Book Review: Twenty Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate

 

First published January 30, 2024

buy from Amazon

Phoebe Dean was the most popular girl alive and dead.

For the last ten years, the small, claustrophobic town of West Wilmer has been struggling to understand one thing: Why did it take young Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help on the fateful night of the car accident that took the life of his beloved sister, Phoebe?

Someone knows what really happened the night Phoebe died. Someone who is ready to tell the truth.

With Phoebe's memorial in just three days, grief, delusion, ambition, and regret tornado together with biting gossip in a town full of people obsessed with a long-gone tragedy with four people at its heart—the caretaker, the secret girlfriend, the missing bad boy, and a former football star. Just kids back then, are forever tied together the fateful rainy night Phoebe died.

Perfect for fans of Jane Harper and Celeste Ng, Tate's literary suspense Twenty-Seven Minutes is a gripping debut about what happens when grief becomes unbearable and dark secrets are unearthed in a hometown that is all too giddy to eat it up.

MY REVIEW:

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

10 years ago there was a car accident. Grant Dean was driving and his sister Phoebe was with him. Another person, was also in the car. Why did it take 27 minutes for Grant to call 911. That is the oe question everyone has asked.
Meanwhile you have a mother who has died and her daughter is dealing with that when her brother shows up after many years of missing.
The twist at the end got me. I did not see that coming.
I liked how the characters developed and going from the past to the present to find out what had gone on. Things are not always as they seem. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Press for the book to review,

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                                                                            Ashley Tate

Ashley is a Canadian author; Twenty-Seven Minutes is her debut novel.

Book Review: Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

 

published May 7, 2024

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Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estranged best friend—Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart.

MY REVIEW:

Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Saint is a country club for the wealthy.
A kid died many years ago when Traci was a lifeguard there. The other lifeguard had been fired but it was no one's fault. Now his half brother is looking into what really happened. Traci is also trying to keep the club going and finding new ideas and remodeling where she can,. Her husband had a died a few years ago and so she inherited his part of the hotel while his brother is trying to make her look bad.
Then someone ends up dead and more things come into light. I really liked Traci and her niece.It was a good book
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

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                                                                      Mary Kay Andrews


Born St. Petersburg, FL, The United States

Website
http://www.marykayandrews.com

Twitter
mkayandrews

Genre
Fiction, Mystery, Chick Lit



URL
https://www.goodreads.com/marykayandrews


https://marykayandrews.com/
https://www.facebook.com/marykayandre...
https://www.instagram.com/marykayandr...

MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels (including The Homewreckers, The Santa Suit, The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental; The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.

Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by twelve more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese.

She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in two restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.

Audiobook Review: The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong

 

Audiobook Expected publication February 20, 2024

Buy on Amazon

In The Boy Who Cried Bear, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong keeps readers on the edge of their seats while detective Casey Duncan tries to locate the threat before it’s too late. . .

Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren't allowed to wander off alone.

When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up against.

MY REVIEW:

The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The narrator for this audiobook had a nice voice and was pleasant to listen to.
It is a mystery set in Canada. Haven's Rock is a town that is hidden for people who need to hide or start over a new life. It is surrounded by a forest and people are asked to not go into the forest or at least not go alone.
10 year old Max said he saw a bear but then said it was a bear with a man's eyes. Then he goes missing. While on the hunt to look for him we find out things about Max's family and why they came to Haven''s Rock. I didn't read the first book and I don't feel like I missed to much except for maybe character development.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmiillan Audio for the chance to review.

View all my reviews

                                                                  Kelley Armstrong

Website
http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

Genre
Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Young Adult



URL
https://www.goodreads.com/kelleyarmstrong


Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Blog Tour: The Shadow Girl by Shannon Hollinger

 

Book: The Shadow Girl

Author: Shannon Hollinger

Pub Day: September 1st 2023

Buy on Amazon

Ever since I tried to escape, he’s been keeping me in the dark. My bones ache with the cold. The longer I sit, trapped alone with just my thoughts, the more I worry… What if this is it? What if I never get to leave?

The sun is rising on another cold winter’s day in Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley finds an unmarked envelope on the steps of the police station. Inside is a photo of a teenage girl, bound and bruised. Maggie’s heart constricts at the terror in her tear-filled eyes. Who is she? What has happened to her? Who would have left this photo, but done nothing else to help?

Maggie moved to Coyote Cove for a quieter life after her beloved young brother went missing five years ago. And this case feels as personal as anything she’s worked on since then. With no one reporting the girl missing, seemingly unloved and forgotten, Maggie vows to rescue her, and bring whoever hurt her to justice.

As Maggie mines the photograph for clues to hunt down the girl and her captor, her search takes her deep into the seedy, dangerous underbelly of the secretive logging camps. Hidden away in the woods, a law unto themselves, Maggie is in uncharted—and deadly—territory.

Then she finds the body of a girl who was said to have run away years ago, one with ties of her own to the loggers. And Maggie knows she’s on the right track. But as her search for the truth intensifies, Maggie’s own safety is threatened. Can she save an innocent girl’s life and get out alive herself, or could this be the one investigation she won’t survive…?

A dark and totally gripping crime thriller, perfect for fans of D.K. Hood, Melinda Leigh and Lisa Regan.

MY REVIEW:

The Shadow Girl by Shannon Hollinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maggie moved to Coyote Cove for a quieter safer life than the city. She didn't plan on missing girls and murders. She is also a one woman show so she hires a partner. When he comes into town people don't like him. Maggie isn't well liked either.
Maggie has a picture put on her windshield of a girl beaten up. When she asks the mom for her help then Maggie is told the girl is at her Uncle's house. Things don't sir right with Maggie and she is lke a dog with a bone and doesn't give up looking for this girl.
I really like Shannon's books and always look forwards to a new release.

View all my reviews

Author Bio

With degrees in Crime Scene Technology & Physical Anthropology, Florida author Shannon Hollinger hasn't just seen the dark side of humanity - she's been elbow deep inside of it! She finds writing to be a much cleaner way to spend her time than the autopsy suite. Most days it smells better, too.

Her debut novel, the psychological thriller Best Friends Forever, is the first of a five-book deal with publisher Bookouture.

Her short fiction has appeared in Suspense Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and The Saturday Evening Post, among a number of other magazines and anthologies, and her story Lady Killer was a finalist for the 2021 Al Blanchard Award sponsored by the New England Crime Bake.

Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thiswritersays

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thiswritersays

Website: www.ShannonHollinger.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thiswritersays/

Bookouture Email Sign Up: https://www.bookouture.com/shannon-hollinger/

Book Review: Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs

 

Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Published July 5th 2022 by scribner

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#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box with a human eyeball in it, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.

Winter has come to North Carolina and, with it, a drop in crime. For a while, temporarily idle forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is content to dote on her daughter Katy, finally returned to civilian life from the army. But when mother and daughter meet at Tempe’s place one night for dinner, they find a box on the back porch. Inside: a very fresh human eyeball.

GPS coordinates etched into the eyeball lead to a Benedictine Monastery where an equally macabre discovery awaits. Soon after, Tempe examines a mummified corpse in a state park, and her anxiety deepens.

There seems to be no pattern to these random killings, except that each mimics in some way a killing that a younger Tempe witnessed, analyzed, or barely escaped. Who or what is targeting her, and why?

Helping Tempe discover the answers is detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell, retired but still volunteering with the CMPD cold case unit—and still displaying his gallows humor. As the two penetrate a bizarre survivalist’s lair, even Skinny’s mood darkens.

And then Tempe’s daughter Katy disappears.

At its core, Cold, Cold Bones is a novel of revenge and why revisiting the past may be the only way to rescue the present.

                                                  MY REVIEW:

 

Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 21st book of the series and even though I am behind on reading the series, I still enjoyed it. As I already knew the characters and who they are. The series, Bones on TV , is based loosley on this series.
Temperance Brennan gets an eyeball , in a box, on her back porch. Who would do this and whose eye is it? Upon looking at it more Tempe's daughter, Katy, notices letters and numbers on the eyeball. More things keep happening that looks like there is a copycat killer on the loose.
Then Katy disappears and won't answer her phone. It becomes suspicious when Tempe gets a short message from Katy that she doesn't believe Katy sent it.
Seems like Tempe and a retired detective, Sledell, keep running against brick walls trying to figure out who is doing the copycats and why?
Tempe's concern for her daughter has them wondering what the hell is going on and is she safe or not?
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner fr the book to review.

View all my reviews

                                                                     Kathy Reichs


Born in Chicago, The United States

Website
http://www.kathyreichs.com/

Twitter
KathyReichs

Genre
Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction


Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Blog Tour: The Last Time She Died by Zoe Sharp

 

Amazon: https://geni.us/B09B3JTTZWsocial
Apple: http://ow.ly/G6bu50FDsTL
Kobo: http://ow.ly/ZvlX50FDsRy
Google: http://ow.ly/Y7UZ50FEkwU

Audible:

UK: zpr.io/iFnrLJ4J4Lea
US: zpr.io/sUe4m4dUeYQH

“A totally unputdownable crime thriller with a mind-blowing twist.”

She came back on the day of her father’s funeral, ten years after she vanished. But she can’t be who she says she is…

When Blake disappeared as a teenager, on a cold dark night, her father never reported her missing. She is presumed dead.

Now, ten years later, a young woman with white-blonde hair sits comfortably in the family living room and smiles at the shocked faces around her.

“Don’t you recognise me?” she says. “I’m Blake.”

Detective John Byron isn’t sure whether she’s telling the truth. But as he investigates, he soon realises no one is happy to see her.

And the people who should be welcoming her back with open arms know she can’t be Blake. Because they killed her the night she vanished…

Didn’t they?

From the bestselling author of the Charlie Fox books, The Last Time She Died will have you gripped until the last mind-blowing page. Fans of Cara Hunter, Kendra Elliot and Rachel Abbott will love this action-packed crime thriller.

Prepare to be gripped by this mind-blowing suspense thriller, the first in a brand-new series from the bestselling author of the Charlie Fox books. Fans of Cara Hunter, Kendra Elliot and Rachel Abbott won’t be able to put this down..

                                                       MY REVIEW:

The Last Time She Died by Zoë Sharp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in a series and grabbed me at the beginning.
Blake disappeared as a teenager, 10 years ago. She shows up on the day of her father's funeral. Her father never reported her missing and everyone thought she was dead.
Detective John Byron isn’t sure whether she’s telling the truth. But as he investigates, he soon realises no one is happy to see her.
And the people who should be welcoming her back with open arms know she can’t be Blake. Because they killed her the night she vanished…

Didn’t they?

And just who was it that killed her and was there more than 1 person.
This author threw so much at us with family drama, lies, and cover ups. Just who is telling the truth and is Blake who she says she is?
I received this from Boouture and NetGalley for review.

View all my reviews

                                             Zoë Sharp


Born Nottinghamshire, The United Kingdom

Website
http://www.zoesharp.com

Twitter
AuthorZoeSharp

Genre
Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since
January 2012

URL
https://www.goodreads.com/authorzoesharp



Zoë Sharp spent most of her formative years living aboard a catamaran on the northwest coast of England. She opted out of mainstream education at the age of twelve and wrote her first novel at fifteen. She became a freelance photojournalist in 1988 and started writing her Charlie Fox crime thriller series after receiving death-threats in the course of her work.

Blog Tour: The Witness by John Ryder

 

  

“Find my daughter in twenty-four hours. Or she’s dead.”

Kyle Roche is a man whose job it is to stay invisible. Dark, mysterious, and only sometimes on the right side of the law, only a lucky few know how to reach him: Kyle can fix their problems, however dangerous.

Now he’s been hired to save a woman in Witness Protection, one who doesn’t officially exist anymore. But before he can keep her safe, he has to find her. And he has less than twenty-four hours to do it…

Savannah Nicholls is in hiding because of a tragic mistake. Her mother insists her daughter is just a nice girl, from a good family, that she’s never gotten in trouble in her life. But she also says someone knows where her daughter is. And they want to kill her.

If he’s going to keep Savannah safe, Roche needs to know who is after her, as well as what she witnessed, who her enemies are, and if they have really been able to find her. But how can he protect a woman who is as invisible as he is?

Because the clock is ticking…

This totally gripping, pulse-pounding thriller is perfect for fans of David Baldacci, JB Turner and Mark Dawson.

Buy Link

https://geni.us/B096B76TKBsocial

                                                              MY REVIEW:

The Witness by John Ryder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“I need you to find and protect my daughter. I can’t even tell you where she is. All I can say is that I’ve been told she’ll be dead by noon tomorrow.”
This is the phone call that Kyle Roche received. He fixes people's problems. He has to find a woman who doesn't officially exist anymore as she is in the witness protection program. He is the oly one who can find her and he has less than 24 hours. The daughter’s name is Savannah Nicholls. She had to go into Witness Protection because of a tragic mistake.
When I first started the book I thought Savannah was ok. Maybe she can take care of herself, seemed a little quiet and reserved and constantly looking over her back. The moment Kyle showed up she turned into a different woman and she wouldn't follow his directions and it got to the point where I kept yelling at my book "you are such a bitch". A little twist at the end that I didn't see.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC to review.

View all my reviews

                                                               Author Bio
John Ryder is a former farmworker and joiner. He's turned his hand to many skills to put food on the table and clothes on his back. A life-long bibliophile, he eventually summoned the courage to try writing himself, and his Grant Fletcher novels have drawn inspiration from authors such as Lee Child, Tom Cain, Zoe Sharp and Matt Hilton. When it comes to future novels, he says he has more ideas than time to write them.
When not writing, John enjoys spending time with his son, reading and socialising with friends. A fanatic supporter of his local football team, he can often be found shouting encouragement to men much younger and fitter than he is.



Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnRyderAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnRyder101
Website: https://johnryderauthor.com/

Book Review: A Stranger In Town by Kelley Armstrong

 

                                                                  Kindle Edition
                                               Expected publication: February 9th 2021
                                                             buy from Amazon

This is the 6th book of the Rockton series

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

                                           MY REVIEW:

A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.
I had a hard time getting into this book. Maybe because I didn't read the other books in the series.
Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.
I felt that there were lot of characters and groups that had me scratching my head. So like I said it might be because I didn't read the other books.
There are settlers and Hostils. Who is with who had me confused. And why they are the way they are.
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me review this.

View all my reviews

Kelley Armstrong

Website

http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Young Adult

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/kelleyarmstrong

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Book Review: Dead In The Dark by Stephen Booth

 

                                                           Kindle Edition, 400 pages
                                              Published July 13th 2017 by Sphere
                                                            Buy on Amazon







How do you prove a murder without a body?

Ten years ago, Reece Bower was accused of killing his wife, a crime he always denied. Extensive police searches near his home in Bakewell found no trace of Annette Bower's remains, and the case against him collapsed.

But now memories of the original investigation have been resurrected for Detective Inspector Ben Cooper - because Reece Bower himself has disappeared, and his new wife wants answers.

Cooper can't call on the Major Crime Unit and DS Diane Fry for help unless he can prove a murder took place - impossible without a body. As his search moves into the caves and abandoned mines in the isolated depths of Lathkilldale, the question is: who would want revenge for the death of Annette Bower?




                                                            MY REVIEW:

Dead in the Dark by Stephen Booth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

10 years ago, Reece Bower's wife disappeared and he was accused of killing her. Police searched and never found anything. Now Reece has disappeared and his new wife wants to know what happened to him.
Ben Cooper and Diane Fry are detectives on the case and they won't stop until they solve it.
This is the 17thbook of the series and even though I didn't read any of the others in this series, I felt that I learned enough about them to read it as a standalone.
Thank you to Edelweiss for the book to review.

Stephen Booth

Born in Burnley, The United Kingdom

Website
http://www.stephen-booth.com/

Twitter
stephenbooth

Genre
Mystery & Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Crime

URL
https://www.goodreads.com/stephenbooth


Stephen Booth is the author of 18 novels in the Cooper & Fry series, all set around England's Peak District, and a standalone novel DROWNED LIVES, published in August 2019.

The Cooper & Fry series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and Detective Constable Cooper has been a finalist for the Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British author. The Crime Writers’ Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for “the author whose books have given readers most pleasure.”

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Half Sister by Sandie Jones

Kindle Edition, 320 pages

Published June 16th 2020 by Minotaur Books

Buy on Amazon 

Her arrival will ruin everything

Kate and Lauren. Sisters who are always there for each other. But as they gather for their weekly Sunday lunch, a knock on the door changes everything.

The new arrival, Jess, claims to be their half-sister, but that would mean the unthinkable . . . That she’s the secret daughter of their beloved, recently deceased father Harry. Their mother Rose is devastated and Kate and Lauren refuse to believe Jess’s lies.

But as the fall-out starts it’s clear that each is hiding secrets and that perhaps this family isn’t as perfect as they appear.

Where there was truth, now there are lies and only one thing is certain, their half-sister’s arrival has ruined everything . . .

                              MY REVIEW:

The Half Sister by Sandie Jones

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Talk about throwing a family in turmoil. Kate and Lauren are sisters and they get together every Sunday at their mom's house for dinner. One Sunday there is a knock at the door. Jess asked if Harry is there. Harry is their dad and had died a year ago. No one believe Jess and they make her leave. Their mom is really upset about this revelation. Kate and Lauren are envious of each other. Not knowing what each other's lives are really like. Kate is happily married and child free where as Lauren has kids and no time to do anything. Then this new person comes into their lives with DNA to prove who she is. It kind of makes Kate and Lauren butt heads on the matter and then the secrets start coming out in the family.
I really enjoyed this and had a feeling how it was going to end.
I received this from NetGalley for review.

Sandie Jones

Website

http://www.sandiejones.co.uk/

Twitter

realsandiejones

Sandie Jones has worked as a freelance journalist for over twenty years, and has written for publications including the Sunday Times, Woman’s Weekly and the Daily Mail. She lives in London with her husband and three children. The Other Woman is her debut novel.

#Netgalley #mystery #sandiejones #thehalfsister #

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Book Blitz: Tokyo Traffic by Michael Pronko

  Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book 3

  Mystery, Thriller

  Released: June 20, 2020

  Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

   

  Running from a life she didn’t choose, in a city she doesn’t know, Sukanya,

    a young Thai girl, loses herself in Tokyo. With her Bangkok street smarts,

    and some stolen money, she stays ahead of her former captors willing to do

    anything to recover the computer she took. After befriending Chiho, a

    Japanese girl living in an internet café, Sukanya makes plans to rid herself

    of her pursuers, and her past, forever.

  Meanwhile, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu leaves the safe confines of his office

    to investigate a porn studio where a brutal triple murder took place. The

    studio’s accounts point him in multiple directions at once. Together with

    ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi and old-school Takamatsu, Hiroshi tracks the

    killers through Tokyo’s teen hangouts, bayside docks and crowded squares,

    straight into the underbelly of the global economy.

  As bodies wash up from Tokyo Bay, Hiroshi tries to find the Thai girl at

    the center of it all, whose name he doesn’t even know. He uncovers a human

    trafficking ring and cryptocurrency scammers whose connections extend to the

    highest levels of Tokyo’s power elite.

   

  Other Books in the Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series:

   

   

  The Last Train

  Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book One

  Published: May 2017

  Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

   

  In Tokyo, murder's easy to hide.

  Detective Hiroshi Shimizu investigates white collar crime in Tokyo. When an

    American businessman turns up dead, his mentor Takamatsu calls him out to

    the site of a grisly murder. A glimpse from a security camera video suggests

    the killer might be a woman. Hiroshi quickly learns how close homicide and

    suicide can appear in a city full of high-speed trains just a step--or a

    push--away.

  How do you find one woman in the biggest city in the world?

  Takamatsu drags Hiroshi out to the hostess clubs and skyscraper offices of

    Tokyo in search of the killer. Hiroshi goes deeper and deeper into Tokyo's

    intricate, perilous market for buying and selling the most expensive land in

    the world. He teams up with ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi to scour Tokyo's

    sacred temples, corporate offices and industrial wastelands to find out why

    one woman was driven to murder.

Available on Amazon 

   

   

  The Moving Blade

  Detective Hiroshi Tokyo Series, Book Two

  Published: September 2018

  Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

  In Tokyo, the past is present. And deadly.

  When the top American diplomat in Tokyo, Bernard Mattson, is killed, he

    leaves more than a lifetime of successful Japan-American negotiations. He

    leaves a missing manuscript, boxes of research, a lost keynote speech and a

    tangled web of relations.

  When his alluring daughter, Jamie, returns from America wanting answers,

    finding only threats, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is dragged from the safe

    confines of his office into the street-level realities of Pacific Rim

    politics.

  A moving blade is hidden in the blur of motion, felt but not

    perceived.

  With help from ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi, Hiroshi searches for the killer

    from Tokyo's back alley bars to government offices, through anti-nuke

    protests to the gates of an American naval base. When two more bodies turn

    up, Hiroshi must choose between desire and duty, violence or procedure,

    before the killer silences his next victim.

Available on Amazon

   

  About the Author

Michael Pronko is a Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir and music. His

    writing about Tokyo life and his character-driven mysteries have won awards

    and five-star reviews. Kirkus Reviews selected his second novel, The Moving

    Blade for their Best Books of 2018. The Last Train won the Shelf Unbound

    Competition for Best Independently Published Book.

  Michael also runs the website, Jazz in Japan, which covers the vibrant jazz

    scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. During his 20 years in Japan, he has written

    about Japanese culture, art, society and politics for Newsweek Japan, The

    Japan Times, and Artscape Japan. He has read his essays on NHK TV and done

    programs for Nippon Television based on his writings.

  A philosophy major, Michael traveled for years, ducking in and out of

    graduate schools, before finishing his PhD on Charles Dickens and film. He

    finally settled in Tokyo as a professor of American Literature at Meiji

    Gakuin University. His seminars focus on contemporary novels, short stories

    and film adaptations.

   

  Contact Links

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  Promo Link

   

  Purchase Links

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  IndieBound


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