Tag Archive for: megan miranda

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Marriage Act & The Only Survivors

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Happy Thriller Thursday!  Sharon here and this week I am excited to share my thoughts on two books that I was very excited to read. John Marrs’, The Marriage Act and Megan Miranda’s, The Only Survivors. I really enjoyed both of these books and happy they lived up to my expectations.

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Marriage Act & The Only SurvivorsThe Marriage Act Goodreads

Author: John Marrs

Publication Date: May 2, 2023

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

What if the government issued incentives (IE: better health care, tax breaks, homes in better parts of town) to upgrade your marriage and enter into The Sanctity of Marriage Act, would you take it? Even if they monitored every aspect of your life and used that info to ensure that you and your spouse are still in love? That is the premise of John Marrs’ newest book The Marriage Act.

The Sanctity of Marriage Act, known as Smart Marriage, is not all that the government says it is. Sure, if the Audite listening device installed in your home deems your marriage healthy, then you are doing great. But if the device senses tension in the marriage then things can get very rocky and you could lose all of your benefits, or as some couples found out, your life.

The Marriage Act is told from multiple POVs. Also, throughout the book we get to read pamphlets regarding Smart Marriage. For example: “What is in it for me?” gives all the benefits of a Smart Marriage, “How Does it Work?” gives the definition of each level. I really liked learning about the levels. Level 1: Once the Audite picks up on marriage troubles from the recordings, it will send push notifications with hints on how to improve the marriage. Level 2: If the Audite still thinks you need extra help a Relationship Responder (trained counselor) will be assigned to you to help with one-on-one sessions to improve your marriage. Level 3: If the Audite and relationship Responder feel further support is required, then it will be passed to family court, and they will decide the fate of your marriage.

Roxi is an influencer who is promoting Smart Marriage, the more popular she gets the more her marriage suffers, and she will soon learn the downside to a Smart Marriage.

Corrine is part of the Smart Marriage resistance called Freedom for All. She and her husband Mitchell have not upgraded their marriage and in fact will be divorcing once their twins start college in a few months. I really liked Corrine. She was a strong character, and I was rooting for her all the way.

Anthony works for the government and is very much involved in promoting The Sanctity of Marriage Act. But Anthony does not like where the government is going and wants out. Only problem is, he knows too much, and the government will not let him leave so easily.  I loved how Anthony’s conscience got the better of him and he tried to right all the wrongs he did.

Noah and Luca have reached level 2 and have been assigned Jeffrey as their Relationship Responder. But their lives are in danger as Jeffrey is not a stable person and has killed to get what he wants.

I loved everything about The Marriage Act.  This was one wild ride of a book that had me glued to the pages. John Marrs did a great job of creating a story that had me on the edge of my seat, filled with characters that I both loved and hated.  4 ½ stars

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Marriage Act & The Only SurvivorsThe Only Survivors Goodreads

Author: Megan Miranda

Publication Date: April 11, 2023

Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books

Megan Miranda’s The Only Survivors follows a group of high school seniors who survive a deadly bus crash, and the effect their survivors’ guilt has had on them.

Ten years ago on a high school field trip, two buses that were carrying students crashed into a river. Only nine students survived the crash: Cassidy (who is the narrator of this story), Clara, Grace, Oliver, Amaya, Joshua, Ian, Hollis, and Brody. They make a pact to never talk about what happened and what they went through to survive.  On the one-year anniversary of the crash, Clara killed herself. After Clara died the others decide to get together every year on the anniversary to help each other cope. They stay in the same place every year, a cabin called The Shallows. But now ten years after the accident another one of them is dead and the safe haven of each other and The Shallows does not feel so safe anymore. Someone is watching them and wants to know what really happened the night of the accident.

I loved the setting of this book.  The Shallows is located in a small town, located on a river and aside from a couple of other houses it is pretty isolated. Add to that the fact that a storm is coming in and washes out the roads and strands them and you have a very creepy atmosphere. There are also strange things happening at The Shallows that start to make the group turn on each other. Cassidy finds a phone on the beach, and it is the same phone number that has sent her mysterious texts. Joshua’s medication goes missing and Amaya left The Shallows and is now missing.

There were a lot of characters to get to know in this book and I think Megan Miranda did a good job of bringing them all to life.  The story is told from Cassidy’s POV. In high school Cassidy was an outsider, the only reason she is friends with this group now is because of the accident. She has been trying to distance herself from them and had no intension of going to The Shallows this year, but when she heard Ian was dead she had to go. Aside from the pact they all made the night of the crash, Cassidy is also keeping another secret and she can never let anyone know what it is.  We also get chapters from each of the other characters from the night of the accident. I think getting those chapters with bits and pieces about what happened that night really added to the mystery of this book.

The Only Survivors was a slow burn mystery but by the end of the book I was on the edge of my seat and when the final twist was revealed I was shocked!  3 ½ stars

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Last to Vanish & The Patient’s Secret

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It’s Thriller Thursday with Sharon.  I cannot believe it is September already. And with September comes spooky season, well for me spooky season is year round. LOL!  This week I am happy to share my thoughts on Megan Miranda’s new book, The Last to Vanish and Loreth Anne White’s new book The Patient’s Secret. I enjoyed both of these books very much.

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Last to Vanish & The Patient’s SecretThe Last to Vanish Goodreads

Author: Megan Miranda

Publication Date: July 26, 2022

Publisher: Scribner / Marysue Rucci Books

I have loved all the books I have read by Megan Miranda and her latest book, The Last to Vanish is no exception. The book is set in a small North Carolina mountain town called Cutter’s Pass. Cutter’s Pass is known for its outdoor activities, especially hiking, with access to the Appalachian Trail. Cutter’s Pass is also known for the mysterious disappearance of seven people spread out over twenty-five years. In June 1997, a group of four men known as the Fraternity Four went missing while hiking in the mountains. Alice Kelly went missing in September 2012, last seen at a tavern in town. Farrah Jordan was last seen as she was entering the hiking trail in January 2019. And the last to vanish was Landon West, who was last seen at The Passage Inn in April 2022.

The book follows Abby Lovett, who moved to Cutter’s Pass ten years ago and is the manager of The Passage Inn. Though she sometimes feels like she is still an outsider, Abby loves Cutter’s Pass. This small town is a very close-knit community that looks out for each other. When Landon’s brother, Trey, comes into town looking for answers on what happened to his brother, he stirs up a hornet’s nest of secrets that the town has been keeping. Abby and Trey work together to try and find answers on what happened to Landon, but when they start uncovering evidence that leads them closer to the truth, Abby realizes that she does not really know her neighbors in town and all the secrets they are trying to keep hidden.

I really liked Abby. She came to town just after Alice Kelly went missing but was there when Farrah Jordan and Landon West disappeared. She took the investigation and outcome at face value. But when she started working with Trey and uncovered secrets, she kept pushing forward even if she didn’t like the direction it was taking. She wanted to be able to give answers to the families of the missing people. I really liked her determination.

I loved the setting of the book as well.  Aside from people disappearing, Cutter’s Pass sounded like a great vacation spot. Megan Miranda did a great job of describing the town, that I could visualize the mountains and hiking trails. She made me want to jump in my car and go.

I also like how the book was rolled out. It is broken up into five parts, and with each part we get a look into when each of the people went missing, starting with Landon West, and working backwards. And then in the last part, we get a look into what brought Abby to Cutter’s Pass and her connection to the town.

The Last to Vanish is a great mystery with lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end.    4 stars

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Last to Vanish & The Patient’s SecretThe Patient's Secret Goodreads

Author: Loreth Anne White

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Publisher: Montlake

Loreth Anne White’s newest thriller, The Patient’s Secret, is set in a close-knit community of Story Cove and follows the investigation into the death of a female jogger found at the bottom of a cliff. Was it an accident or murder? As the investigation evolves, it is clear that everyone in this community has secrets.

Lily Bradley and her husband, Tom, seem to have the perfect life. They have 2 children, twelve-year-old Phoebe, and eight-year-old Matthew. Lily is a psychotherapist and Tom is a professor at the local university. Lately though, Lily has been on edge. She cannot get over the feeling that she is being watched and she thinks that the terrible secret she has been keeping is about to be exposed and destroy her life as well as the lives of her children. Tom has also been keeping secrets from Lily and those secrets could very well land him in jail for the murder of the jogger.

Free-spirited Arwen Harper and her sixteen-year-old son Joe have recently moved into town. Arwen knows what Lily’s secret is and she is determined to expose it. Arwen does not care who gets hurt in the process. While I didn’t really like Arwen and her method to expose Lily, once I found out the secret I did sympathize with her a bit.

Detective Rue Duval is leading the investigation into the death of the jogger. But Rue is hiding secrets of her own, and these secrets could alter the outcome of the investigation.  I felt Rue should have recused herself from the investigation since the secrets she was hiding were a conflict of interest. She set her sights on Tom instead of following all the evidence no matter where it led.

My favorite character was Lily and Tom’s son, Matthew. He was such a cutie. Matthew loves to take photographs. One day he wants to either be a crime photographer or photojournalist. His bedroom is in the attic, so he secretly photographs people as they go about their day. It is Matthew’s photos that actually help crack the case. I just loved watching him sneak around taking pictures of everyone and putting them into his “case” files.

This book is told from many POV’s as well as dual timelines, but White does a great job of keeping the flow of the book from getting confusing. We also get some chapters that are excerpts from a true crime story regarding the brutal murder of a family that took place in 1989. I will warn you though, these chapters are graphic and do involve the brutal murder of an eight-year-old boy.

There is not a lot I can say about what actually happens in this book because any thing I say would be a spoiler. But I will say that The Patient’s Secret was full of lots of twists and turns and shocking secret reveals that kept me turning the pages.  3 ½ stars

Reviews: SUCH A QUIET PLACE & FOR YOUR OWN GOOD

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I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Apologies for my absence around the blogosphere the past few days.  My son is dealing with some health issues so my blogging and blog hopping has slacked a bit while I’ve been caring for him.  I’m also slightly behind on my reviews, so these two books are actually already out in the world even though I had them as ARCs.  I’m still happy to share my thoughts on them with you though as they were both pretty solid mystery/thriller reads.

 

Reviews: SUCH A QUIET PLACE & FOR YOUR OWN GOODSuch a Quiet Place Goodreads

Author: Megan Miranda

Publication Date: July 13, 2021

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

Hollow’s Edge used to be the perfect neighborhood, a quiet serene little paradise with a tight-knit community and where nothing bad ever happened.  That is, until two of its residents, Brandon and Fiona Truett, were murdered, and a third resident, Ruby Fletcher, was convicted of their murders and sent to prison.  The loss of their neighbors is painful for most of the residents, as is living with the guilt that many of them testified against Ruby and sent her to prison.  With the shadow of those murders and the still-empty Truett house hanging over it, Hollow’s Edge has become a place no one wants to live. Tanking home values, however, have made it nearly impossible to sell their homes, so the residents are trapped.  Being stuck in Hollow’s Edge is bad enough, but it takes an even worse turn when Ruby gets out of jail and returns to the neighborhood after her conviction is overturned.  Why has she come back?  Is she truly just looking to start over or does she have revenge on her mind?

That’s the basic premise of Megan Miranda’s latest thriller, Such a Quiet Place, and it’s a riveting one.  I was glued to the pages from start to finish, trying to figure out what exactly Ruby’s motivation was for returning to the scene of the crime.  She has maintained her innocence throughout so it seems odd for her to return to the place where so many people betrayed her. The story is a bit of a slow burn in terms of the suspense and the mystery, a little too slow for my liking at times, but I really enjoyed watching all of the paranoid neighbors trying to figure out what Ruby was up to and if she was out to get them. Not only that but it starts to become clear that Hollow’s Edge was never really the idyllic setting its residents made it out to be.  Seems like everyone has at least a secret or two that they’re trying desperately to keep buried.

Ruby’s interactions with her former roommate, Harper Nash, were especially fascinating to me.  When she returns to the neighborhood, Ruby shows up on Harper’s doorstep as if she expects to pick up where they left off before the murders.  She tells Harper she has nowhere to go and Harper feels sorry for her and lets her move back in. Ruby practically takes over the place, eating Harper’s food, wearing her clothes, borrowing her car without asking, etc.  It’s almost like she’s trying to push Harper as far as she can push her, even as she professes gratitude to Harper for letting her stay there.  Harper starts to become as paranoid as the rest of the neighbors in thinking that Ruby is just biding her time before she makes someone pay for ruining her life.

I don’t want to give anything away about Ruby’s true motives, but I’ll just say that the story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and it really gets wild starting with the neighborhood’s big Fourth of July bash.  If you enjoy a slow burn mystery, with lots of secrets, lies and drama, you’ll have fun reading Such a Quiet Place.  3.5 STARS.

 

Reviews: SUCH A QUIET PLACE & FOR YOUR OWN GOODFor Your Own Good Goodreads

Author: Samantha Downing

Publication Date: July 20, 2021

Publisher:  Berkley

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

I was drawn to Samantha Downing’s latest thriller For Your Own Good because it’s set in a private school and because its synopsis promises lots of dark and twisty goodness to keep me on the edge of my seat.  This book really delivers too, especially if you enjoy a little dark comedy mixed in with your murder mysteries.  I was not only entertained from start to finish, but I also couldn’t have begun to predict the wild and unexpected ending even if I had tried.

Belmont Academy is a prestigious private school.  Wealthy parents send their children here in hopes of best preparing them for an Ivy League education.  These parents try to bully teachers into giving their children better grades, and while many teachers cave in, not Teacher of the Year, Teddy Crutcher.  Teddy thinks he knows what’s best for everyone and sometimes he feels the need to teach an entitled student a lesson, bring them down a peg or two.  Sometimes he extends those lessons to fellow teachers who annoy him too.

All Teddy really wants is for everyone to be their best and he wants everyone to just stay out of his way while he works to achieve his goal.  Things start to get especially frustrating for Teddy when a parent unexpectedly dies at a school function and everyone at school is on edge once the death is ruled a homicide.  Teddy is annoyed by this distraction since in his mind, big deal, people die every day, and he’s especially frustrated because a student he actually likes is arrested for the murder.  Teddy decides that since he knows best, he needs to fix things.

It’s actually Teddy’s “fixing” of things that hilariously drive this dark and twisty tale because, even though he clearly thinks he’s a genius, the more Teddy tries to “fix” things, the worse things get.  Then as if things aren’t bad enough for Teddy because of his failed “fixings”, a former student he decided to teach a lesson to has come back to town and is looking to take Teddy down.

What really made this a great read for me was Teddy, not because he was a likeable character by any stretch, but on the contrary, because I loved to hate him.  He’s arrogant and obnoxious, but so delightfully diabolical with the lessons and punishments he doles out.  I found him to be such a fantastic character and I enjoyed his over-the-top antics and all the twists and turns he added to the story.

I don’t want to give anything away with respect to the murder or any of the additional fallout from Teddy’s endless schemes, but if you’re looking for a read that is suspenseful, dark and twisty, yet also quite funny, be sure to check out For Your Own Good.  It’s a wild ride!  4 STARS.