caily. I also really liked getting Caily’s POV. Her chapters started a few months prior and added a lot more suspense to the mystery. With all the twists and turns that was going on, I was totally taken off guard and could not believe it when the person responsible for hurting Caily was revealed. Good job on that one Louise Jensen.
Jensen also created a lot of family drama. Kate and her twin sister Beth were always close, as were Caily and Beth’s daughter Tegan. But as the investigation started breaking holes in Tegan’s account of her whereabouts, Kate and Beth also started breaking apart as both mothers were defending their daughters. But even though their relationship was fracturing some, they were also still there for each other when push came to shove and their lives were in danger. I loved how realistic their relationship was in this situation. Even when my brothers and sisters and I are at odds with each other, we are still there when one of us needs help.
I think Jensen did a great job in creating a setting that added to the mystery and eeriness of the book. The story takes place in December, so it was cold and wet. A lot of the story also takes place on the farm that Kate and Beth grew up on, and where Kate, her husband Matt and Caily live with Kate’s parents.
As well as all the main characters, this book also had a lot of secondary characters that just added to the suspect pool on who attacked Caily.
If you are looking for a twisty and suspenseful psychological thriller, packed with family drama and secrets, with an ending that you will not see coming, then I recommend Louise Jensen’s The Fall. 4 Stars
The Silent Bride Goodreads Author: Shalini Boland
Publication Date: June 1, 2023
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Imagine walking down the aisle to get married, only to get to the altar and not recognize the man standing where your groom should be. Kind of freaky right? Well, that is the premise of Shalini Boland’s newest book, The Silent Bride. And it was very much a freaky and wild ride.
Alice Porter has found the man of her dreams in Seth Evans and after a whirlwind romance the two are engaged to be married. Alice could not have been happier, but her wedding day was anything but happy. As Alice is walking down the aisle on her father’s arm, she stops as she gets closer to the altar, because the man standing where Seth should be is not Seth. Her father and everyone else in the church try and reassure Alice that it is Seth and to go ahead with the wedding, surely it is just her nerves playing tricks on her. But she is adamant that is not the case and this man is a stranger to her. Why is she the only one that does not recognize the man calling himself Seth? Alice sets out to find out what is going on and find her real Seth.
The Silent Bride is told from the POV of Alice, both in the present as she tries to find out what is going on and in the past when she first meets Seth and then follows their romance leading up to the wedding. There are also chapters from an unknown character that really add to the mystery and freakiness of the book. I did not know what to believe and was all over the place at what I thought was going on.
I don’t want to say too much as I don’t want to spoil anything. I will say I did have a lot of sympathy for Alice. I cannot even imagine what it was like for her to not recognize Seth, all the while everyone around her knew who he was. At first the doctors thought maybe she had prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness) but since it was only Seth and his parents she did not recognize, that was ruled out. But even the thought of having that gave me the creeps. I read a book about that a while ago and I still shiver whenever I think about it. I am glad Alice had the support of her friends as she tried to figure this all out. Her family supported her somewhat, but her parents really irked me at times. Especially when they went to visit her and brought Seth with them, so Alice could talk to him and realize he was the real Seth. I mean really why would they do that? Geesh! Talk about giving Alice a panic attack. I wanted to just smack them.
Shalini Boland’s, The Silent Bride is a fast paced read that had me guessing until the very end. And while the reason why Alice did not know Seth was a bit over the top for me, there were a few twists and turns at the end that made me not even care about that. 4 Stars
Reviews: THE COMEBACK SUMMER & THE TRUE LOVE EXPERIMENT
Happy Monday all! I hope your week is off to a great start. Today I’m back to share my thoughts on two of my highly anticipated reads of the spring. Also, here’s a fun coincidence…I didn’t even notice until I went to draft this post that both of these books have something in common. They are both written by author duos writing under pen names.
The Comeback Summer Goodreads Author: Ali Brady
Publication Date: May 9, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I love a good sister story and with their newest novel The Comeback Summer, writer duo Ali Brady really knocked it out of the park! It’s smart, fun, and heartfelt and just had me cheering the sisters on every step of the way.
The story follows Hannah and Libby, who have taken over their late grandmother’s PR firm but are really struggling to make a go of it. If they lose any more clients, they will seriously be in danger of going out of business. Lou, a wildly popular self-help guru, is looking for a new PR firm to represent her but says she will consider Hannah and Libby for the job, but only if they are willing to complete her 12 week “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program. Even though both sisters inwardly cringe at the idea of completing the program, Lou would be a big enough client to save the business, so they reluctantly agree. Lou goes on to customize a challenge for each sister, to help them combat their biggest fears. Hannah, whose comfort zone is numbers, struggles to make small talk to strangers, is tasked with going on 12 first dates. Libby, whose comfort zone is curling up with her cat and a good romance novel, is tasked with a 12 week training program to get her into good enough shape to compete in the annual “Down and Dirty” obstacle course race.
This truly was such a wonderful read! I loved watching the sisters in action and was equally invested in both Hannah and Libby. I really enjoyed how much the story focused not just on their efforts to crush their comfort zones, but also on the dynamics of their relationship as siblings. The authors did a wonderful job of realistically portraying the ups and downs of a self help journey, as well as the natural ups and downs that any relationship experiences. I loved how much personal growth both Libby and Hannah experience and how much they learn about themselves and about each other throughout the process.
There are romantic relationships for each sister as well and I thoroughly enjoyed those. For Hannah, it’s a second chance romance and for Libby, it’s a relationship that happens when she least expects it. While I adored both of their love interests and was cheering them on, I really have to say that it was the beautiful exploration of the theme of sisterhood that made me fall in love with The Comeback Summer. 4.5 STARS
The True Love Experiment Goodreads
Author: Christina Lauren
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
Publisher: Gallery Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Snarky, sexy romance novelist Felicity “Fizzy” Chen was one of my favorite secondary characters from Christina Lauren’s novel The Soulmate Equation. She was one of those fabulous characters who stole every scene she was in and so I was thrilled to hear we would be getting her story in The True Love Experiment.
When we meet Fizzy in this book, however, she’s struggling a bit in the love department and it is spilling over into her professional life, giving her major writer’s block. She would do just about anything to give her personal life a much needed kick in the pants so she can meet her publisher’s deadline.
Enter Connor Prince, single dad and producer of nature documentaries. Connor’s boss wants to pivot from documentaries to reality TV and although Connor is not thrilled, he wants to stay with this company since it means he can live in San Diego where his daughter lives and see her more. Connor has been tasked with coming up with an idea for a reality TV dating series and a chance meeting with Fizzy gives him a perfect idea…if she’ll agree to it. Fizzy at first refuses, but then says she’ll do it, if he meets all her demands, including a hilarious list of hero archetypes that Connor must pull from in order to find acceptable dating candidates for Fizzy.
The chemistry between Fizzy and Connor is absolutely off the charts! It was pretty clear from their first meeting but only becomes more intense the more they work together and interact. I loved how hard Connor worked to find dating prospects that he truly thought would be great boyfriends for Fizzy, but then it was so freaking adorable how jealous he got behind the scenes if she actually seemed to like any of them. The reality TV show was also well done and a lot of fun to read about. I also loved that there was a forbidden love element to the story as well since Connor is technically Fizzy’s boss. It really added some juicy layers of sexual tension that kept me turning those pages to see what would happen between them.
I also adored being back in this world and seeing River, Jess, and Juno again. I thought it was an especially nice touch having the DNA technology from The Soulmate Equation play a part in Connor’s show. With my love for the first book and for all of its characters, especially Fizzy, The True Love Experiment was, no surprise, one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I’m thrilled to report it was everything I hoped it would be and more! 4.5 STARS
Thriller Thursday Reviews: Those Empty Eyes & Lovely Girls
It’s Sharon and it’s Thursday, so you know what that means! Thriller Thursday reviews. This week I am very excited to share my thoughts on Charlie Donlea’s, Empty Eyes and Margot Hunt’s, Lovely Girls. I loved both of these books and was glued to them from the very first page.
Those Empty Eyes Goodreads Author: Charlie Donlea
Publication Date: March 28, 2023
Publisher: Kensington
My first book by Charlie Donlea was Twenty Years Later and I loved it, so I was very excited to read his latest book, Those Empty Eyes and I am happy to report I loved this book as well. Donlea is now a must-read author for me. Those Empty Eyes follows Alex Armstrong as she tries to find the person responsible for killing her parents and younger brother ten years ago and bring herself some closure.
When Alex was seventeen, she was woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of gunshots. When she peeked out her bedroom door, she saw her brother lying in the hall shot in the chest. Alex was able to hide from the killer, but when the police arrived they found Alex sitting in her parents’ bedroom holding a shotgun. Alex was accused of killing her family and the media named her “Empty Eyes” from the dazed look on her face when she was escorted from the house. With the help of attorney Garrett Lancaster, Alex was exonerated and also won a defamation lawsuit against the police. Ten years later Alex is working as an investigator for Garrett, and she has not given up on searching for the answers about who killed her family. Alex’s current case is the disappearance of college journalist, Laura McAllister. As Alex digs in Laura’s disappearance, she uncovers connections to the murder of her family. The closer Alex gets to the truth, the more her life is in danger. The killer left her as a loose end once; they won’t make that mistake again.
Right from the start my heart broke for Alex. She was a flawed character and did make some bad decisions, but hey who wouldn’t given what she had been through? But I loved how she was determined to find justice for her family. She was not giving up no matter what. She was also a smart character. Every piece of evidence she uncovers about her family’s murder she adds to the evidence board she keeps in her apartment. There comes a time in the story when her path crosses with the FBI, they need information from her on a case they are working, but Alex does not give it for free. She makes a deal that they can have the information, but in exchange she wants help with clues she has uncovered in her family’s murder. You go Alex!
This book is also filled with a great cast of secondary characters. I loved the found family relationship that Alex had with Garrett and his wife, as well as a few other characters. This book also has a few plots that seem unconnected to the main story, but Donlea does a great job of connecting the dots without giving away the mystery.
All I can say about this book is WOW! Those Empty Eyes had me hooked from the very first page. As well as putting a few tears in my eyes, Donlea kept me in the dark as to who killed Alex’s family until the very end. And what an end it was! 4 ½ stars
Lovely Girls Goodreads Author: Margot Hunt
Publication Date: March 1, 2023
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Margot Hunt’s newest book, Lovely Girls, is Mean Girls on steroids LOL! The story follows Kate Turner and her teenage daughter, Alex, who have recently moved from New York to Shoreham Florida. After the sudden death of her husband, Kate wanted a fresh start for both her and Alex, but unfortunately, they get anything but.
The story is told mainly from the POV of Kate, but we also get chapters from a video diary that Alex kept. The book is also broken up into two parts, “Before She Died” and “After She Died.” I loved having it broken up this way. While I was reading the “Before She Died” part, my mind kept trying to figure out who died. Was it Alex or one of the girls that was bullying her? There is not much I can say about the “After She Died” part, because that would just give away who died. Duh. LOL!
Right off the bat Alex makes enemies of three girls on the tennis team and she soon realizes that these were the wrong girls to be on the wrong side of. These girls make it their mission to make Alex’s life miserable. After they learn that Alex’s father died in a car crash, they stuff her locker full of newspaper clippings from the accident and they even leave a doll hanging in her locker that is dressed up to look like her father. See told you, Mean Girls on steroids. But Alex is not one to back down. Along with making video diaries on her Ipad, she also likes to take random videos and she has taken a video of one of the girls that will bring all of their worlds crashing down and get one of them killed. I liked how Hunt created such a realistic teenager in Alex. I remember being a teenager (well kind of lol) and I could sympathize with the feelings Alex was having.
While Alex was having a hard time, Kate had it much easier to start with. She quickly made friends with the mothers of the three girls that were tormenting Alex, though she did not know at the time what the girls were doing to Alex. Though other moms tried to tell Kate to watch out for these women, she didn’t listen. She was just happy to have made friends in her new town. But as soon as the murder happened, these women turned on Kate so fast. They were just as conniving and evil as their daughters. But when their claws came out, so did Kate’s. She will do anything to protect her daughter.
Once we find out who died, it was pretty easy to figure out who killed them. But in no way did that make the second half of the book worse. This book was so addictive that I finished it in a couple days.
If you like books full of small-town gossip, jealousy, and betrayal then look no further than Margot Hunt’s Lovely Girls. But be forewarned, this book does deal with bullying. 4 stars