Tag Archive for: TM Logan

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Mother & A Twisted Love Story

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Happy Thriller Thursday! Sharon here and I hope everyone is having a good week and an enjoyable summer. Spooky season is right around the corner.  🙂   This week I am happy to share my thoughts on T.M. Logan’s, The Mother and Samantha Downing’s, A Twisted Love Story. I enjoyed both of these books very much.

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Mother & A Twisted Love StoryThe Mother Goodreads

Author: T.M. Logan

Publication Date: March 2, 2023

Publisher: Zaffre

I am always excited when I see that T.M. Logan has a new book out, I have loved everything of his I have read. When I read the synopsis for his new book, The Mother, I couldn’t wait to read it. The Mother follows Heather Vernon, who was convicted of killing her husband, Liam, ten years ago. Heather was sentenced to eighteen years in prison and has been paroled after nine years. Heather is determined to find out who really killed her husband and regain custody of her two sons, Theo who is now fourteen and Finn who is now thirteen.  But what Heather soon learns is that the person responsible for her husband’s murder will do anything to silence her.

Omg! I loved Heather so much. From the first chapter when she is hiding in the back of a church during her “funeral”, I was hooked and was team Heather all the way. I loved Heather’s determination in finding out the truth. I also feared for her safety often. The person responsible went to great lengths to frame Heather for Liam’s murder and it just made me so angry for her as we found out bits and pieces of evidence that was planted.  I really don’t want to say too much about Heather’s investigation and what info she finds, as I think this book is best to go in blind. But I will say that I flipped often on what I thought was going on. I also had a lot of sympathy for Heather as she was uncovering information, as she had to try and keep her emotions in check, which was hard to do because Heather truly loved Liam and some of the information she uncovered did not put Liam in the best light.

Heather has help in her search for the truth. She has hooked up with Owen Tanner, a reporter who does not believe that Heather is guilty of killing Liam. I was on the fence trusting Owen. Heather also formed a fast friendship with Jodie, who has also been recently released from prison and is living at the same boarding house as Heather. I loved their friendship; they had each other’s backs and formed such a strong friendship in a short time.  Rounding out Heather’s group is Liam’s sister Amy. I really enjoyed following along as they all worked to find out who was responsible for Liam’s murder. There were quite a few tense moments when each of them got into life-or-death trouble.

I wish I could say more about The Mother because I loved it so much. T.M. Logan did a great job in creating a story that flowed so smoothly and gradually increased the suspense and tension, that by the end of the book I was on the edge of my seat and could not read fast enough to find out how everything would end. And I hope I am not spoiling anything when I say, I so did not see that ending coming.    4 ½ stars

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Mother & A Twisted Love StoryA Twisted Love Story Goodreads

Author: Samantha Downing

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

Samantha Downing’s latest book, A Twisted Love Story, follows Wes Harman and Ivy Banks who have, you guessed it, a very twisted love story. Wes and Ivy have been dating on and off for ten years and when things are good, it’s great. But when their relationship hits a snag it can be an all-out war, with screaming matches and arrest warrants. This last break-up of theirs has lasted a few months. When someone starts stalking Ivy she reports it to the police and tells them she believes it is Wes. It is after the police talk to Wes that they end up back together. Told you they have a twisted love story. LOL!  But the detective, Karen Colglazier, that initially spoke with Wes does not like him and she is determined to put him in jail. She starts her own private investigation into Wes and what she uncovers could land both Wes and Ivy in jail. You see, seven years ago during one of their fights, someone ended up dead.

At first when Colglazier was looking into Wes she was just trying to get him arrested for stalking Ivy, but the more she dug she actually turned up bits of information that linked Ivy and Wes to the death of an eighteen-year-old. Once Colglazier got onto the scent she was now determined to have Wes arrested for murder. I didn’t really care for Colglazier at all. She had tunnel vision on Wes, and she did not follow the evidence to where it led. She twisted it and made it point to where she wanted it to go.

Once we were given some information on what happened seven years ago that resulted in the death of the eighteen-year-old, I was all over the place on who I thought was responsible, Wes or Ivy. I kept going back and forth on that.

Downing did a great job in creating this mystery, while also giving us an entertaining read into Wes and Ivy’s twisted relationship. Their banter back and forth and just how toxic they were with each other was fun to read. But even though these two had a volatile relationship they were actually good for each other. When things started to heat up in the investigation into the death of the eighteen-year-old, both Wes and Ivy had each others backs. By the end of the book things really were starting to hit the fan and Wes as well as Ivy could end up in jail. I couldn’t wait to find out if they were going to be able to get away with everything that was going on.

A Twisted Love Story was such an entertaining read, full of great characters. There were also a few smaller plots going on in the story and Downing did a fantastic job of weaving everything together. I also loved how the two main characters were the “villains” but were also just so likable.  4 stars

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Curfew & Watch Out for Her

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Sharon here with another edition of Thriller Thursday. I hope everyone is having a great week. This week I am reviewing The Curfew by T.M. Logan and Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey. Both were very good reads.

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Curfew & Watch Out for HerThe Curfew Goodreads

Author: T.M. Logan

Publication Date: March 17, 2022

Publisher: Zaffre

I have enjoyed every book I have read by T.M. Logan and The Curfew was no different. The story follows the Boyd family, Andy, Laura and their children, sixteen-year-old Connor and twelve-year-old Harriet and explores the lengths any parent would go to keep their children safe.

Andy and Laura’s son Connor is a good kid. He gets good grades, has never been in trouble and is always home by curfew, which is why when Connor texted them at midnight on a Saturday night in June that he was home, they didn’t think to check his room and make sure. But Connor was not home. He had gone to the woods to party with four friends. Five teenagers went into the woods, but only four came out. When the police questioned Connor the next day about the missing teen, Connor clammed up and his parents lied and told the police that he was home at midnight. And so sets off the mystery of what happened in the woods and where is the missing teenager.

I loved the mystery of this book. My sleuth brain went right to work trying to figure out what happened. As bits of information were revealed, my suspect pool increased. I did not trust any one and kept flip flopping on what I thought happened and who I thought did it.  The book is told from the POV of Andy as he tries to piece together what happened and help his son Connor, who is at the top of the police suspect list. In addition to Andy’s POV, we also get chapters from each of the teenagers that were in the woods that night. I liked having those chapters thrown in, as they gave more information of what was going on and also added to the mystery of what happened.

I loved how realistic Logan wrote the teenagers in this book. They were not all goody two shoes; they each were dealing with things that teenagers do. At first, I was so frustrated with Connor because he would not tell the police or his parents anything and would just get closed off and grumpy and retreat to his bedroom when they tried to push him for answers. But then I thought, that is exactly how a teenager would act.

My favorite character in the book was Harriet. She is on the autism spectrum and even though her parents tried to not get her involved in what was going on, she made sure she was. She loves her brother and wants to do whatever she can to keep him out of trouble. She is an IT expert, and she uses that knowledge to gather information to help Connor. I loved her determination.

The Curfew kept me guessing throughout. T.M. Logan did a great job of slowly increasing the tension and suspense, to an ending that I did not see coming and had me on the edge of my seat.  4 Stars

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Curfew & Watch Out for HerWatch Out for Her Goodreads

Author: Samantha M. Bailey

Publication Date: April 26, 2022

Publisher: Simon Schuster

While Samantha M. Bailey’s latest novel, Watch Out for Her, is a great psychological thriller, it is also a story about trust and wanting to belong to a family.

The story follows Sarah Goldman and Holly Monroe. Sarah and her husband Daniel hire twenty two-year old Holly to watch their six-year-old son Jacob for the summer. Jacob adores Holly, so Sarah now has the free time to take up photography again, which she loves but had put on hold when Jacob was born. Holly lost her mother when she was a baby, and in Sarah she has found the mother figure she has always longed for. What starts out as a perfect arrangement soon turns into a nightmare that has Sarah, Daniel and Jacob leaving their home in Vancouver and moving to Toronto. Sarah just wants to put the summer behind her and start new. But as soon as they move into their new home, Sarah finds hidden cameras placed all over the house and then she starts getting threatening text messages from an unknown number. Sarah thinks she knows who is behind all this and she will do whatever she has to to keep her family safe.

This book is told in a dual timeline. We get Sarah’s POV in the present as she and her family are trying to settle into their new home in Toronto. Sarah has never been one to trust easily, and after the incident of the past summer, it is even harder for her to trust anyone. Given her trust issues, it also made me not trust anyone. I was suspicious of her overly friendly next-door neighbor and the creepy neighbor across the street. This timeline had me on the edge of my seat.

The second timeline is from the past summer and is told from Holly’s POV. To me this timeline was more laid back as we get the backstory on Holly and the events that lead up to what happened to force Sarah and her family to flee Vancouver. I really did like Holly and had great sympathy for her. Holly only ever wanted to feel like she belonged to a family.  Her father and stepmother used her to get wealthy men to back her father’s pharmaceutical company.  So when she bonded with Sarah, it felt like the mother she has always wanted and decided she would do anything to keep her found family together.

I liked having the different atmospheres in each timeline. When I was reading Sarah’s timeline I was on high alert and could feel the tension and suspense. And then when I was reading Holly’s timeline, I was able to relax a bit. Yes, there was still suspense but just not as intense.

As the book progressed the tension increased to an ending that had me on the edge of my seat.  I did have one thing figured out, but there were a couple of twists that caught me off guard.   3 ½ stars

Reviews: Trust Me & Quiet in Her Bones

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It’s Thursday, I’m Sharon, so you know what that means: Thriller Thursday! This week I am sharing my thoughts on Trust Me, by T.M. Logan and Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh, a new author to me. I am happy to say I really liked both of these books.

 

Reviews: Trust Me & Quiet in Her BonesTrust Me Goodreads

Author: T.M. Logan

Publication Date: March 18, 2021

Publisher: Bonnier Books

I have been a fan of T.M. Logan since I read his first book Lies and his latest book Trust Me is everything I was hoping for. As with all of his books, T.M. Logan kept me guessing and when I thought I knew what was going on, he would twist things up and pull it in a new direction.

Ellen Devlin longs for a child of her own but has just come from an appointment with her fertility specialist with the news that she is not able to conceive. While on the train home a young woman named Kathryn and her 3-month-old baby, Mia, sits next to her. After striking up a conversation, Kathryn asks Ellen to hold Mia while she takes a phone call.  But as Kathryn walks to a quiet spot on the train to make the call, the train pulls into a station and Ellen is shocked to see her hurrying off the train. As the train leaves the station Ellen is about to alert security but then she finds a note in the baby’s bag, “Please protect Mia. Don’t trust the police. Don’t trust anyone”  Little does Ellen realize that her act of kindness is about to put her life in jeopardy.

I loved Ellen. She both pulled at my heart strings and also had me cheering her on. After she got off the train with Mia, she was planning on taking her to the police, but before she could get there, she and Mia were kidnapped. And when an opportunity arrived where Ellen herself could have escaped, she didn’t take it because she would not leave Mia behind. Instead, she fought and was able to get both herself and Mia to safety. She eventually did turn Mia over to the police, but that did not stop her from wanting to make sure Mia was safe. And as more information was revealed about who Kathryn was and what happened to her, Ellen knew that Mia was still in danger and wanted to do whatever she could to make sure she protected her. I loved the momma bear persona Ellen developed for Mia.  Ellen turned into one bad ass woman when she had to and did not back down when danger presented itself. And danger presented itself a few times, in terms of a couple of break-ins at her house and a few unsavory characters Ellen came in contact with.

I really cannot say much more because anything I say will spoil it.  But I will say this book was full of twists and turns that kept me guessing and also had me not trusting anyone besides Ellen. Every time I thought a character could be trusted, the next chapter would have me second guessing myself. And the whole time I was reading I was trying to figure out who wanted to hurt Mia and why?  Let me tell you, my mind was all over the place on the answer to those questions. I had a lot of conspiracy theories going around in my head lol. None of which were correct.

The closer I got to the end of the book I finally did figure out what was going on and who Mia needed protecting from. By the final few chapters, the tension picked up and I was on the edge of my seat and flying through the pages because I couldn’t wait to find out how it was all going to end.

4 Stars

 

Reviews: Trust Me & Quiet in Her BonesQuiet in Her Bones Goodreads

Author: Nalini Singh

Publication Date: February 23, 2021

Publisher: Berkley Books

I have never read anything by Nalini Singh, but from the eeriness of the book cover and the synopsis, I knew I had to read Quiet in Her Bones. And I am so glad I did, this book had me hooked from the beginning.

One night Nina Rai drove off in her car, along with a quarter of a million dollars and was never heard from again. Her son Aarav has been haunted by his mother’s disappearance ever since.  He knows she would never just leave him and he cannot forget the chilling scream he heard the night she disappeared.

Now 10 years later Nina’s remains and her car has been discovered hidden deep in the woods near her home. Aarav is now 26 and has temporarily moved back to his childhood home to recover from injuries he suffered in a car accident. After the police rule this a homicide, Aarav vows to find out who killed his mother and make them pay.  And it seems that most everyone in the exclusive cul-de-sac could have had a motive for killing Nina.

I liked how Nalini Singh made Nina come to life through Aarav’s memories and also from what he learned from neighbors. We get a good insight into her and she came alive on the pages even though she is dead. While Nina may have been a drunk, cheater and blackmailer, she was also a good friend and loving mother.

Aarav starts his own investigation by talking to his neighbors in the cul-de-sac. Someone must have heard or seen something that night. But the more he talks to his neighbors the more it becomes clear that they all have their own secrets and motives for killing Nina. I was all over the place on my feelings for these people. One minute I would like and trust them, and then something would be revealed to flip me over to not trusting them at all.  I also had suspicions about Aarav as his memories of that night came back to him in bits and pieces. I was praying that he didn’t have anything to do with his mother’s murder as that would have just destroyed him.

I loved Aarav’s relationship with his little sister. Aarav’s father remarried 3 years after his mother disappeared and he and his new wife have a daughter, Pari, who is now 7 years old. He may have had his flaws but when it came to his sister, Aarav made sure that she was happy and knew that he loved her. He would read to her, let her sneak some of the candy that he kept in his desk drawer. It was little things, but I loved watching the bond they had.

This was an even paced read, that slowly built up to the conclusion on what happened to Nina that night.  And while I never did figure anything out, I did think the reveal was a bit of a let down. I was looking for more of a “Holy Crap! Didn’t see that coming” ending. But I still thoroughly enjoyed my journey in this book.   4 stars